Hello Friend. I pray you are well, and your light is shining bright! We enjoy God’s goodness and mercy surrounding us in the beauty of the great outdoors and our family.
As previously stated, my dear sweet husband planted 55 various tomato plants this year and has proclaimed 2024 to be the year of the salsa! The picking commenced and canning started this week, and we have enough tomatoes to supply Red Gold and Heinz!
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. Thank God for a helpmeet! My husband and I work together on pretty much everything. I help him and he helps me. I have called him my sous chef for many years. I love to make big dinners for family and friends to sit around our table and enjoy the bounty God has provided. I am from a large family and my precious mother also loved to gather everyone around the table and so my sisters and I love to do this too! I’m blessed to have my very own sous chef who allows me to give him marching orders and responds with a smile eager to prepare for these occasions. I certainly would not be able to pull it off without him. We always say to each other “Two is better than one and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken!” Amen!!!
After a busy week, yesterday we began the process. He picked the tomatoes, and I washed and pulled the stems. Two large pots of water were put on to boil as well as jars, lids, and rings. The blanching process takes 3 minutes, and the big red beauties are put into cold water before we remove the core and skins. Once they’ve gone through the processor, seasonings are added and poured into Ball canning jars. (The Ball Family moved to our hometown in 1887. Five brothers built an empire: Ball Hospital, Ball State University, and Ball Canning Jars).
Then lids and rings were added and into a hot water bath for 40 minutes and shortly after we hear the sounds of pop, pop, pop! There’s something special about growing and canning your food. It’s hard work and sometimes I think why I am doing this, but I think we will continue this tradition as long as God allows. When I prepare meals made from what we’ve produced or grown from our small rural farm, it allows me to express the highest form of love to all those who sit around my table. Have I mentioned God has been so good!
Many blessings dear friends,
Nina xoxo
Read more about the original 5 Ball Brothers here: https://www.ball.com/our.../our-story/history-timeline....
