More than half baked

After all my complaining about the tomatoes being so slow to ripen this year,  it's finally happening.  Oh boy,  is it !  I think even the chickens are starting to be a little weary of tomatoes.  ( The chickens love-love-love tomatoes.  They get all the ones that are a little too far gone and when they see me bringing tomatoes to them,  they practically jump up and take them out of my hands ! )

Usually,  my standard method of preserving tomatoes is to give them a wash and put them in freezer bags.  That's pretty much it.  Sometimes,  if I'm feeling a little more energetic,  I'll blanch them and peel off the skins first.  I use them all winter in soups,  stews and sauces and it works just fine.  When I was at Juniper Moon Farm for Culinary Camp,  a few weeks back,  I learned another way to save some of that summer flavor.  Slow roasting is now my favorite method of "putting by" some of the tomato crop and adds a little variety to the ways of using them during the winter.  It is super easy and there's very little preparation involved.  Here's how Susan told us to do it - preheat the oven to 200 degrees and slice tomatoes in half, top to bottom.  Place on a foil lined sheet pan,  cut side up,  drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle on some salt and pepper and you can add herbs,  if you're feeling adventurous.  I used an Italian seasoning blend on this last batch.  Now stick the pan in the oven and walk away.....for hours.  Really !  The goal is to roast them until they collapse,  which for the Romas was about 5 hours.  Obviously,  a large meatier tomato is going to take longer.  When the tomatoes are done,  I let them cool down and then stick the whole pan in the freezer,  just long enough for the tomatoes to freeze solid.  Then,  I scoop them off the pan,  put them in freezer bags and mark the date on the bag.  That's it.  Simple - simple - simple.  Prepared this way,  they become sweet and intensely flavorful.  Besides my usual way of using preserved tomatoes,  I really like tossing these with some hot pasta and sprinkling with Parmesan cheese.  It makes for a super quick meal.

Back to those chickens,  I feel a little like the one with it's head cut off !  Besides dealing with a lot of gardening chores right now,  this is the third week that the painters have been here,  construction of the greenhouse is going on,  lambs are leaving the farm and we have a new Great Pyrenees that we are trying to acclimate to our farm.  ( more on that next time )  And,  wedding planning is kicking into high gear now, as we are almost 5 weeks away of the date !   I think I need a personal assistant to keep me focused and on task for the next month.  Any volunteers ?
 

Reform school

One of us needs to go to reform school.  Either she's going to stop chewing on everything she can get her mouth around or I'm going to become a neat and tidy person, who never leaves anything on the floor ( or tabletop or chair or sofa ).   No stacks of books.  No baskets of yarn.  No knitting projects.  No magazines.  No glasses of iced tea.

Want to place any bets on which one of us changes our ways? 

Getting things done

These are the newly finished beds.

We've had a little spell of nicer ( cooler than 90+ degrees ) weather lately and I've been able to tolerate working in the garden some.  While it hasn't been a banner year for produce from the garden,  we have had plenty of cucumber,  zucchini,  yellow squash and swiss chard.  The tomatoes are finally beginning to ripen.  I don't know what their problem is this year,  but they are ripening in slow motion.   Mike has gotten several more of the raised beds finished and I've begun planting a fall garden,  for the first time since we came to the farm.  It's so much more appealing to think about gardening in cool weather.  Why haven't I thought of that before?  This past weekend I planted broccoli,  brussel sprouts,  kohlrabi, spinach,  kale,  carrots,  celery, and several varieties of lettuce.   I was thinking as I planted,  if all went well,  I'd be harvesting some of those for Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Holly is not impressed with any of this activity.

We've been very focused on preparations for Mike's son's wedding here at the farm and it's now less than seven weeks away.   Amazing how motivated you can get to clean out the garage,  barn ( as much as possible when there are all those animals living there ),  garden shed,  and more,  when you start thinking about all those people who will be here looking at how we live.   I think it's probably a good thing to have a major event here at the farm every 5 or so years,  just to keep us on our toes!

Sorry for the lack of posting lately.  When there is too much activity going on around me,  I find it difficult to settle my brain and focus.  I'm hopeful I'll get back on track this week. 

That didn't take long

 First, it was like this.  A foggy, peaceful morning.  Animals quietly grazing and me barely awake.

        Then, not long after 7 am, there was this.

 Then, the main water line was dug into and at 3 pm, we still have no water.  Sigh....