On Thursday I was up around 5:30AM and got my post up, then cleaned up the kitchen. I went out to do harvesting first.
I finally got out to the New Herb garden around 8AM. I’d planned to finish the weeding, prep the beds and plant them.
I filled 1 whole sled with the prunings and dug up roots of the marjoram. It, unlike its cousin oregano, had done fabulously all summer. Once I’d gotten the yarrow back in its bed and cleaned out, I got the amendment put down on both Row 6 & 7.
The mulch was really high and uneven in the last walkway, so I decided I’d best move it and level it before I fell on it. In the process of doing so, I realized I should locate the cover to the septic tank so it could be pumped.
I’d been working towards this goal all summer, with cleaning out the beds and walkways. I’d finally gotten to that point. So I went inside and found a photo of the last time it was done, so I’d have an idea where the cover was. I hit it on the first try, I think.
Once I’d finished moving the mulch I was too worn out to do any planting. So I got my photos, made my notes and cleaned up. It was 10AM.
Once inside I sat down for a while before getting up and getting a shower.
Next I started prepping tomatoes for the tomato soup base. I hoped I had enough ripe tomatoes to do 6 batches this time. My helper friend arrived at 11:30AM and I sent him to the store for supplies.
Once I finished the tomatoes, I got the broccoli cleaned up and soaking in water to kill the worms. Unfortunately, there were quite a few this time, but oddly enough, very little damage. Oddly, I was finding both the tiger worms and the cabbage butterfly worms on the same stalks. In the past it was just 1 type on some and the other on different ones.
When he got back he chopped the celery and onions for 6 batches, as I’d had plenty of tomatoes. I got the garlic peeled and he went on a search for 1 pint freezer containers. He couldn’t find them. I’d forgotten I hadn’t bought new ones last year as I had plenty of another type of old ones.
He got the garlic pressed and into the soup base while I added the seasonings. We left that to simmer and he thinly sliced the paprikas and got them in the dehydrator.
Next he went out and harvested a dozen Walla onions. He got started on chopping them and I made the freezer bags for them.
In between all this, I was watching the soup base which was cooking down nicely. I had read my old notes on what I had done in the past and once I had blended it before sending it through the Squeezo. So I decided to try that.
I used the low speed and it came out pretty well. Then I ran it through the Squeezo several times and got a good amount of base.
Once the base pot was off the burner, I got the blanching water heating for the broccoli. That went pretty quickly and I soon had it cooled and in the freezer 1½ pint boxes that make 1 meal.
By this time my helper friend had chopped 30 bags of Wallas in ½ cup amounts and was moving onto 1 cup amounts. I was busy making bags to stay ahead of him.
Once I’d packaged up everything for the freezer, I was busy cleaning up the mess, got a load in the dishwasher, and got the Squeezo washed up. Cleaning the screen to that takes quite a while.
He finished the 1 cup onions in time to take it all down to the freezers before he left at 4:30PM. Tom showed up about then and took some Swiss chard, kale, and onions out of the garden.
I was so exhausted. I just had supper and sat down to watch Big Bang Theory before bed. I had to close the house up as it was to rain during the night.
Tom said my #3 intern will be coming on Friday mornings to help out as part of his homeschooling. So the plan is to dig out both covers as the septic guys are coming on Monday. That ought to finish me off.
I have PT mid afternoon so I should be wiped out when I get home. It’s to turn humid and hot for the next 2 days until another front comes through late on Saturday. That will be fun NOT and make it hard for me to breathe.