November Thankfulness - Day 9 - Garden Goodness

Tonight we had our very last fresh meal from our garden for the year. Mr. Yesteryear Acres picked the last of the fresh leeks and carrots from the garden and I made a cream of leek and potato soup for dinner with garlic croutons that I made from scratch.  It was DELICIOUS.  I even took the time to grate all the potatoes so that each bite would be filled with potato yumminess.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres had several bowls. It was that good.  Our garden is now officially empty.  We are sad to see the end of the garden season but happy with all the garden goodness we have ready for the winter months.  We work really hard all summer long to preserve our veggies from the garden.  Our usual summer haul is
110 Quarts of Fresh Tomatoes
65 pints of sweet corn
55 quart bags of green beans
26 pints of Salsa
12 gallons of beets
6 gallons of peaches
26 pints of strawberry jam
6 gallons of vegetable soup
and 8-10 gallons of roasted vegetables
It takes a TON of work to get all of those vegetables picked, prepared and processed.  Sometimes I spend 10 hours a day just peeling tomatoes.  If you saw our trailer full of fresh picked sweet corn in need of husking, cooking and cutting the corn from the cobs - you might be tempted to run away.  The only thing that keeps us going is knowing just how good all the garden goodness will taste during the winter months.  And so we do it.  It is never fun but the rewards are just so darn tasty it is worth it.  Today's Thankfulness is dedicated to enjoying all our summer's wonderful bounty. I am so thankful for our garden's delicious vegetables. I am thankful we put in the hard work. I am thankful that the garden was so good to us.  And I am especially thankful that the garden work is done and all that is left to do is...... enjoy!