I haven't been in for a while.  Actually for a very long while and for this I heartily apologize.  Do you remember back in March or April when I told you that Mac had planted 148 tomato plants?  Well, do you?  Do you remember me mentioning  the peas and cucumbers, the melons and lettuce, the whole gamut of garden goodies including peppers of all description and varieties that my own Jolly Green Giant had placed in the soil so lovingly?  Well?

This is an Armenian Melon...best cucumber ever7 jars of pears! one of five shelves of tomatoes peppersOh, this is JJ, you'll hear about him lateranother view of this fabulous cucumber!dehydrated potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant...more potatoes for winter wonders!dehydrated coconut.  I feel a cake coming on...

   Oh, and how about the potatoes, the okra and the eggplant, I'm sure you remember that, don't you?  Okay so now your memories are jogged and you'll readily forgive me for not stopping by to see you (and Lord how I've missed you all...I have lots of reading to catch up on and catch up I will!)  I haven't even mentioned the peaches and the pears that have found their way into my freezer and canning pot, not to mention the blueberries (they outdid themselves, too)   Today I put up 7 quarts of pears and next weekend will find me doing the self same thing.  My pear tree, though small, runneth over.  And hey, did you know that pears do not ripen on the tree, that you have to pick them and let them sit in a nice basket for about a week (sometimes more) before they develop that lovely pear flavor and sweetness?  So today Mac picked me a bushel of pears and by next Saturday it will be time to break out the canner and the Mason jars yet again.  So here is what I have done for the past two months...canned 50 jars of tomatoes, frozen 50 quarts of them, eaten a fair number of them as Sink Sandwiches...you know what a Sink Sandwich is, right?  It's a big old 'mater sliced thickly and  laid out like the Sunday goose on a well mayonnaise- slathered piece of light bread (read loaf bread)  plenty of salt and pepper and topped with another piece of light bread (just a smear of mayo this time) and then you assume the position...push up your sleeves, stand over the sink and dive in, letting the juice run down your arms and drip into the sink while you make shivery noises with your eyes closed.  I have dehydrated potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant.  I have fried eggplant and frozen them individually on a tray to bag and use this winter for Eggplant Parmesan.  I have dehydrated  and made beef jerky, dehydrated coconut and bananas (none of them came from the garden, more's the pity), dehydrated peppers (cubanellas, bell, jalapeno,) made pepper sauce with cayenne peppers and when I tell you that my pantry is full, I kid you not.  I have made pepper relish and cabbage chowchow, picked and put up greenbeans and peas.  And I still have to call Phoebe and see how her tomatoes did this summer.  I also am not kidding when I tell you that Mac has planted me six more tomato plants for a late crop, spinach and collards, speckled butterbeans and green beans and more of these marvelous Armenian Melons (the biggest cucumber you will ever see in your life!)  I can't wait for Winter!  I'm running on empty here, I may  need a nap.