I have started storing food for winter. I love fresh veggies at the farmers market during summer and wish I could eat them all year long. Each time I visit the market, I buy a little extra of something and freeze it. This past weekend I decided to can tomatoes. When I told the farmer guy that I was canning them, he made a special deal and I brought home a ton of tomatoes for a good price. Now I have tomatoes, field peas, butter beans, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers in storage for the winter. The blueberries we picked (3 gallons) did not make it because we ate all of them already. My next winter preservation project will be okra and some more peaches.

My grandparents used to buy huge quantities of one vegetable and spend the day together peeling, prepping and canning. Canning tomatoes this weekend was a lot of work and I didn't enjoy it much. But hopefully I will appreciate it when the weather is cold and dreary and I can sit down to a hot plate of spaghetti or vegetable soup made with Alabama grown tomatoes.