Harvesting and Canning Tomatoes

Linking up with Blomin' Tuesday and Fertlizer Friday - links also in my side bar - you must check out all these great gardeners!

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Here are my tomatoes finally ready to harvest. They are about one month late because our weather has been so cold this season. You can see all the stems of other plants around them that have already frozen. We cut all the leaves off so it would help speed things up.

They are ready and we had a wonderful crop! Here are a couple of my helpers picking tomatoes.

These are two of our daughters who also had tomatoes in their gardens and we canned like crazy people last Saturday. We did Salsa and V-8 Juice.

Thanks for visiting!

Hope you have a great week.

Today I am thankful for stamina to do my stewardships.

Paula

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Recipes we used.
Salsa
1/4 bu. ripe tomatoes (15 lbs. = a 1/4 bu.)
6 large onions
16 to 20 long green chilies ( like Anaheim) (we used 5)
2 Tbsp. salt
6 bell peppers
6 jalapeno peppers (we only used 2)
2/3 c. vinegar
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. fresh parsely
1/2 cup fresh coriander
3 cloves garlic
Peel tomatoes and seed peppers. Coarse grind all ingredients.
Simmer 1 hour, stirring frequently, or until right consistency.
Water bath to seal. Makes 14 pints

V-8 Juice
1/2 gallon Tomato Juice
3 large onions blended
8 med bell peppers
1/4 - 1/2 cup salt (your taste)
1 cup vinegar
2 tbs seasoning salt
1 tbs black pepper
1 jalepeno pepper
You can also add carrot, celery and beet juice but you must increase your pressure lbs. and cooking time to 30 mins.
Boil and fill jars.
Pressure at 10lbs. for 15 minutes.

Wedding Flowers

Linking up with Fertilizer Friday and Show and Tell - links in my side bar

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Just have to share a few pictures of some floral pieces my darling daughter did for a wedding. They are beautiful.

Thanks for letting me share and show her off a bit!
Have a great week!
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This week I am grateful for the lovely Fall Season here in Idaho

Cute Little Ghords and Other Stuff From My Garden

I love harvest time - our gardens haven't done as well this year in Idaho because of our short summer - our last frost was the end of June and our first fall frost was the end of August.

This is a picture of some of the cute little ghords - they are all so unique! These are all heirloom plants so I am gathering seeds for next years garden - I think my post next week will be about all the seeds I am gathering.

These are a few of the squash.Love these peppers! Can't wait to make Salsa - waiting on the tomatoes to ripen.
A few more peppers

Thanks for stopping by - hope you have a great week!
Today I am thankful for the sunshine and the peace it brings to my soul.

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I would love to have you visit me in my Fall Blogging Room

www.bucketsofideasforfall.blogspot.com/

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Linking up with Blooming Tuesday and Fertilizer Friday - link in my side bar - be sure and check out all the other gardener's - it is so interesting to see all the different phases garden's in various locations are in.

Pond Area - Micro Climate - Zone 5

Hooking up with Blooming Tuesday and Fertilizer Friday - Links in my side bar

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In our side yard area off the living room. This is a view looking out the living room window - it is lovely! In this area because it is surrounded by tree's and close to the house is a micro-climate 5. (This is actually a side shot of thepicture in the header.)

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We are a zone 4 and so everything else in the yard is toast but this stays green a little bit longer. Here are a few pictures from that spot - the plants are looking tired and ready to go to sleep for the winter, but they continue to gladden my heart and brighten my eye for a few more days. Top of the Pond
This plant has never bloomed before!
It is a fall plant!
WOO HOO
This is one of the pots.

This is another pot.

This is the chinese lantern - they spread like crazy so you have to really keep an eye on them - but I love their cheery little seed pods in the fall!

Thanks for stopping by....
This week I am grateful for the health and strength to garden - truly a blessing in all of our lives.

Have a great week!

Fall Happenings At My House

Linking up with Blooming Tuesday and Fertilizer Friday - Permanent links are in my sidebar.

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It has frozen here several nights so these are the end of my flowers - they have been so great to me this year - sharing their beauty all through the season. In the next couple of weeks they will be all cut down and ready to go to sleep. We have had a really short summer - our last freeze was mid June and then our first frost this fall the end of Ausgust - poor little tomatoes need heat! It is supposed to be nice this week so I cut back all their leaves and hopefully the sun can do it's thing!

This sunflower is so cheery I had to take a picture against the sky a few minutes ago

Here it is close up.

Pumpkins starting to ripen too - need some sunny days!

Notice the frozen leaves :(

Starting to gather my squash - I ran out of night tonight but this wheelbarrow will be filled several times before I am done.

Thanks for stopping by! Today I am grateful for Fall - I love every part of it!
Have a good week!
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I would love for you to stop by my Fall Blog when you have a minute.
www.bucketsofideasforfall.blogspot.com/

28* at My House!

