Well, can't match some of you folks, but I have in the freezer:

    About a gallon of mulberries

    About 4 lbs of green beans (they're slowing down right now, but I'll have another bunch to pick before fall)

     My tomatoes are doing well this year .. I have a dozen that I'll be freezing in the next couple of days, with another dozen about ready to pick.  I'll have a few peppers of various colors, too. If I can keep the rabbit away!

Lynnea Berr:

Thanks, Pat!  If I can glean some from my yard, I may try it.

You're welcome. I don't know how I missed this post, I wasn't trying to ignore you, really!

Mom had a gooseberry bush in the back yard that we dug up from some BLM land the ranch rented. She made super good gooseberry pies and jam, too.  Currants is another one that's not so popular any more. I don't know if they grow everywhere. We also gathered choke cherries for jelly and syrup. One time I made hard candy from them. 

Mom had flowers, but fruit, too. I prefer growing vegetables and fruit over flowers myself. I know, I'm weird.. it's not that I don't like flowers, but if I'm going to put in all that effort, the plant had better feed me!  

I have already put up broccoli, asparagus (bought from a farmstand), raspberries, and strawberries. We've had so much rain this summer that my tomatoes are suffering so if I have enough for 5 quarts of sauce, I'll be happy. The cucumbers also suffered from the rain and not enough sunshine that I will not have enough to pickle. However, my husband's grape vines (he has two of them) benefitted greatly from the early summer rains and I will have over 100 lbs. of grapes for jam this year. Our drought in the UP is officially over and the apple trees recovered nicely this year. While I will not have the same numbers of apples that I have had in previous years, this year's crop look nice and I anticipate putting up applesauce, apple butter, and apple pie filling this fall. I freeze all of my fruit and then let them thaw for putting up jam in the late fall. I can use the heat generated from the stove at that time instead of heating up the kitchen during the summer. I tried canteloupe this year and I actually have four of them growing on the vine. I also froze some red grapes when they were on sale and watermelon. I eat them during the winter. They are wonderful frozen. Taste like candy.

This doesn't fall in the food category, but I have also put fleece linings on the back of my winter curtains, and am working on finishing a braided rug for the livingroom. The last one I may be doing up til next spring! Our temps this summer have been in the 50s and low 60s in the mornings working their way up to the 70s by the afternoon. I have not had one morning since Memorial Day weekend (when summer REALLY starts) that the temps have been above 62. So I have been preparing for winter all summer.

cgbascom:

I will have over 100 lbs. of grapes for jam this year.

WOW!  I can't even imagine translating the pounds into jars of jam!

Also, welcome to the Forums!

cgbascom:

Our temps this summer have been in the 50s and low 60s in the mornings working their way up to the 70s by the afternoon. I have not had one morning since Memorial Day weekend (when summer REALLY starts) that the temps have been above 62. So I have been preparing for winter all summer

If you don't mind sharing..... where do you live?

I finally got done with all those cucumbers I bought! I think I went a little overboard on buying so many. I did 12 quarts and 9 pints of dill pickles, 3 pints of dilly green beans, and 5 quarts of refrigerator bread and butter pickles. i also made a huge batch of homemade salsa from a recipe that I found at Recipezaar. It can be canned, but I don't want to have to go buy more jars, so I am going to freeze it in ziplock bags. Besides, it is too hot this week (will be 102 degrees today and tomarrow), to even think about heating up the stove and canner to process them.

bluesong:

cgbascom:

Our temps this summer have been in the 50s and low 60s in the mornings working their way up to the 70s by the afternoon. I have not had one morning since Memorial Day weekend (when summer REALLY starts) that the temps have been above 62. So I have been preparing for winter all summer

 

If you don't mind sharing..... where do you live?

She lives in the UP (Upper Peninsula of MI). 

Lynnea Berr:

She lives in the UP (Upper Peninsula of MI). 

LOL ! Thanks, I was trying to figure out what UP stood for.  Here I was thinking it was some foreign country. I guess I have never heard Michigan referred that way, upper or lower peninsula...  I learn something new everyday LOL!

Lynnea, don't feel bad. When we moved up here 20 years ago, my mother wondered if we would even have electricity and an indoor bathroom. I assured her that while we did have an outhouse, that there was also an indoor bathroom. Sorry for the confusion. We call people who were born up here, Yoopers and the ones who live below the bridge, Trolls. Those of us who were born elsewhere, but moved up here are always called Transplants, regardless of how long we have lived here.

Translating a 100 pounds of grapes into jam is something I have been trying to avoid thinking about. We do have two people who would like some of the grapes when they are ready. One wants to try to make wine and the other wants to use them for freezer jam. I am going to try turning some into raisins. These grapes are concord grapes and have seeds, but I don't think that they will affect the overall taste or texture of the raisins. By the way, we did not plant the grape seeds. Unlike much of our fruit, the seeds were 'planted' by birds. The raspberries, blackberries, pear trees, apple trees, and catnip were here when we moved here in 1989. I harvest the catnip, lemon balm and spearmint (which I planted years ago) for teas. I also make tea from mullien flowers which make their appearance every two years. I did have peppermint, applemint, and chocolate mint in my garden, but they did not survive the drought. Yes, it is possible to have a drought in the Upper Peninsula. I will replant these teas next year. I use coffee filters to bag my teas. You can get three bags from one filter. The chocolate mint tastes good in coffee. I can use it at least three times, since I don't want to overwhelm the taste of the coffee. At one time, I used the chocolate mint in my raspberry jam. You do have to use three bags to get the chocolate taste in the jam. I liked it, but my family did not, so I stopped using it in the jam. I see that I have been 'long-winded' so I'll sign off now. Bye!