anyone else? It just feels like it's become all too much...must go commune with my plants!

[NewHendoLib]

The utter lack of logic and rampant idiocy and politicization and worsening data on COVID. That our bandwidth doesn't even seem to have enough room to process human disasters elsewhere, like in Haiti. That the Afghanistan "thing" - the big, needless can that has been kicked down the road for decades, and finally a president with courage decided ENOUGH...and gets pilloried everywhere. I wish for a media that was smarter, had any sort of memory, could actually do their job - and treat us like we are not stupid. The super utter logic that a legitimate election STILL is being denied, fought, and lying clowns are working to (think they can) undo it. That California is burning up, parts of the SW don't have enough water, torrential rain (where it is NOT needed) is ruining crops and gardens, that parts of the world are melting - climate change - gallops on as it is "inconvenient" financially to do anything about it. Finally - it is inconceivable to me that TFG and his minions continue to slip through any mechanism to get them to where they deserve - locked up - forever.


AND I DON"T EVEN WATCH TV NEWS! I get all of the above just from a total of an hour daily here at DU, and a few passes around TPM and Slate and CNN and NYT websites.

Maybe it has been this complex, this insane, this maddening in the past at some point - but when? At some time in my 65 years I had some confidence that truth could prevail, that doing things in a human manner, that we can treat others as we wish to be treated, would help.

But I can't remember such a time. What is that line from the poem? "the center cannot hold"? THAT is what it all feels like right now. Poor Joe Biden - could he have possibly understood that this would all be waiting for him?

OK - that's my daily rant (Atticus, lately I've most resonated with your posts - it really does capture my general mood these days - so here is mine).

Got a lot of dying tomato plant to go and pull - and that's OK - I've been picking 50-75 lbs a day for a month. Got lots canned, lots of sauce made, lots given away. What a year (in so many ways!)

[Treefrog]

1. Any ideas on freezing maters? I've got a bumper crop this year.

Giving them away by the dozen, but I’d love to have some later. Never learned canning.

Spending the day in the garden too. Very hot, so inside for breathers, but getting lots done.

[NewHendoLib]

4. YES! read on below

You can simply take whole, ripe tomatoes (that don't have big bad spots, blossom end rot, or worm holes) and put them in gallon freezer bags and pop them into the freezer. Of course they won't keep their texture, but will keep their fresh wonderful flavor. Just take them out when you want to make sauce or soup - run them under water, the skin pops and slips off, cut off the stem end - and you are off and cooking!

The other thing we do - fill a big roasting pan with a chopped sweet onion, chopped sweet pepper, some chopped garlic, a few tbsp olive oil, some salt and pepper and fill it with chopped pieces of tomato (any kind) - put in a 300 degree oven, stir it hourly - in about 4-6 hours it roasts down into the best sauce you've ever eaten - we freeze or can that (the stuff we don't eat fresh).

You can also line big baking pans with parchment, quarter tomatoes, seed them - place on the paper, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and slow roast at 250 for 2-3-4 hours, until they are dehydrated down partially - intensely flavored, useful for pizza toppings or pasta - we freeze them and use them all year.

Three ideas for ya!

[SWBTATTReg]

8. Nice! Thanks so much, I'll enjoy using these wonderful ideas!

[Treefrog]

14. Thanks for this!

[Hugin]

5. There are still friends and neighbors who won't speak to me after the zucchini incident...

I'm sorry I have no knowledge of tomato storage other than canning of tomatoes is best left to the experts. Along with green beans, canning tomatoes can lead to undesirable outcomes.

Freezing would seem to be a good way.

[NewHendoLib]

6. we canned 63 quarts - not at all hard to do - last well for 1-2 years - we've never had an issue

[Hugin]

7. I think 63 quarts qualifies you as an expert.

Plus, you'd probably canned before, right?

[NewHendoLib]

10. for decades, my wife and I have the process down pat

pm me, I have my method as a google doc, can give you access

[Hugin]

13. Sure thing!

Any tips on growing carrots? After years of trying all I've managed is some frilly tops with tiny orangish anemic roots.

Is it the soil here too rocky and hard? Not enough water? I can't figure it out.

[Treefrog]

15. Lol! The "zucchini incident".

[Hugin]

2. Thank you for bringing word of what's really important.

[marybourg]

3. Listening to golden oldies ( and to me that means

50’s tunes) on my CD changer. And I think I’m going to keep it going for the foreseeable future. BBC is wallowing in schadenfreude.

[Kaleva]

9. Climate change is going to make today seem like the good old days

So I don't get too worked up about what's happening now. Enjoying life today as tomorrow is going to be hell on Earth.

[NewHendoLib]

11. yes, this is the biggie that will dwarf all the rest

[Kaleva]

12. We are already seeing the beginnings of the bad stuff. It's just going to get worse.