On 8/14/2017 11:45 AM, Muggles wrote:
On 8/14/2017 11:32 AM, George Shirley wrote:
Wife picked a whole bucket of sweet peppers and brought them in. All
washed and on the counter to dry. Some of them are big enough to turn
into stuffed chilies with burger and cheese in them. Have been waiting
for a goodly batch before I jump on them.

Probably for dinner tomorrow we will see if it works. We haven't had
much rain but we have watered faithfully to keep the garden going in all
this heat. We're having around 90 to 95 degrees daily and, a couple of
days, we hit 101F. Of course the electric bill has doubled due to
running the air conditioning 24/7. Gas bill stays the same year around
as our provider has ways to work it at a lower cost.

Gerge

Have you ever made pepper relish with them?

Yes, one of our favorites, our recipe includes cukes, onions, and
whatever seems to taste good this time around. At the moment we are
still eating last years relish. Have been doing that one for a lot of
years. Our kids, grands, and great grands all love it too.

We both grew up in families that made their own food from their own
gardens. In my case also chickens, turkeys, ducks, cows, etc. were also
turned into food. My folks had a sixteen cubic foot freezer, bought in
the early fifties and stayed with them until they were gone. Ours is a
21 cubic foot upright that is chock-a-block full of every kind of food.
We can a lot of veggies and turned my office closet into a seven shelf
pantry. I think we have twelve boxes of canning jars and I buy lids in
tubes about every ten years. We also have a very old, very large
pressure canner and keep it in working condition. The thing must be
fifty years old now but is still good and I get the gauges tested
annually. In Texas we have an excellent group of AG agents, mostly from
Texas A&M and we've both been certified on canning by the Agriculture
offices.

I'm getting worse with the stroke problems but I can still do canning,
cooking, dehydrating (eight tray dehydrator), whatever comes up. I
suspect we are the only home canners in this subdivision, most of the
folks here are both working people and come home to McDonald's. G

I know of only two other families that garden and I think it's just
vegetable gardening. We have a kumquat, a fig, and a pear tree, so far
we are the only fruit tree house. I get a kick out of people coming by
and ask me what that beautiful tree in bloom in the front yard. They are
startled when we tell them it's a pear tree.

George