There’s Something About Autumn…

There’s something about autumn, I’ve decided, that makes me super productive.

Take this past weekend, for instance. On Saturday morning, I headed to the farmer’s market…and came home with 80 lbs of tomatoes and 20 lbs of onions. By Saturday evening, I had processed half the tomatoes, giving me 18 pints of plain canned and 11 pints of ketchup, along with a batch of pizza sauce that was in the slow cooker to reduce overnight.

On Sunday, I was up at 5 a.m. By 6:30, the pizza sauce was processing in the pressure canner and a second batch simmered in a pot on the stove, I had a pork roast prepped for the slow cooker, and I’d cleaned the kitchen, put a load of laundry in, and showered. By 7:00, I was at the dog park with Giant Dog. This was followed by breakfast with my husband and another stop at the farmer’s market…this time to pick up the extras I needed for turning the remaining 40 lbs of tomatoes into something. Home to hang the laundry, process the second batch of pizza sauce, make chocolate chip cookies for dessert, wash and label all the jars from the previous day, chop the vegetables I needed for starting a batch of tomato soup the following morning, and finish making dinner.

And by 8 a.m. this morning? Giant Dog had already been walked, the remaining 40 lbs of tomatoes had been washed and cut up for a triple batch of tomato soup (in the stock pot) and roasted tomato sauce (in the oven), the pizza sauce jars from Sunday had been washed, and the kitchen had been cleaned…again.

And in a little while, I’m heading back to the market, because now I’m out of tomatoes…

Yep, there’s definitely something about autumn, all right.

I’m just glad the season doesn’t last too long, because I don’t think I’d survive! 😉