Whoa, Mama!

This Saturday, hubby and I went to a small, local farm to pick raspberries and left with over a bushel of tomatoes, peppers, garlic, lettuce, and even a few tiger melons!

The farmer had all this produce wasting away and he didn't want it to go bad so he gave it to us for FREE! He only wanted payment for the raspberries, but we paid him more of course!

The tomatoes alone weighed in at over 60 lbs. All of this loverliness was turned into 7 quarts of tomato juice, 9 pints of salsa, and 5 quarts of pickled hot peppers.

The tiger melons were the most interesting (they're in the bin on top of the tomatoes by the lettuce). I had entertained the thought of growing them this season, but after some research, I read that they didn't have much flavor. Even the farmer who gave us these said they didn't have much flavor. But after sitting on our kitchen counter ripening for 3 days, they were the perfect blend between cantalope and papaya/mango. Exotic and beautiful, just like me! :-)

Busy, busy, busy! Seems like all I am doing this summer is canning, and it feels like it. But whoa, mama!