lovely at the start , icky hot at the end. hit up the island, new tenant arrived this weekend from berkeley, i sweat my arse off in the kitchen (canning, baby), and i learned, twice, of the gigantor raccoon living in my laurel bushes that fears, well, no one. watching my peppers deal with this heat so poorly and seeing early stage blossom end rot on some of my tomatoes is giving me GA – Garden Anxiety. but at the end of it all, plane tickets were bought by my fella for a nice long visit this fall and i couldn’t be happier. that’s what it’s all about, y’all.
i love great art on the sides of buildings, even if it’s advertising…this is on NW 23rd…and I can’t wait for them to open later this month!
gyros for lunch at Blue Olive…fulfilling a craving 
escaped town via ZipCar to head over to Sauvie Island to hit up the Pumpkin Patch for 50 lbs of local peaches, a flat of fresh blackberries, and more…but this vista made me stop and sigh happily…
dropped off the ZipCar and this dude was awaiting me with a grin
mellowing out on the patio of Tin Shed with a cider and the jalapeno/cherry quesadillas. perfect.
madly in love with this along Alberta St…
completely loving this local chive & black pepper cheese from Willamette Valley Cheese Co.
I’m not much of a basket collector but this shallow one was so beautiful and happen to be handmade in Uganda by a tribe visited by some Oregon folks who were teaching them sustainable gardening methods (nice trade!)
um, so this is my tomato land at eye level. wowza.
Most of them are still green and a couple bushes I’m a bit manic over as there’s blossom end rot in ‘em, but this Russian Black one (nope, not black…) was so tempting that I got to eat my first tomato off the vine today. good tomatoes, happy ecogrrl.
so i always seem to pick the hottest weekend to can, haha. ginger blackberry peach jam, spiced blackberry jelly, and bourbon vanilla blackberry jam. on a side note, most of my recipes do not include sugar (or fake versions of sugar). i’d rather taste the fruit!
Oh lovely! I’m with you … sugar (or subs) just cover up the beautiful flavor of fruit. Your canning looks fabulous! There’s something wonderful about a pantry full of home-canned food. Blossom End Rot … I’ve read that it’s caused by a calcium deficiency and be solved by putting egg shells around each plant. Of course, I don’t “do” eggs so … I just keep my fingers crossed each year.
On a slightly different subject … I have given you an award:
http://reducefootprints.blogspot.com/2012/08/meet-greet-monday-mtagt-and-award.html
Thank you for all you do to promote green living!
I love your picture posts! Your tomatoes are looking good! And the canning…oh my!
Ok.. so do you have jam recipes without sugar or fake sugar? Please share!
Yes! I just use the pectin for sugar free in the pink box and make it the same way – I’ve never liked sugary stuff anyhow so to me the flavor is actually better