Entering June usually signifies two things I’m certain will be happening in my life: hurricane season and processing mom’s garden bounty.
Right now Hurricane season is barely starting, but everyone is pushing safety information and keeping their forecaster eyes on the Gulf and Atlantic.
I mean, there might be a bit more to worry about based on how well everyone rode out the rainstorm last Friday.
I think we fared pretty well at the Reddell homestead, but I also know that some folks weren’t as lucky.
We’ve heard from several people online and in person that the Blessing area was hit hard and is still recuperating Monday afternoon.
One of the things noted was crop damage and I feel for those farmers affected.
At the same time, the weird weather also prompted mom to process her tomato harvest into salsa before some freak storms rolled through and destroyed everything here.
She’s lucky that the weeds have overgrown and protected a lot of her vegetables – from the elements and chickens - at the expense of making it hard to find anything in that jungle.
Currently, she’s also teaching my sister Ashlee the overall recipe and canning operation.
It’s a lengthy procedure after all and requires a lot of moving parts while taking up a hefty chunk of time, too.
Also, canning salsa is different from when we’d can dewberry jam in the past, too!
I mean, we’re not out here doing chemistry to measure the acidity, the volume of water versus the pulpy parts, or something like that.
But, still, there’s a recipe to follow and we’ve tweaked our overall plan to maximize our batch yield.
While we usually end up with about a dozen pint jars, mom has opted for a few quart jars to save on pantry shelf space, too.
Even then, a neighbor gifted us with some of their tomato bounty – so, we’re looking at doing probably two rounds of salsa making at the moment.
Naturally, we’ll be returning the sentiment – we always do!
Honestly, most of all I’m just glad that Ashlee is here to help because it’s hard to constantly monitor the salsa as it cooks for two hours while covering meetings and writing for this week’s edition.
Also, I might take a little too much enjoyment from overhearing her and mom trying to reconcile the entire salsa process.
See, I’ve always been on hand by myself to help mom make this recipe and I’m just used to the way she does things that deviate from the sequential steps listed on paper.
Ashlee is very strict when it comes to rules and recipe processes – and I’ve gotten on her bad side a time or two.
So, when it’s mom’s turn to get reprimanded, there’s some internal happy dancing happening from my chair in the office.
But never outwardly dancing because then I’d likely be the one getting reprimanded and I don’t have time for that!
Still, by the end of this endeavor, we’ll have jars of salsa on hand for family use and to give as gifts.
I just can’t say much about the salsa concerning how spicy it is.
After all, we’re at the mercy of how the vegetables meld with the other ingredients in the recipe and how they grew in nature – kind of like hurricane season.
