Well, it has been a prosperous year. I canned 6 flats of quart jars of
mostly fruit
where each flat has 8 x 7 = 56 jars. So I have enough fruit and tomatoes
and
pickles to last me until next summer. So a continuous year round supply
of
organic fruit and vegetables.

I am at the end of this year's harvest. I still have to harvest the
potatoes and onions. Perhaps tomorrow or the next few days. I have
bought special metal
racks for the potatoes and onions so that they rest on steel grating
allowing
plenty of air and no moisture to spoil. Last year I had trouble with the
plastic
flats and containers in that black mold spoiled the tomatoes and
potatoes.

Harvested the rhubarb. But still getting a few more apples, pears and
Swiss
strawberries.

I had an opportunity to get hawthorns. And I like hawthorns more than
crab apples, but decided it was too much work.

I am hoping that as the years go by that the work of canning will get
easier and
easier. One of the things I notice is that everyone of us looks back on
life and
exclaims "gee I sure was active and busy and don't know where I had the
energy to do all of that". So I am hoping that canning 330-360 quarts
(liter)
every year will get easier and easier so that as I get older I can still
maintain
that number.

This year was exceptionally well harvest on black walnuts. I have one
favorite
tree that produces every year a large number of large nuts.

The bad features of 2002 is that I have no plums this year. So I have
something
to work on in future years. To have a yearly supply of plums. Already I
have
expanded the plum grounds.

And another feature is that I need to find out what varieties of apple
are the most
fireblight resistant and to start some of those.

This year I had a huge crop of tomatoes. My mistakes were several. I
planted
too many plants of over 20, when 10 is more than enough for one person.
I also
made the mistake of getting tomatoes not suited to the climate. I should
have
gotten the "early girl" or "big boy" varieties. Instead I tried Wolford
Wonder
(big heart shaped tomatoes) and Purple Calabash (fluted tomatoes and
ugly)
but prolific. Next year I should use just early-girl and cherry
tomatoes.