Our Garden Grows More Than Tomatoes

    As the 4th of July comes each year, the kids and I watch to see if our corn is "knee high by the 4th of July" and we are once again surprised at how much taller it is than that.  Our corn is waist high and growing so well that weeding is not need much any more.   Our garden has grown this year, and we are planning to store as much of it as we can. We have planted radishes, turnips, carrots, potatoes, corn, tomatoes, summer squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, acorn squash, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins.  That's quite a lot of produce!  So far, I've made 10 jars of strawberry syrup,  8 cans of grape jelly, dehydrated 10 pints of blueberries, 10 packages of strawberries, and 10ish lb of bananas.  Grandpa just brought me 30 or so radishes and I'm not sure what to do with them!  I guess I need to decide how best to store them.  Do I chop and freeze or dehydrate?  Something to google later for sure.

     This is our first year dehydrating, thanks to my sister and brother in law.  I have learned that things shrink a lot when dehydrated, and that 10 pints of blueberries fit neatly into a pint size storage bag.  My 10ish lb of banana chips surely will fit into a pint sized baggie also.  Amazing considering the big heavy box they came in.  Now, they sit neatly on my storage shelves in the basement waiting to be baked into yummy quick breads, muffins, or pancakes.  We plan to dry tomatoes, green beans, squash, and really anything that would be easy to throw into a soup or stew.  My plan is to make soup starter mixes so easy fast dinners this winter should be a snap. 

     I love watching my shelves and freezer fill up with the bounty of the harvest!  The pretty jars make the basement cozy and I feel a kinship to those thousands of women who since the beginning of time also stored up food for their families.  As we work in the kitchen, that sense of community and family builds up not only our shelves with food, but our sense of closeness as a family.  It takes us all working together to bring in our harvest.  From planting, pulling weeds, to table, and canned; our whole family has been working and laughing together.  These are the things life long memories are made of.  I want to pass on these traditions to our children.  I want them to learn to be wise with what the Lord has given them,  to persevere through a task with a good attitude even if they really would rather not be doing it, and remember that family is the most important thing after God.  The Lord is so good to us, and I am so grateful for not only our harvest but these precious moments we get to spend as a family.  In the spring as I plant I'm not just planing seeds that will grow and bloom into food for us to eat.  I'm growing hard work, character, determination, laughter, joy, and love.  God teaches us so much from ordinary seemingly mundane tasks, and I feel so blessed to have these times.