Spring Chores

Dandelions - My favorite flower. Many times I received chubby handfuls of these from my sons

I can't believe it has been so long since I last blogged. I've been so busy just trying to keep up with Spring chores. And - whew-boy!...Spring has Sprung. I have been mowing (since hubby took a spill on the riding mower a couple of weeks ago - he's okay - now) and weeding and planting our vegetable garden. It has been a chore.

Dad and I took a trip to one of our local Seed/Plant/Tree retailers. We came home with far too many tomato plants again. Every year we plan to do just enough to eat. That lasts until we see the rows of varieties. "Let's have some of these." "Oh, we like Big Boys." "I need some Roma." etc and so forth until we have more than we can eat or I can prepare in dishes. So I suppose I'll be cooking up batches of spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, canned tomatoes, and other delicacies for winter enjoyment.

A couple of year's ago I made a huge batch of Chow-Chow. My neighbor swears it is the best he's ever eaten. I've had friends asked for more, but hey, it may never turn out the same again. I took my recipe from memory. It was one my grandmother used to make. My dad's mom canned and froze vegetables and fruits from their large garden every year. They always had the staple foods and strawberries and rhubarb among others. My grandfather had chickens and I have some wonderful footage of my sons collecting eggs with him the spring before he passed away at 96 years of age. They had pigs when I was younger, but as they aged, they gave up the larger animals.

And because I can't do anything without doing some kind of art I made labels for my Chow-Chow and my Jalapeno Peppers. Man were they good!