I spent the past weekend processing the 73 pounds of tomatoes I picked on Friday, and it was exhausting work.  But now I have thirteen quarts of canned tomatoes, five pints of frozen oil-packed oven roasted tomatoes, thirteen pints of tomato chutney, and six pints of tomato jam.  Whew!  That’s a lot of chutney?  Do you like chutney?  Come over and get a jar.

Also on my mind lately is worm composting, vegetable gardening, chickens, and beekeeping.  I’m loving this video on “Backwards Beeekeeping.” All of this inspired by the book The Urban Homestead by Kelly Coyne and Erik Knutzen. I first read about Kelly and Erik in the book Radical Homemakers. 

The Urban Homestead has knocked my socks off.  I’ve always come up with excuses for not gardening or keeping chickens, and now I have none.  We are going to be removing a (mostly) dead tree in our backyard, and cutting another way back, to try to create enough sunlight for a narrow veggie patch.  I am so excited about it!  I have big plans for the front yard too, which involve a citrus tree and a rose garden, all watered with graywater from our bath.  I’ve always thought it was such a waste to not re-use all that barely used water, and now I see that there is a real way to use it.

I also started my first wooden spoon, and I just finished the quilt top for the new quilt I am making.  I’ve been a busy bee!  But for now, spring has made a brief return to Florida (It’s usually summer temperatures here by now) so we are on our way outside for some reading.

Oh hello there.  I’ve missed you.  I am still here.

We went tomato picking at our local farm today.  One dollar for a full plastic bag.  That equates to about 14 pounds of tomatoes for a dollar.  How could I pass that up?! I spent a total of five dollars on 73 pounds of tomatoes, which I still cannot believe.  So now the tomatoes sit on my kitchen floor, awaiting their canned fate.

In addition to 73 pounds of tomatoes, I also have very dirty fingernails which no amount of nail-brushing will scrub out, and a complete respect for the migrant workers who pick most of our nation’s produce.

When we arrived home from the farm, I was hot, exhausted, and hungry.  I managed to muster the strength to make this sandwich, and it was a miracle: grilled yogurt-marinated chicken, provolone, fresh-picked tomato, alfalfa sprouts, red leaf lettuce, and a schmear of mayo and horseradish mustard on a bakery roll. Homemade pickles and a glass of my first batch of kefir water, to wash it down.  Just thinking about it now makes me want another one.

My near-religious experience with a chicken sandwich could have been because I was so hungry, but it also could have been because I spent the morning communing with a field of tomatoes.  Somehow, being on a farm always makes me so happy, and leaves me feeling inspired in the kitchen. I am determined to find a way to garden.  I’m desperate to.  We are contemplating drastic measures to make that happen in our own yard. For now I have some herbs in pots, and I am registered for a chicken-keeping class, and that will have to suffice until fall.  Of course in this Florida heat, fall is about a million years away, which leaves me plenty of time to plan.

Earlier this month, I was lucky enough to receive some lovely homegrown navel oranges fresh from my mother’s tree.  One of the perks of living in Florida!  I used Ashley English’s recipe for Orange Vanilla Marmalade, and after tasting the first bite of marmalade, I found myself directly in the kitchen chopping oranges for a second batch.

This was my first time making marmalade, and while the concept is the same as jam, there is much more chopping and cooking involved.  This recipe calls for no added pectin, so you actually have to make sure your jam will set once it’s cool.  It was completely worth the effort, and I’m sure this will become a yearly tradition.

I followed the recipe exactly, substituting Nielsen -Massey’s vanilla paste for the whole beans since the whole beans were so terribly expensive.  It turned out to be quite cost effective this way because the jar provided enough for two batches of marmalade, and I have more vanilla paste to use elsewhere.  I used two tablespoons of the paste on the first batch and three tablespoons on the second.

It’s also nice to have the help of a dog named Milo while making marmalade.  Hard to believe I was wearing wool socks just a few weeks ago.

The marmalade is not too sweet, with a nice “bite” that I like for marmalade.  The vanilla provides a nice background flavor for the tangy citrus punch that marmalade is known for.

I recommend it on toast with cream cheese, but it’s also good this way….

…straight off the spoon.

It quite a day.  The Boy ran around and played with friends, and The Girl and I picked berries.

It was a whirlwind sort of day.  Busy and fun.  Happy and productive.  Exhausting and satisfying.

Here’s how I felt throughout the day:

…stress from hurrying out the door to get there on time.  We were still late.  My get-up-and-out-the-door mojo is gone now that we are homeschooling!

…pride, as I managed to not get lost on the way to the farm.

…joy, at the glorious and warm Spring day it was.

…wonder, at the glorious sight of so many beautiful sun-ripened fruits.

…happiness, when The Girl said to me, “Mom, this is fun!”

…disbelief, when I discovered that the total for my 23 pounds of berries came to $57!

…regret, when I saw how much work I had ahead of me.

…fatigue, when I was up to my eyeballs in strawberries.

…relief, that I had started a pot of chili before we left, and did not have to cook dinner.

…satisfaction, that I made three batches of strawberry jam, totalling twenty-two jars!

Who knew strawberries could bring forth so many emotions?  I’m imagining a cold winter day in the future in which I will open a jar of this jam and taste a beautiful Spring day.

I mostly used this recipe, except I added a bit of pickling spice to each jar ’cause that’s how I roll.

I bought eight pounds of pickling cucumbers at The Farm at $2 a pound.

I put the cucumbers on ice and put in some Hank Williams (Senior, please).  I gathered my ingredients.

I peeled a ton of garlic.

I began to prepare the cucumbers while the canner heated up.

I ended up cutting the cucumbers to get them to fit in the jars.

I added the brine to the jars, and processed the jars in two batches.

After two hours of work, I had twelve jars of pickles.

I already cracked into a jar, even though I was supposed to wait eight weeks.  They’re good, yes, but a bit flabby.  I really wanted super crisp crunchy pickles.  The more reading I do, the more I see that some people do not process them in a hot water bath at all, so essentially they are uncooked.  This is perhaps what I should have done.  Also, while the pickling spice looks very nice in the jars, I feel that the spice is a bit much.  And they need way more garlic next time.

Guess I’d better start eating them so I can make more.