For today, just today!

I'm feeling very overwhelmed by the idea of catching this virtual scrapbook up to date. Since I last posted here 20 days ago the following has happened: I returned to work at CJP full force and just wrapped up my last new student orientation (I have also shared with colleagues my plans to wrap up my time at CJP at the end of this calendar year); We spent a glorious evening with friends in and along the Shenandoah River; Our eldest daughter turned 18!; We had a marathon applesauce making day netting 100 quarts; We enjoyed an outing to Switzer Lake with Emily, Jonas and Ivy; Most of all we savored our last meals and games and hugs and conversations and walks and sleepovers with Tala before seeing her off at Dulles Airport for her return home to the Philippines. All of that will have to wait for another day, as each could be a post of it's own. I'll ease back into this space but just sharing one little snapshot into our lives: today! A Saturday in late August at Tangly Woods!

While our girls still slumbered, Jason and I got a head start on the day. While I fed the pigs and stirred animal feed barrels, Jason cut the black eyed peas. Then he did the rest of the animal chores while I pulled the beets and got that canning process rolling. But I did take a circuitous root to the beets in order to admire my little sunflower patch. I can get a little lost in all our gardens and have a hard time keeping track of all that is going on. But this little row of sunflowers I planted all by myself, and watered it faithfully, and thinned it when it was time and am in awe of these tall, glorious splashes of color! 

I decided to just can all the beets as pickled beets to be able to just crack open a jar and poor over hard boiled eggs to make red beet eggs. The beets were probably a bit past their prime but canning them will soften up even the slightly woody ones. August gets away from us every year - this one was no different! With the beets, like often happens, a phenomena occurred that I cannot begin to understand/make sense of. I pulled all the beets, I cooked and peeled them all, and then I cut them all up and put them in jars and it came out EXACTLY to 7 quarts (one canner load). How does that happen SO often in canning?

Somewhere in there, my other helpers started to wake, and Kali was woken. Jason did the girls' chores so that they could dive into the food processing party as soon as they had breakfasted! Last night in a family meeting, I had shared my appreciation that when I am able to articulate my need for help and make specific requests, all our girls are normally ready and willing to assist. I said that I was grateful that they never made me feel bad for asking or refused to lend a hand. Alida looked very perplexed and asked why anyone would do that. I said that I didn't think it was a great way to respond, but definitely people do. Terah piped up, "Well that's not very nice." I love these kiddos!!

So I had excellent tomato and beet peelers. Once the beets were in the canner, I got the hot sauce rolling. It was our largest batch yet. I finally got smart and cooked it on the outdoor propane burner, so I was not coughing while it simmered. And, sure enough, when it came time to blend it and can it, it happened again! I had put all our peppers, a bunch of garlic, some salt, covered it with apple cider vinegar and cooked it until soft. I went to the root cellar and got as many 1 cup jars as could fit in one canner load (12). In the end, it made EXACTLY 12 jars with none to spare. I'm not complaining, just mystified!!

Jason kept bringing in more harvests while we kept things rolling inside: cantaloupes, tomatoes of all kinds, concord grapes, okra, etc... Kali picked a large bin of sweet peppers for the salsa. Once the day's harvests were wrapped up, Jason shifted his attention to the large mound of black beans in the garage. It was bean threshing and winnowing time! He was very excited as he really enjoys that job. And he had some helpers too here and there during the process. By day's end, there are now trays of black beans, and a few brown and pinto beans drying in our back kitchen - with a box fan aiding them in that initial drying (as we hardly want them to mold after the hours of work that has already been poured into getting them to this point). 

Once Alida and Terah had mostly moved onto other things, Kali settled in to chopping and chopping and chopping tomatoes for salsa. It was probably our last big salsa day, doing two double batches (so 15 quarts, 9 pints, and we probably ate at least a quart throughout the day). There were enough leftover tomatoes for another canner load of 7 quarts of diced tomatoes. In the afternoon, Mom joined the chopping fun for a bit and she and Kali also got some tomatoes and okra going in the dehydrator. Freezer space is becoming more and more precious!

After such a dry spell, we have had a lot of rain. We are enjoying a lot of wonderful cantaloupes but many are splitting in the patch so have to be used/eaten quickly. So we are stocking up again on frozen cantaloupe for smoothies. We had read about blending frozen cantaloupe, water and honey and that was good. But then Tala introduced us to doing it with milk and, despite my thinking it didn't sound great, it was DELICIOUS! So more of that in our future for sure. We are grateful for an abundance of cantaloupe as our watermelon patch wasn't much to speak of this year. 

I am happy to report that my day had very little screen time in it until the end when we watched the next episode of AGT and now with me writing this post. That said, we are SO grateful for screens and internet these days. Multiple times a day we get to connect with Tala via text or facebook or video chat. And today, it was stepped up a notch with learning how to do some favorite games on the computer. Actually, as I'm typing, Kali and Tala are playing Rook online. Earlier today they figured out how to do Upwords. On a few occasions, I've had Tala on video chat to myself for a few seconds. But somehow when Tala's voice is heard, kids come running from all directions. 

So it's 10:30 p.m. and Jason has just arrived home with extra milk from our neighbor's farm. Somewhere in the day, I also slipped in making another round of cheddar cheese - trying to stock up while the extra milk is abundant. There are pickled beets, jars of hot sauce, salsa and diced tomatoes cooling on the porch while the thunder still rumbles and lightning flashes. I'm most definitely ready to call it a day! I'm grateful that the headache that actually had me lay down for a few minutes this afternoon has subsided in intensity. And I'm glad tomorrow doesn't have quite as much in store for us as today! Maybe I'll have the chance to catch up some here before we generate more to share. Monday I'll be heading back into my office to work "in person" several days/week for the first time in a year and five months. Transitions...transitions!