THINKING AHEAD.

It seems some sort of evil joke that the hottest weeks of the year are also the time of the biggest bounty in the garden - meaning I must spend hours and hours in a boiling hot kitchen, standing over a steaming pot,  cooking down tomatoes and canning food for winter. Each time I think I am done, I head out to our wash/pack shed and fine MORE tomatoes. Bins and bins of beautiful, ripe tomatoes. And I cannot let them go to waste. My future self calls out to me through time, telling me how much she is enjoying having tomatoes on a cold, snowy day. I hear her, and I obey. I can some more, I shuck and freeze corn, ball the leftover melons. Thinking and planning ahead, providing for our family and trying to make a little bit of this summer feeling of abundance stretch into those lean winter months.I am starting to get a little bit burned-out on plain old tomatoes, though. Last night I canned ketchup, and next, I'm thinking about sun-dried tomatoes. How do you preserve your tomatoes? Anybody tried freezing them?-Hannah.

A DAY IN PHOTOS: CANNING APPLESAUCE.

Another day canning in the outdoor kitchen, with Rascal the chihuahua as my companion.