My To-Do List . . .

My to-do list this week is different--not much work in the garden. I have been canning the past few days, turning my tomatoes and peppers into something I can eat later in the year--spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and catsup. All summer I have been putting my tomatoes in zip bags and then into the freezer. Actually, the side-by-side freezer and the small chest freezer in the garage! My husband is getting cranky that he can't stock up on his ice cream, TV dinners (for when he comes home late after hockey), and frozen waffles. So far I have used about 50 pounds of tomatoes, and there are more to go! Besides that, they are still producing in the garden!

If you are going to use tomatoes for making sauce, freeze them first, even if it's just overnight. Freezing breaks the tomato cell walls and releases a lot of water. When you thaw the tomatoes, just pour off the water (I also squeeze the tomatoes in the bag, like a sponge, after pouring off the water, and more water will run out). This will cut HOURS off your cooking time! The skins will slip off instantly, too. If you don't want the seeds in your sauce, then cut the tomatoes in half and remove the seeds before freezing. Today I got really thick pizza sauce in 2 hours instead of simmering all day!

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Planting by the moon signs:

Wednesday-Thursday: Aries--very good for root crops; not good for above ground crops or transplanting
Friday-Sunday: Taurus--#1 for root crops; good for transplanting all crops