Sweet Summer Start

The birds are chirping and the sun is shining on the homestead this week. Although its been super hot this week, it has been a great one. With hard work and time management we got most the stuff on our list done. Now, I said most of the things, not all the things. This is something God has been working with me on. Slowing down and less stress, do the best you can and leave the rest to Him. This is a hard concept for me, because I am a get it all done type person. People call me a type A person, but…. I’m just a fast pace person that needs everything in its place and done right! LOL!! But, I was relying on me, my stuff done on my time. Where was I putting God? Where was I letting Him lead me? These were the questions God is having me to ask myself. I know they are hard questions and had me to take a big look at my life and homestead. So, here I am, slowing down!

This week we picked the garden and finally picked enough to make some spaghetti sauce. I love filling my shelves with this easy recipe, that makes quick meals. We picked 40 pounds of tomatoes and then we picked a few peppers and went to the drying racks and grabbed a few onions and garlic. Everything that is going into this sauce is actually coming from the homestead, well everything but the the herbs. They wasn’t ready just yet. But will be soon.

We got everything washed, and it was time to start cutting up. It was so sweet, cause we had lots of little helpers in the kitchen. This is one of my favorite parts of homesteading, standing around the kitchen island with the grandkids and showing them how to can. They was just as excited as me. They love to go out and pick all the veggies, help wash them, and preserve them. They know that this is what is going to feed their bellies this winter. To me, the food is just a small part of homesteading, being with family and watching the boys grow is the biggest part for me. I watched our daughter grow up running around the farm, and now the boys.

This year I tried something different, instead of standing over the hot pan for hours to let the sauce thicken. I used a roaster that I had in the back of the closet. I never used it, and thought about putting it in a yard sale, but so glad I didn’t. This was a game changer for me!!! We put the sauce in the roaster, then added all the peppers, onions, and some mushrooms to the sauce. We then added all the spices and stirred it all in. Now this is the best part, we just walked away. With the top off, the water evaporates and the sauce thickens. I kept it in the roaster for about 12 to 18 hours, over night works the best for us.

The next morning I went ahead and browned my meat, hamburger and sausage. The house is smelling so good!! The smell of spaghetti sauce, the meat and the oregano and parsley. It just filled the air in the whole house. After we added the meat we got to can the sauce. Our little helpers, helped pour the sauce in the jars and wipe the rims. This was a great first canning the harvest of this summer season.

When the canner timer went off, our son pulled in from work. He had a smile on his face and asked us to come look at the back of his truck. So, here we all go, being nosy and wondering what he has been up to. We peeked over and there was totes of sweet corn! Three hundred ears of sweet corn!! This was such a blessing. What a gift that God had given us. Darian and Will went to get the tables set up under the shade trees in the front yard. They brought out the chairs, canner pots and canner propane burner. We was ready! As a family, we sat under those trees cutting, silking corn. We was talking and laughing and just enjoying being together. This is what I call a sweet summer start! We have picked our first big harvest, canned our first garden spaghetti sauce, and put up and froze three hundred ears of corn. What a BLESSED week!!!

AND GOD IS ABLE TO BLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY, SO THAT IN ALL THINGS AT ALL TIMES, HAVING ALL THAT YOU NEED,YOU WILL ABOUND IN EVERY GOOD WORK. 2 CORINTHIANS 9:8

See you next week,