I put up what I can use in the kitchen. Over years of canning, I abandoned the idea of preserving every bit of extra food coming from the garden. Maybe it was that dozen quarts of sweet pickles from 2016 still hanging around. These days, I donate excess to the local food pantries and that serves a broader constituency. Donating food is a simple pleasure of my life.

Almost all the empty quart and pint-sized jars have food in them, so I am done with canning for this year. The most frequent items are apple sauce and apple butter, apple cider vinegar, vegetable broth, tomato products, and a few other odds and ends. The trick is to use them within a couple of years of processing.

The freezers are both full, although that is another post.

Some harvest work remains. I tested the garlic and it is all cured. The next step is to trim the roots and leaves and select seed for next year’s crop. With as warm as it has been, I expect to plant garlic in early October. I’ll wait a couple of weeks to prep the bed.

Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and greens are still producing. The background foliage is turning brown, so we know the end of summer is approaching. It has been a good gardening year. With canned vegetables, the goodness will continue into next year.