This evening after work I dropped by the grocery store and picked up a few items, filled the gas tank and then got myself home pronto. It was icy and a little slick but not too bad. I’ve got a boatload of work to do tonight. Since I’ll be in the dentist office tomorrow morning and I do not handle shots very well, I figured I’d better get the house cleaned tonight. It’s really not all that dirty but I need to dust and vacuum. Since my granddaughter is coming tomorrow evening and she’s at that age when just about anything goes in her mouth, I certainly do not want her picking something strange up from granny’s floor or carpet and deciding it looks delicious!!
I have applesauce in the frig and pecan sandies made for her. She eats anything, but her big sister always loved those two items when she was that age so I’m hoping she likes them too; plus I picked up bananas and Cheerios while I was at the store. Those are always a must!! Oh, it’s such fun being a granny!!
I made spaghetti last night for supper and when I went downstairs to get a couple jars of tomato sauce I realized I only have 6 pints left. Oh, I just hate having so little tomato sauce left but my goodness, we can only grow so many tomatoes. I think we grew 18 tomato plants last year. There’s no way we're growing any more tomatoes than that this summer. No way!! Last summer I made and canned tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, tomato juice, whole tomatoes and also dried some tomatoes. I had leftover tomato paste from the year before and I didn’t make tomato salsa, so it looks like I’m going to be paying a lot of attention to my tomatoes this year because I definitely want to make the salsa as well. We just need to make sure we take extra special care of them and get all the production we can out of them because we eat loads of tomato products in this house!!
I have a small book that I write in each year, or at least try to, that helps me remember and guides me on what I should be planting the following year. It really comes in handy to have this information. It helps me realize when the optimum planting time is, when to start my seed and also where the items were planted. I also write in what did well, not so well, etc. This sort of information, along with keeping an eye on what you have left from the previous canning season, is so helpful. My husband and I have a rather large garden but we have absolutely NO intention of planting one any larger, unless we just have to of course. We aren’t getting any younger!! We are at our max and so, if we want more or different varieties of plants we intend working on planting smarter not larger. Keep a journal - it really will be a benefit.