Harvest In The Jars

It took forever to reduce the gallons of tomato pulp and juice into proper tomato sauce but it is all done. Twenty Six pints of Georgia sunshine all ready to brighten many a meal next winter. It's one thing to core and chop the pounds and pounds of tomatoes but the real chore is cooking it down into a proper tomato sauce. It took about 6 hours of diligent stirring and nurturing but it is in the jars and it is gorgeous if I do say so myself. In between the tomatoes I also managed to get a batch of dill pickles started and can some pickled okra with Madam's help.
Nothing much here except hot. Even the early morning cruise of the garden to harvest the day's bounty is guaranteed to bring a little glow. We are reaching the summer peak with respect to summer gardening....lots of things just melt in the afternoon heat with the exception of okra which seems to thrive the hotter and drier it gets. Tomatoes and squash are showing the stress but most of the peppers are thriving in the heat. Probably have about a month now where the garden will slowly succumb to the summer stresses but come August we will start planting for the fall and winter garden. Beets, carrots, turnips, chard, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and whatever else I can find. Early spring and late summer are the prime gardening times here in the South and fall gardens almost always get the advantage of a late frost which "fingers crossed" won't happen until Thanksgiving or so.
We're bushed and off to bed now but dill pickles are waiting for me in the morning. Again, the reality is that I could buy pickles cheaper especially considering how much effort I have put forth but they wouldn't be my pickles..