September = harvest!

I love August through September in California...or at least this August and September since it's been quite cool this year. It rained last night!  A quarter of an inch! Unheard of.

This time of year, fall fruits are starting to come in season and a lot of summer fruits and veggies are still going strong. Farmers markets are amazing, as are friends' gardens and trees. One of my friends does peach research in the horticulture and agronomy department, and has acres and acres of peaches that (I don't know why) aren't getting harvested.  We went over to her house to help her do some canning, and made peach salsa, peach jam and peach chutney. I took a bunch of peaches home and made peach ice cream (using John and Lauren's ice cream maker), a peach pie and a peach tart, plus I froze a bunch of peach slices for winter use. The Pedrick produce stand has some amazing deal right now too - I got 10 lbs of tomatoes for 10 bucks and roasted them with some garlic cloves for tomato sauce.  I also got a bunch of pickling cucumbers and fresh dill and canned some dill pickles. Not sure what's next...whatever is cheap and plentiful. Apples and pears are starting right now...I wish I had more freezer space.

I told a friend that I bought the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and he scoffed that "canning is such a California thing."  But come on!  We have so much produce here.  It makes sense. It's times like these that I wonder if I could ever leave California.  I just need my own garden.  So jealous of people with big vegetable gardens.

I'm more excited about climbing in the gym and canning right now than getting outside to climb. That's why I have a day job.