Change of Plans...54º

It didn't take long for Herb to back the truck under the apricot tree and with the help of a 4 foot ladder we were soon standing on the flatbed picking apricots...Only one problem...They were not as ripe as they looked from the ground...So we picked the ripe ones and left the others to ripen for a few more days...Really no hurry just didn't want them to get too ripe and turn to mush.

I decided to do some cleanup and deadheading in the flower beds before the sun got two hot and then a nigging thought told me to check the veggie garden...Last week we had an invasion of tiny black, beetle-like bugs in the arugula...I used a soapy solution on them and thought I had taken care of the problem, but they had only moved a few rows to the kale and cabbage...Kale was totally ruined and they were eating away at the cabbage...Herb to the rescue...He cut the largest cabbage heads, washed them off and I brought them in the house to finish trimming and cleaning them...(sprayed the remaining cabbage plants to get rid of the bugs on them.)

Now instead of apricot jam we would be making sauerkraut...Found three large wide mouth jars to wash and sterilize and got ready to grate, slice, chop or ??? the cabbage..Tried using the new cuisinart but that was a disaster, the slicing blade hardly chopped it up, the grating blade made it too small and the chopping blade made mush out of the bottom and left the rest of it whole...Back to square one I got out my trusty, old, large holed grater, put on the new glove Pat had gotten me, (so I didn't add any of my knuckles to the mix) and grated 10 pounds of cabbage...I added salt, mixed, squeezed, then packed it tight into the jars...It is now starting the fermentation process, sitting on the dryer in the laundry room...Takes about a week and then it will be stored in the back of our refrigerators for yummy dinners this winter.

I had a physical therapy session scheduled for yesterday and it was canceled...Today I have a mammogram scheduled for 9am, wonder if my plans will get changed today...There are enough cucumbers to make a few pickles and maybe the apricots are ripe!..Come back tomorrow and see what really happens...Hugs to All...OWAV:)

Cabbage and salt, turning into sauerkraut.