Greens and Maters

Food seemed to be the theme again this week around The Acre. The canning machine was at full throttle, and we managed a couple pretty good meals too.
First of the week, Big Man picked another bushel or so of collard greens. For some reason our collards have done very well this year, and we're not complaining. Collards with little chunks of brisket is a favorite around The Acre.

Ten more quarts of greens in the pantry

And speaking of brisket, Big Man smoked another flat end during the Thor's day rib smoke. This one is just for collards flavor, maybe a brisket pot pie next week.

The next big canning adventure was tomatoes. One of our local gardens was full of tomatoes and we managed about two bushels from it, and made sure not a bit of them went to waste this weekend.

Hey, we forgot to take a picture before we got started

Problem solved

45 quarts, and one pint in one day. Or 91 pints. Last year we did all pint jars, and we always used at least two pints per whatever it was we were making, so we went with quarts this year. We told you all to invest in Ball and Kerr, if you didn't, you lost out.
Our one stand out meal this week was foot long hot dogs. We know it don't sound all that fancy, but when was the last time you saw foot long hot dogs, and foot long buns sold in a store? Lucky for us, Mrs. Wade does at the C'burg Wades supermarket. We found them once before and had them for dinner, but this time we had the forethought to take a pic before we ate. They taste just exactly like a Dude's footlong, you heard it here first.

We topped ours with home made squash relish, banana peppers and some Vallydale chili. Washed it down with a little home made lemonade, and we had a fine meal.
We had a little excitement around the house Saturday, the tree trim folks were out in force, and a short time later, the helicopter limb trimmer started working the lines near the house. Cupcake had never seen one in action before, so it was a big deal.

And speaking of trees, the maple trees have started turning colors. Fall has arrived.

And on a tree related note, one of our apple trees that we had planted in an old flower pot has been overtaken by volunteer petunias. We can only figure the chickens pooped in the pot or the dirt before we planted the tree in the pot. Either way, it's kind of neat.

And last but not least, a cast iron brag on Cupcake entry. We were at the C'burg Wal-Mart picking up a few more cases of jars for the tomatoes, when Cupcake spotted cast iron pizza racks from the good people at Lodge.

The advertised sticker was $19.95, and we jumped to buy one before they changed their minds. When we got to the checkout line and it scanned, it rang up $40 dollars. Cupcake grabbed a manager and showed her the display and the stickers, and the manager said somebody on the staff made a mistake, but gave us the money back, so we ended up with a cast iron pizza maker for half price.
We ended the week with chicken wing Sunday, like always.
K&K