Die lenger die schlimmer
Bei uns geh immer.
It doesn't rhyme in English but means, "The longer the worse it always goes with us.
What does that have to do with straining tomatoes?
Well, here it is, the last days of July and I am doing the first canning of the summer. Yesterday I froze a measly eight packs of corn (1 1/2 cups each) and today I had a bucket of tomatoes. I used to start canning around Memorial Day and kept at it until sometime in October. Our garden covered about 1/3 of our acre of land. We were barely through the peas and strawberries until we had piles of green beans, pickles, and you name it. August was always the rush with corn, peaches, tomatoes, and applesauce to can and freeze. I would can 100 qt. each of peaches and applesauce and put six cups of corn in a pack. Feeding five boys takes a lot of food!
As the family began leaving home, the garden began shrinking. It is now less than a quarter of what we once had and the rest has become lawn. Not only do we not need as much food (thank God!) but my aging crooked back does not let me till and hoe like I once did. The only reason the garden has not shrunk to the size of a flower bed is because Leroy likes to work in it. We could buy produce at the local produce market and still enjoy the taste of home canned foods.
This year I will have the shortest canning season ever. We were in Israel during strawberry season, I have enough cherries, apricots, and pickles left from last year, and I buy peas and beans now instead of canning and freezing them. That brings us all the way to the beginning of the August produce season before I canned one jar or froze one pack of anything.
Die lenger die schlimmer
Bei uns geh immer!
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