More tomatoes, more canning

Yesterday we picked another 30 pounds of tomatoes, and 7 pounds of cherry tomatoes. From our total of 50 pounds of tomatoes we used about 40 pounds to can 16 quarts of tomatoes.

Token Finster pictures

All shots credited to Erica :)

Finster gets cross-eyed when eating corn :)

Showing off his technique, and keeping a kernel in his jowls for a midnight snack.

Corn sure is lip smacking good!

Today we picked the last of our 2nd planting of corn. We picked another 36 ears, froze 4 bags, ate 2 and fed 2 to Finster. He actually eats the corn like a person eating corn on the cob!

First run of tomatoes

Today we started canning tomatoes. We picked 19 pounds of our plum, zebra, beefsteak, and pineapple (the green ones) tomatoes today. There is still a lot of green and orange tomatoes on the vine so we will likely reach our 90 pound goal again this year. We also got another 36 ears of corn, of which we ate 2 (and Finster ate 2 because it was too ripe and meaty) and froze another 4 bags.

Corn

Today we picked most of our 2nd planting of corn. We picked 55 ears, had 3 for lunch and froze 7 bags. About 7 ears of corn go into 1 stinking bag. In addition we picked a few monster tomatoes, a few delicious carrots, zucchini, and a few cucumbers. Needless to say; we had a big lunch :)

Finster vs. Cucumbers

 

Today we were out picking cucumbers from our garden. Finster had his nose in the vines and all of the sudden he jumped back :) Finster finally found out that cucumbers are pretty spiky when on the vine. Erica and I picked a bunch and showed Finster and he kept is distance and barked at the cucumbers when they got within 5 feet of him. So, of course we teased him with the cucumbers as it is irresistibly funny to see a 118lbs dog scared and barking at a 4 inch cucumber.

Tomatoes and Squash

 

 

 

We finally picked our first cherry and plum tomatoes last week. In my quest to start eating and liking tomatoes I have successfully consumed a few raw chucks with other food. I haven't yet dared to eat one by itself. I have found that they aren't as scary as I had always thought. In fact I can barely taste them when I eat one with a cucumber for example.

We picked the rest of our first batch of sweet corn, we froze some and ate some. We are totally getting inundated with summer squash. Currently we have about 12 sitting on our counter, and I'm sick of eating it. Erica has made about 10 loaves of bread with it and we still can't keep up with it.

More produce.

Today we picked 20 pickling cucumbers and canned 11 pints of pickles. We also picked another 2.2 pounds of green and wax beans. We are just going to pressure can those in salt water. We also had our first ears of corn for lunch along with the typical daily summer, and zucchini squash.

Let the canning begin.

Today we picked about 9 pounds of green and wax beans from our garden. We turned them into 15 pints of canned, pickled dilly beans, our favorite!

Last weekend I planted the last of the corn and radishes. Now the garden is complete except for the growing and eating (and weeding). We have golf ball size tomatoes already on our vertical tomatoes, and no fruit yet on our one non-vertical tomato plant; so, it looks like the vertical method will produce faster!