Abundance

After breakfast yesterday morning, the husband and I went out to check on the apple trees. The Lodi only produced enough apples for about one pie. Susan said I could have some of her Duchess of Oldenburg apples, but I think we’re good on pie filling for now. The State Fair tree had some lovely apples, enough for the husband to snack on this week. I cross my fingers every year and thus far have not had to spray. The insects do not seem to have found my trees, even though the orchard has been in for almost 10 years.

The Red Wealthy is loaded and the Honeycrisps have a respectable crop, but the Wealthy needs another week yet. Susan taught me to check by cutting the apple open to see if the seeds are brown. We follow that with a taste test. The husband likes tart apples, but there is a difference between tart and sour and these apples aren’t quite ready. The Honeycrisps need a couple of weeks yet.

After I brought in the apples, I turned my attention to tomatoes. We are awash:

The husband said that next time, I should hook the wagon up to the John Deere tractor and take it over to harvest tomatoes. I was pushing the limits of this Little Tykes wagon. I am bringing in anything that has a bit of pink on it and letting it ripen inside. September is a race with Mother Nature, and already the tomato plants are looking a bit done in. At some point, I will collect whatever is left out there and bring it in, pink or not.

Everyone I know seems to be making salsa with this year’s crop of tomatoes.

Some of the Cherokee Purple tomatoes are well over a pound each. The husband is holding this one in his (not small) hand:

I’ve been researching other tomato varieties and I found one called Cherokee Chocolate, a relation of Cherokee Purple with darker skin. I am thinking ahead to next year’s plant sale. If we offer some really interesting and unusual varieties, we can build up a reputation and charge a premium for those plants.

While I was in the kitchen getting tomatoes sorted, I made a pork stew for dinner. I cut pork steaks up into cubes, browned them, and put them in the crockpot with tomatoes, beans, onions, green chilis, stock, and spices. That simmered all day. The husband had some for dinner (over rice) and pronounced it “exceptional.” I have no idea how to re-create it, LOL.

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After lunch, I pulled out and organized all the inventory for the co-op sale. I’ll pick up tags this week—the co-op has special tags printed to use at the sale—and work on pricing things. I also sewed up another T-shirt for myself from the pile that is already cut out, and traced the T-shirt pattern to make a couple of shirts for WS.

At some point, I need to get back to quilting.

I also have to visit with the quilt store owner about future serger classes. I checked the store’s class calendar and there are very few dates available for me to shoehorn in a class. I’ll see if she wants something before Christmas or if a T-shirt drafting class can wait until after the holidays.

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The husband forwarded me an e-mail Friday afternoon and said, “Read this and I’ll tell you the rest of the story.” The e-mail was from someone currently building a home, but the contractor he hired to do the foundation formed it nine inches out of square. I don’t know a lot about building, but I do know that you can’t frame a house on that kind of foundation. The homeowner is desperate to find someone to fix the foundation so work can continue. The husband wasn’t going to take the job. He knows the contractor who did that foundation and he would prefer not to get caught up in any drama, but at the last minute, he decided to talk to the homeowner. The husband is going to fix the foundation. There is an added benefit for me—the homeowner has a business importing seafood from Alaska. The husband knows that I love seafood, but good seafood is hard to get here in the land of cows, and I won’t buy farmed seafood. Halibut and crab legs won’t be a regular item on the menu, but once in a while, they will be a welcome treat. The homeowner sent a lovely filet of halibut home with the husband as a thank-you for coming to look at the job. I have to discuss preparation methods with DD#1—who not only cooks it, but has been out fishing for it now that she’s in Ketchikan—and will make that this week.