Canning (Finally!)

I have been complaining quite a bit this summer about how lousy the harvest has been from our garden. I know, I know: we are incredibly lucky the tomato blight has blessedly missed us. I know, I know: last summer was the once-in-a-lifetime perfect year for the harvest. Still. I'm bitter.

But we finally (and I do mean, finally) raked in enough tomatoes to put up 6 pints. True, we've been enjoying the harvest of fresh tomatoes too; as they come in we gobble them right up. But I am ecstatic over these measly 6 pints! I am hoping for a few more before the frost gets the rest of the plants. Could we be so lucky? Hope springs eternal.

To compensate for our lack of produce at home, we've been hitting every farm market from here to Michigan. And apparently, even though the season has been tough on all our local farmers, some folks have been able to harvest a bit more than we have.
So when my hubby brought back some peaches from a recent venture up north, we knew we were finally going to get to do some canning! See that brown stuff up there? It's actually peach chutney. I don't know about your family, but around here we are ga-ga for Indian food. And this is the perfect accompaniment to a hot and spicy curry. The house smelled amazing while it was simmering on the stove. If you're interested in the recipe, you can head on over to PickYourOwn.org and see the recipe and photos of what it should look like as you go. I love that! Oh, and while you are there, you can find out where in your county (and surrounding counties if you are like me) you can pick your own produce. It's a very economical way to preserve your own foods.

Here's to more canning before the year is out. I'm banking on pickles next.