August busy-ness...

August always seems to be such a busy month. Trying to keep ahead of all the yummy fresh veggies in the garden, getting pickles and jam done, produce and berries into the freezer and now getting ready for "back to  school university". I'm starting the "stock the freezer with easy meals" routine this week- at least it's only for ONE returning student this year! So far- lots of berries (for smoothies), meatballs, and banana breads. In this next week I'll make spaghetti sauce and chili. If I'm lucky (or should I say if SHE'S lucky?) some homemade soup as well. That will give Laura a good start for her freezer, and some easy meals for the days when she has classes all day and comes home too tired to want to do much meal prep. We had a bumper crop of raspberries this year (12 qts. in the freezer) and now I'm trying to stay ahead of the cukes, beans and peas. I have LOTs of tomatoes but they are slow in ripening... I got a batch of pickles cut up tonight, will cook them in the morning. Then next up is my Peach Jam. I sure hope Hurricane Irene does not interfere with my plans with a power outage or some such thing... Also hoping to get a batch of Ratatouille done in the next few days too (see my recipe here). Laura likes it so I guess she'll get a few containers of that too... So, you can see things are busy here at Casa Linda.... No rest for the weary as they say...
Laura is in Ontario this weekend, for a reunion with MRH participants. It is a Leadership Retreat weekend and most of the group were planning to attend. I expect Irene is going to mess up her return flight plans.. we'll see...
Sorry no photos today..hopefully tomorrow I'll have some pickle pics! lol  Hope you all have a good weekend and stay safe. Do take this coming storm seriously ....

Peace
Linda

Gardeners know the best dirt...