Feeling Up-Beet
Yesterday, my team made 500 jars of pickle beets & strawberries, an absolutely amazing feat. I'm so proud of everyone for working so diligently at something so monotonous and seemingly endless. We are up to 2,575 jars, past the first goal of 2,300. I'd post photos, but you've already seen it: table tops and ovens full of ruby red jars. What you haven't seen is our fuschia hands and the beet juice splattered floor at the end of the day.
We're taking a break from beets starting tomorrow. Melanie and her helper, Karl, are making over 300 pounds of grain and nut this weekend. Then we all start on the 6,900 jars of peanut butter. I had to stop halfway through that sentence to wipe my eye; it's been twitching for the past week, every time I think about all that's left to do. We need to make 1,000 jars of peanut butter a day to finish it all in a week, but I'm hoping we can do it. We're buying pre-roasted peanuts, which will make it much easier than previous batches, where we roasted our own. These pre-roasted peanuts come with a lot of certification that they've been tested for every peanut-borne bacteria and virus known to humans, so we can avoid any unpleasantness.
As soon as this Beet madness is done, I'm taking a week off. I need to go to Nashville to see Matt and Dana, and I need some time to not have to be doing something. The date keeps moving around, according to our beet progress, but I'm hoping for mid December.
I'm knitting a scarf and hat set for someone for Christmas in some yummy rayon chenille I bought on closeout from Webs. The hat is done, except for finding the tapestry needle to finish it off. It's been done for over a week now. I know I'll find that tapestry needle some day before Christmas!
The other colors from the same closeout are equally delicious. The rose color will be another hat and scarf set, as will the gray color, but the red is for me me me! I'm going to make a luscious red chenille cardigan that I can already imagine wrapping up in. I picked out a pattern in the Holiday issue of Vogue Knitting, one with a gigantic shawl collar, but I'll have to tweak it, due to gauge concerns.
This week, the peonies I ordered a month ago showed up. I was pretty excited, until I opened the box.
Seriously? This cost $60? It smells wonderful, like wet dirt, but I'm guessing that when they said "bare root stock," they meant nothing but the bare roots. Sigh... Today, I'll be plowing the north forty and probably getting them in the ground tomorrow. I wonder how long it takes peonies to become established? They say they last for decades, but these guys are infants! I'm guessing I won't have those big, blowsy blossoms this coming summer. Good thing I intend to live here forever!
Have a glorious fall Saturday!
We're taking a break from beets starting tomorrow. Melanie and her helper, Karl, are making over 300 pounds of grain and nut this weekend. Then we all start on the 6,900 jars of peanut butter. I had to stop halfway through that sentence to wipe my eye; it's been twitching for the past week, every time I think about all that's left to do. We need to make 1,000 jars of peanut butter a day to finish it all in a week, but I'm hoping we can do it. We're buying pre-roasted peanuts, which will make it much easier than previous batches, where we roasted our own. These pre-roasted peanuts come with a lot of certification that they've been tested for every peanut-borne bacteria and virus known to humans, so we can avoid any unpleasantness.
As soon as this Beet madness is done, I'm taking a week off. I need to go to Nashville to see Matt and Dana, and I need some time to not have to be doing something. The date keeps moving around, according to our beet progress, but I'm hoping for mid December.
The other colors from the same closeout are equally delicious. The rose color will be another hat and scarf set, as will the gray color, but the red is for me me me! I'm going to make a luscious red chenille cardigan that I can already imagine wrapping up in. I picked out a pattern in the Holiday issue of Vogue Knitting, one with a gigantic shawl collar, but I'll have to tweak it, due to gauge concerns. This week, the peonies I ordered a month ago showed up. I was pretty excited, until I opened the box.
Seriously? This cost $60? It smells wonderful, like wet dirt, but I'm guessing that when they said "bare root stock," they meant nothing but the bare roots. Sigh... Today, I'll be plowing the north forty and probably getting them in the ground tomorrow. I wonder how long it takes peonies to become established? They say they last for decades, but these guys are infants! I'm guessing I won't have those big, blowsy blossoms this coming summer. Good thing I intend to live here forever!
Have a glorious fall Saturday!
Comments
Good luck. I love pickled beets.