Also- while winding bobbins last night, I glanced over at the loom and suddenly realized my warp wasn't on the loom correctly! The warp wasn't stretched over the back beam and hadn't been since I put the loom back together when we moved in May. Realizing this solved the tension problem I had been having this whole time.
I have also been working at a fruit and veggie stand (right next door to our place) part time and been allowed to take home any produce deemed unsellable and headed for the compost heap. Wasting food is perhaps my biggest pet peeve and has proved to make me more resourceful in the kitchen, more creative with recipes and created a time struggle between cooking and everything else! When I first started working and got permission to take home the "compost" I had several 5 gallon buckets of food every day- mostly tomatoes but also: lemons and limes (mmm lemon curd), extra ripe avocados (guacamole), eggplant, zucchini, peppers (veggie parmesan and ratatouille), cheese and bread past its sell by date (pizzas, bread crumbs and great sandwiches), beans, greens, broccoli (stirfries galore), bruised apples, peaches, pumpkin (apple butter, peach butter and pumpkin butter all make the house smell like a bakery) and CORN (tons of the sweetest corn for freezing, snacking, everything).
Here are the results of 2 months of my canning extravaganza! Crushed tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato sauce, tomato jam, hot pepper jelly and applesauce. 68 jars of free food! (minus the apples- we picked those at Highland Orchard) I still have a case of quart jars to can if I can figure out what to make. Perhaps veggie stock? Any ideas? Next year I think I will experiment with pickled green tomatoes, carrots and beans.
The stand is open until Halloween and then we will survive on the frozen peppers, corn, sauce, lemon/lime juice and bread as well all the cans I put up. I will definitely miss all the fresh stuff. Not to mention the relief from our grocery store budget!
