Peony Sock Progress

I've made it past the heel on my first of the peony socks. After reading through the Harris Tweed pattern and deciding that I liked the heel I just did on the Francie Socks, I modified the pattern. I made the heel flap *SL1, K1* and the the following row SL1, then purl the rest. After turning the heel, I worked it out so that I not only followed the pattern on the top of the foot, but got it to continue around the sole. I used the decreasing at the sole that the France Sock used to manage my decreases. Now I'm continuing the foot with the pattern all the way around. I didn't want just a plain stockinette stitch on the sole. The colors are a little odd in this photo because of the combination of the sunlight and the flash. I'm actually farther along the foot than this picture shows because I took it earlier this week.

Canning Tomatoes: Part 1

Last summer was my first time using my pressure canner purchased at a yard sale. I used the food mill my grandmother gave me to can sauce and then soup. I wasn't planning on making the soup but after I saw how long it took the tomatoes to cook down to sauce and how much less in volume my output was, the second batch remained as a soup. We enjoyed both this winter, though the sauce was still not thick enough.

This year we discovered a good 5 Minute Tomato Sauce and we make it quite often using a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes. We make it about once every two weeks. So this year my goal in canning tomatoes is to make crushed tomatoes that we can then use as a tomato sauce base.

I gathered my tomatoes from a variety of sources:

• My garden yielded 5 lbs. 3 oz. of paste tomatoes.
• The fourth grade students at school have a garden and did not take all the recently picked tomatoes home. They were beginning to go bad in the back of my co-workers classroom so I'm using 5 lbs. 8 oz. of those and donating a jar of canned tomatoes back to the teacher.
• Today I purchased almost 14 lbs of canning grade tomatoes from Dutton Farm Stand.

Tonight I prepared about half of the tomatoes by dunking them in boiling water for 15 seconds and then in a cold water bath. Then I removed their skins and quartered them. In the picture above you can see the first of two large tupperwares I filled with the quartered tomatoes and put in the fridge for tomorrow. I figured it will make tomorrow less steamy and break up the time I'll have to spend on my feet.

Recent Tomatoes

Here's the monster yellow heirloom tomato sliced up to enjoy. It was wonderfully sweet. I was surprised by the slight red streak the in the center. I saved a few seeds from it and hopefully I will be able to start them next year. I gave the second tomato from this plant to our landlady before I even had a chance to photograph it, but it was close in size.
Thursday's paste tomato harvest with some basil.
Friday's paste tomato harvest with broccoli shoots.

I sauteed a few of these tomatoes up with garlic, basil, and sugar and made a very loose sauce for pasta. I topped the pasta with kalamata olives and goat cheese and it made a yummy dinner.

The rest of these tomatoes are bound for canning tomorrow.

Tomato Comparison

I thought it would be interesting now that my tomatoes have ripened to see them side by side with their blossoms from earlier this summer. First the paste tomato, then the yellow heirloom, then the red slicing tomato.

I couldn't find a photo of the red slicing tomato's blossom. I guess I never took one that was good enough to keep.

Garden Clean Up

Sunday I did some clean up in the garden. I pulled the squash vines since we'd harvested the squash the day before. I pulled quite a few of the marigolds. They had gotten large and were shading some of my fall seedlings which need all the sun they can get at this point. I weeded amongst the carrot, lettuce, and brussels sprouts seedlings. And I pulled some very old lettuce that was going to bolt. Here are some updated views of the garden.

Zucchini plant on the left, small seedlings int he middle between the marigolds, kale behind, broccoli going to seed, and brussels sprouts on the right.
Nasturtium, Marigold, minuscule beet seedlings with beans and chard behind, leeks and tomatoes.
Tomatoes finally show some color amongst the leaves. It looks as though I may finally be able to make a fresh sauce from my paste tomatoes this week.

The dill on the opposite corner of the bed is falling over. I already harvested some seeds and it looks like I'll be harvesting more to dry soon.

My second planting of Romano Beans are blooming. It will be a race between the beans developing and the first frost later this month.
Soon I need to start thinking about where I'll be planting my garlic, but I need to wait until some other plants clear out space first.

Tomato Ripening: Part 2

View Part 1
Saturday

Sunday
Harvested

The second part of this series isn't as long as I thought it might be for two reasons. First of all, I realized on Sunday that the tomato was not turning orange and that it might be a yellow tomato. This was a surprise, but not unexpected since I never knew what type of tomato this was to begin with. Secondly, my husband will be traveling and taking the camera with him, and since the tomato seemed pretty ripe, I decided to pick it and take a final picture to post here. I'll have it ripen up a bit on the window sill for a day or two more before I slice into it. It's a large one, weighing 1 lb 3 oz. There is one more ripening on the plant, and then another green tomato of fair size. There are also these two tiny ones that probably won't make it before frost.