The pickle post

It's August. It's hot as hell. And I've got like a hundred million pounds of fruits and vegetables waiting to be put up for the winter. "Put up." Sounds kind of quaint, doesn't it? Well it in no way imparts any kind of useful information about how much work is involved in canning.

We didn't do so great with our 100 mile challenge this year. Last year I'd say a good 85% of our food for the entire year was locally produced. This year I let myself off the hook a little bit and found it soooo easy to slide back into the convenience food trap. BUT, the garden we put in didn't get the message and now that August has arrived we are inundated with veggies.

So despite the fact that it was 98 degrees here in Virginia today, the boys and I got to work making pickles. And, since I still have just slightly less than a hundred million pounds of tomatoes waiting for me, you can expect many more picture posts involving food in the coming days. I understand if you aren't too interested, trust me. But you'll probably have to wait awhile for another real post to appear (though you never know!).

In the meantime, behold the pickles:

And the mess that goes along with it (Yes, we live like this!):

 And then? A trip to the river cools us off:

And wild blackberries for dessert:

Life is good.


Next up? Tomato sauce and salsa.