The LAST batch!

Wahoo! I have peeled my last tomato of 2012!

My last batch of tomatoes for this season was 14 quarts of Italian Style Stewed Tomatoes.

All I can say now, is BRING ON THE APPLES!!!

Grandma Jeppson's Chili Sauce

The voices woke me early this morning. So by 4:30 A.M. I was pealing tomatoes for chili sauce.

My beloved Grandma Perry, who was a pretty great cook, made terrible pot roast. All my life, I've heard that the only thing that made her roast edible was her mother's chili sauce.  This is my first attempt.

Grandma Jeppson's Chili Sauce

• 36 large tomatoes
• 6 large onions
• 4 large green peppers
• 2 cups vinegar
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cloves
• 1 tsp allspice
• 2 tsp cinnamon

All this boiled down to 14 pints, which I water bathed for 30 minutes.

Be More

Valera Petersen taught me to be "more" 

What ever she did, she did in a giant way. She didn't just keep a garden, she had the most beautiful yard I've even seen and grew enough veg to share with every neighbor she had.  Every meal at her house was a feast and if she was going to make Halloween treats, then there would be enough for EVERY child in town!

My darling, Heidi Perry will continue that lesson. When Heidi decides to do something, (yoga, knitting, running...) she does it all the way. And no one loves like Heidi Ann Perry. To be loved by her is to be loved completely and forever.

More than any thing, these two ladies have taught me to "fight the good fight."  Because of them, I will "square my shoulders and look hard in the eyes."

Thru Heidi, I believe that I can continue Valera's legacy. And to do so, I am going to have to step up my game. If I intend to be a credit to Valera Petersen, I believe I must put into practice my favorite quote from the movie "The Last Samurai"

"From the moment they wake they devote themselves to the perfection of whatever they pursue."

Here's to pulling my hair back, and going to work. Here's to perfecting my life.  Here's to being more. 

Shane I and completed 18 quarts of (very thin) crushed tomatoes last Saturday.

Today we are putting up our beets.  We found that it takes about 10 to 12 pounds of beets to fill 7 quarts. We're using Karla's recipe:

Pickled Beet Brine:

10 cups beet water

2 cups vinegar

3 cups sugar

1 TB salt

To process, we cold packed the jars and pored the boiling brine over the beets. Then we water bathed them for 30 minutes.