Linking up with Fertilizer Friday link in the side bar.

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Fall has officially arrived at my house - it has been down to 28* several nights in a row.

The corn is turning yellow and nearly ready to harvest. These apples need to freeze to turn sweet and be ready to make into applesauce, juice, jam's and pie filling.



The sweet pea's are still sharing their beauty with me!
Thanks for stopping by.
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Today I am grateful for the seasons - I love the changes they bring both in the outside and in my personal life.
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Have a great week!

Time to Start Harvesting

My vegetable garden is ready to harvest - we had the most wonderful BLT's the other day with tomatoes still warm from the sun and lettuce so fresh fried crookneck squash, I am geting hungry just thinking about it! We wanted to keep eating and eating! It was yummy.

We are supposed to have a freeze tonight, tomorrow night and Tuesday night. I will cover the tomatoes and water the corn, but the rest I am going to let it go. My pumpkins need the sunlight anyway to ripen totally.

We will be canning apples soon - they need to freeze then they will be sweet and ready. Canning Salsa, V-8 Juice, speghetti sauce, peaches and more. Such a great time to preserve this yuumy stuff.

This has been a crazy, chaotic and wonderful summer. The days have sped by I am amazed it is September already.

I would love to have you drop by my Fall Blogs:

Buckets of Fall Ideas

Buckets of Halloween Ideas

2 New Babies in Our Family

Taking a few weeks off for two new grandaughters born recently. Talia is on the left she was born the middle of July and Esti on the right born in mid August. See you next week!

Daisy's and Hollyhocks!

Linking up with Blooming Tuesday, Fertilizer Friday and Show and Tell Friday. Check them out for lots of great gardeners and fun projects!
http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/
http://www.tootsietime.com/
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My daisy's and hollyhocks are amazing - it is so fun to see how each week of summer the garden changes with perennials. Their entire purpose is to "Brighten the eye and gladden the heart." They do that everyday.

I have Daisy's in clusters all over the yard.

Here are some with some Bell Flowers

Daisy's and Holly hocks

Holly hocks and Jackman Clematis in the Bistro Garden

Close ups of the Holly hocks - hard to tell but there are light and dark pink in this pix.

Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you have a great week.
Still waiting for the arrival of our newest grandchild.

This week I am thankful for the vibrant days of summer.

My Delphiniums!

http://www.tootsietime.com/

Linking up with Bloomin Tuesday - lots of great gardeners sharing thier gardens - be sure and check them out. http://msgreenthumbjean.blogspot.com/

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One of our daughter had her baby last week and we were out of town. The baby is beautiful - our first granddaughter after 5 grandsons. It was lovely in St. George, Utah - but it is about 30* hotter there than here!

When I got back all my delphiniums were blooming! WOO HOO - The first year they have bloomed - I feel totally blessed. I got them all on a throw away table at a nursery and wasn't sure if they would make it or not. Aren't they lovely!


Being gone a week let the weeds have a hay day! I will be busy for a while getting on top of them again - plus another daughter is due this weekend.

Thanks for stopping be - have a great week.

Mid Point - Summer Garden

This is our mid summer mark - the middle of July - it froze here a couple of weeks ago and our first frost of the fall can be anytime in September. I wanted to take some pictures of the yard at the mid summer point.

Back Fence Area

This area used to have a huge wood pile and this bush grew up in the front of it. We moved the wood pile and had this little hidden spot. It was dubbed "The Thinking Spot." The next picture shows the little hidden alcove.

This is next to the thinking spot - it is the medicinal garden.

Cutting Garden

A Long Shot of the Cutting Garden

Here are a few of the flowers blooming in the Cutting Garden

Side Yard Area

This is looking towards the Woodland Garden

Woodland Garden

This is the view from the south

THis is the view looking from the side yard to the southThe Honeysuckle is blooming! Our Veggie Garden

Sorry for the weeds - I work on the yard one week and the garden the next -

the garden is next week.

These are the tomatoes - they love being next to this fence. We have such cool nights the tires help to keep them warmer so they do much better. These are the ghords and the beans

These are the raspberries

These are the seed plants - beets, carrots, radishes, lettuce

Strawberries, peppers, carrots, onions

More squash Corn starting to pop!

Entry Area

FRONT OF HOUSE

This is the center of the house. It is the "Hosta Bed" On the left side is the part I just did this spring and it is growing nicely. See photo below. The next photo is the right side which I haven't started - this pix is for me to study next winter so I can make my spring plans. These pictures show the long view of the "Hosta Bed" area.
This is the long view of the Hosta Bed from the driveway

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Hope you have a great week!

Today I am thankful for my sweet family.

Expecting two new grandchildren anyday!