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It’s mid-August and the produce is abundant here on SA. Joyce has been making a lot of delicious hot sauce lately, trying to consume the tomatoes from her 21 tomato vines. So far, she’s only had to water the vines three times, which means the rain has kept them watered even to the extent that, with so much moisture, the tomatoes tend to split open. The blemish is superficial and doesn’t harm the flavor, just the appearance. Chopping up the tomatoes and using them in hot sauce solves that problem. The table grapes have begun to ripen and taste better than any grape I’ve ever tasted. The pair tree on the south end has lots of pears but no one but Tino seems interested in them. Joyce picked eleven peaches the other day that were maybe not as ripe as she’d like but were attracting the attention of squirrels and other marauders. The apple tree is loaded with small but delicious apples and there are a half dozen watermelons ripening in the front yard. The wine grapes have only just begun to ripen and have a long way to go. They seem to be behind where they were last year in the process. Continue reading “Living off the land”