Too Much Harvest

August is the time for reaping all those veggies and fruits that you planted in the Spring. It's also the season for a lot of farms to offer good bargains their produce and offer baskets at low prices. Of course none of us can resist the lure of anything fresh picked . The problem is what happens when you have too much of a good harvest.

Right now gardens are yielding all sorts of vegetables esepcially the tomato. A few tomatoes are good. However what happens when you're glutted with them? The easiest answer is sauce. There's nothing wrong with making huge quantities of homemade pasta sauce to be frozen now and used during the fall and winter. You can also make homemade salsa and catsup if you're ambitious. Corn is another veggie that's in abundance right now. You can freeze it buty blanch (boil for five nmiutes first) The same method applies to broccoli, peas ans carrots. Save these for stews and sides at a later date.

If you have too much fruit then there are a number of alternatives. You can freeze straswberries. Just slice and add sugar and place in freezer bags. Peaches are a little difficult but still doable. Wash in very cold water pat dry with paper towels , cut in half and discard the stone. Then just drop into freezer bags and freeze. Of course with extra fruit you can make preserves out of them or usr as a topping for cakes and ice cream. You can also make sweet salsa to accompany roast meats, especially chicken and pork.

Don't worry if you have an overly boutniful harvest. There's plenty ot do with all those extra fruits and veggies. You'll be glad that Mother Nature blessed you with so much good homegrown goodness.