cats whacked on catnip....and canning some tomatoes!

it was a beautiful sunset the other night....

in fact, all the sunsets are beautiful here. but this time of year they seem especially beautiful.

here's some more lemon balm that i am drying for tea for over the winter.



we use it fresh for teas and lemonades, but i also dry it to have delicious teas for the winter.

here's some delcious mung bean sprouts. we try to have fresh sprouts on hand at all times. we use them in salads, soups and stews - but mostly we just eat them as a fresh handful right out of the fridge - bahahahah!



we are still experiencing gorgeous weather.



i harvested some catnip seeds for the winter. some seeds i re-planted for plants to give leaves to the cats. some i planted for dehydrating to make catnip tea for us over the winter. catnip tea is very relaxing and along with sage and lavender tea, one cup right before bedtime can calm you and put you to sleep.



however, i made the mistake of harvesting the catnip seeds, and not thinking, with the smell of catnip all over my hands, when i pet little Frankie Blue Eyes - he went berserk. so i had to give him a couple of leaves on a stalk.




yes all of our cats are allowed on the table! here is Frankie-Mankly chewing on his catnip. fresh is best for cats, but we dry some for the winter months for them. cats love catnip!

here is Frankie after his fresh catnip contemplating life's unending mysteries.



he then went off to pass out under truckdura, vandura or in the grass or wherever he goes when he is whacked on the catnip.

here are the other 2 cats after their fresh nip - lying together on the table (i told you we let the cats on the table!)



aren't they cute? little brothers laying on the table together. (and believe me when i say that i wash that table with hot soapy water 265,347,155 times a day!)

next up - is our tomatoe harvest so far.

i plant a few varieties of tomatoes, but all are indeterminate, heirloom and organic. indeterminate means that they don't flower or set fruit all at the same time. which i find is easier for us to handle. the tomatoes above are the ones that we haven't been eating for the last 3 weeks.

when i can my tomatoes, i don't remove the skins unless i have a real glut of them. i also mix all of my tomatoes to make a very plain sauce with just some salt added.

here they all are ready to make some sauce - yummeh baby!



always boil your jars and lids according to proper instruction.



fill your jars and can 'em. that's 6 pints of tomatoe sauce right there.



some people get fancy with their canned tomatoes and add all kinds of stuff. we like ours to be canned plain and then when we use a jar, we can add whatever we want. i also make my sauce chunky so that we can have a chunky sauce for when we want chunky, or we can puree a jar if we want less chunky - know what i mean?

shoot! how could i end a post without a food pic? i just couldn't.

that's MY version of a sloppy joe sandwich. mine includes mushrooms, kidney beans, hamburger and home-made tomatoe sauce. with 3 million pounds of garlic, a nice-sized pinch of turmeric, cayenne and cumin. that's love on a plate right there, baby!

we are wishing you all of the best!