Why?

[Darlene]

Right now I’m asking myself “why”?  Why am I doing all this canning?

 

65 pints of salsa. 20 pints and 10 quarts of summer sauce. 20 pints and 6 quarts of green beans. 14 pints peaches. 15 half pints and 4 pints ketchup. Crab apple jelly that I need to prepare and process tomorrow. 
 

Right now I’m waiting for the canner to

get up to pressure to process the last of the summer sauce and I’m exhausted. 
 

So I sit here and ask myself “why”. I COULD just can 16 pints of salsa but nooooooooo. 
 

I COULD just process a dozen jars of summer sauce, half dozen jars of crab apple jelly and peaches and green beans. 
 

Oh and corn. Balanced that and vacuum sealed that in the freezer. 
 

The above isn’t counting what I did in July or in June or May. 
 

I have no idea where I’m going to put all this stuff but I quit. Well, I’ll quit after I finished the next batch of ketchup and crab apple jelly. 
 

I hope. 

[snapshotmiki]

I wonder  about  myself, too. I don't  have  to take  all the  pears that the  neighbor gives me. I could just let the rest of the garden go. But I just keep going. It's  kind of like that  small voice  says don't  waste  it. 

[Annarchy]

Why?  Because God put it in your heart to prep.  Be prepared for what’s coming.  Maybe, someone in your life will need the extra you have prepared.

 

My friend in NM, said she harvested her first squash…10 lbs!  And she’s thinking the dozens more, are going to be bigger!  Heirloom, non GMO…. She’s already finding people to bless the excess to.

 

I was thinking “why” the other day.  His friend sold his house, moving to CO, until he moves to Sweden, to follow a sweetheart.  He brought 2, rose hip bearing plants, (I make tea from the hips, which helps tremendously to reduce the arthritis swelling & pains.), 2, 50 gal. drums with lids, full of cut mesquite.  A couple of other things, that gives us an extra of each… then, a week later, his kid, brought a truck load of cut mesquite wood, for my pile.  I’m thinking God wants us to have the extra, ‘why?’ is in his hands.  Oh, I had cut the eucalyptus tree, again and again & again, (yes, I can make eucalyptus oil from it, I haven’t, yet.), it refuses to die, 20 years, cutting it, salting it, putting a fire pit over it, and it is still growing.  One year, I let the branches grow, about 3” in diameter, 20’ tall before I cut it to the ground, again. His friend took 3 straight, 10’ tall branches.  Dried them & made a teepee to put over his fire pit, hanging his Dutch oven in the center… now, the teepee sits over our fire pit.  Maybe we will ‘need’ to cook that way, if not, I will use it in the winter, to cook on, hanging my Dutch oven and grill on it.  And he brought me a box of canning jars.  Definitely a blessing.

 

It’s the ‘odd’ preps, that has me wondering “why?” 
 

I wish I was in your situation, to have the produce to can, but, my garden fried, when we hit a couple of weeks with temps above 118° F.  One zucchini & one tomato plant survived, a few of the carrots seem to be growing again.  God willing they will survive our heat long enough to produce a harvest, one has seeded, which, I will collect the seeds for the fall planting.  
 

  “Why? “… indeed…..

[Mt_Rider]

We've all been inoculated against the virus that spreads wildly. 

 

The virus of thinking "Oh, everything will be fine...just normal.  Work harder?  Nah, that's what groceries stores and take-out is for!  Who needs fresh, home-grown veggies?  No need, already!   Just look at that lady over there in her garden with sweat and dirt.    Yuck.  Well, I'm off to the air-conditioned store in my air-conditioned vehicle that's going to take half my money to fill the gas tank and the other half to buy groceries.  I wish they'd fix this inflation pretty soon!"   

 

MtRider  ....just musing 

[Joyfilled]

Because it's fun?

[euphrasyne]

Why not?  Its better to have and not need than to need and not have.  

[Darlene]

Uh oh. 
 

I finished the last batch of ketchup yesterday and processed it. 
 

Wouldn’t you know that it was the best batch I have made yet. 
 

Am thinking about getting 50lbs more of tomatoes now. Seriously, 25lbs of tomatoes only made 14-16 half pints of ketchup. The good news is that it is so flavorful that you don’t need much. Sheesh. 
 

Fall is almost here. Fall is almost here. Fall is almost here. 

[Mt_Rider]

Good barter item too, mebbe? 

 

MtRider  ...with our new ducks [and a goose and gander for protection]  we might barter eggs....at the price of gold!