Constant Flow of Tomatoes

It’s been a busy week here. My youngest started his 8th grade year (homeschooling), its tradeshow season (for my husbands’ work), soccer practice or games every night for my husband and second daughter, my oldest is in her senior year and she works from home in the evenings and we had a vehicle go out of commission due to a stone incident that broke the drivers side mirror and window. In addition to all that, I had a noodle making day, and we have had a constant flow of tomatoes from the garden. As soon as I can or freeze one batch, we get another picking of tomatoes that fills the table and counters.

All the tomatoes coming in from the garden are a blessing though. We will definitely have more than enough to get us through until next year. And with the abundance, we will be able to try to can some things that we have not attempted before. We are excited to try canning homemade tomato soup, tomatoes and diced chilis, and homemade tomato paste. The trick is going to be finding the time to get the canning done! LOL

While we are very thankful for how well our tomatoes are doing (although the kids would say they are sick of them), I have grown frustrated with some of the other items in the garden, and have started cleaning it out for the year already. One of the new rows of lettuce I planted was attacked by tiny black bugs, and it was just ruined, so I pulled the row. And my green beans were pretty much done. The leaves were turning brown and falling off….so I decided to pull them as well. They were not a total waste though, as our chickens were very thankful for the treat of fresh produce. The plan for this weekend, if we can find some time, is to further clean out the garden. Unfortunately, we had the worst case of squash bugs we have ever had, and they wiped out a lot of my garden. We were able to get a few cantaloupe before the plants were ruined. But the squash bugs decimated my watermelon, both pumpkin patches, the cucumbers, spaghetti squash and my zucchini plants. It’s quite frustrating…but my plan is to make this a learning experience, and do some research into what I can do as preventative measures for next year. Maybe I put something in the soil this fall to kill any eggs that are still there, or I mix something into the ground before I plant in the spring….or maybe I do both! LOL

But all is not lost. I still have my constant flow of tomatoes, my peas are growing, I have cabbages, a row of lettuce, and SO MANY peppers!!! In a few weeks, I’m going to have the same problem with peppers that I have now with my tomatoes! LOL It’s a good problem to have.

If you have some time to look at the website, I uploaded some family favorites in the “Recipes” tab. You will have to let me know if you give them a try, and what you thought of them! And since I uploaded some of my family favorite recipes, what are some recipes that are a family favorite at your house?? Leave a comment, I’d love to know! Hope you all have a blessed week!!!!