I'm canning two quarts of tomatoes in their own juice this morning, as a test. Our crop of tomatoes is finally ripening and, as I mentioned previously, I want to provide my family with tomatoes off-season that are not canned in BPA-lined containers.

Thanks to the wonders of modern prescription pharmaceuticals, I'm canning without having a heart attack or a nervous breakdown! Home canning can be quite nervous making. I have to keep LW out of the kitchen for the duration of the process. I've kept the baby gate between the kitchen and the rest of the house in place for that very reason.

No word on the dairy co-op job. I suspect I didn't get it.

We're having a heat wave. I hate it exceedingly. And of course I'm canning in the middle of this miserable heat. I can't wait for autumn coolness to return.

I'm making a backpack for LW for preschool. The teacher requested that the kids have a backpack, so I decided to sew one. All the pieces are cut out, I just have to stitch it together. Friday there's an open house at the preschool, and then school begins after Labor Day for the preschoolers.

The Tide of Summer Has Turned.

Now it's all about getting ready for autumn and winter.

I ordered my winter hay for the livestock. Two less mouths to feed, what with Kodiak and Snowdrop gone, but frankly I'd happily buy more hay if it meant having my dear llama boy and sweet sheep girl back and in good health. So many losses this year...
I had the money saved from early this year to buy next winter's hay.

My mom gave me her old car. We now have a safe car to drive LW around in; MW's car has a hole in the gas tank that we can't afford to fix. We call that car Russian Roulette, for good reason.

I spent the weekend canning peaches. Mom bought me a bushel of peaches and gave me two dozen quart-size canning jars that she's had for years. I had a canning kettle and jar lifter already, so it was just a matter of purchasing new lids and some sugar to make syrup for canning the peaches in.

I'll scrounge more jars from somewhere, because I want to can as many tomatoes as possible. I know that commercial metal cans are lined with BPA, and every time we purchase a can of tomatoes I cringe. We cook beans from dried beans, and I buy fresh or frozen vegetables, all to avoid buying commercial metal cans, but tomatoes off season are awful and expensive and I want to use the ones we've grown instead. So canning them is the only way. I've done all the canning myself thus far, but I'll need MW's help to do the tomatoes.

I have a job interview tomorrow. It's an office position for our local dairy cooperative. My years in agriculture support in the county will, hopefully, help but I'm not expecting to land the position. There are just too many applicants for each job that opens 'round here.

Raining today, which will help the garden and the pastures to recover from this drought.