![gratituesday[2]](https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/gratituesday2.png)
In early June, our garden looked like this:
Full of plants protected by buckets looked like this:
A few days later, a hail storm came through, and our garden looked like this:
It seemed as if we had lost everything. Our rows and rows of green bean plants had no leaves left. Our pepper and tomato plants were completely broken down. It looked like nothing had survived. We decided to replant a few green bean seeds, and consider the rest of the garden to be a loss. It would be a small garden this year, and we would just make do.
But guess what? God is bigger than any of our gardening efforts, and He is most certainly bigger than a hail storm!! We left our broken, leafless plants alone. Within a few weeks, they had turned back into thriving plants again. Amazing!!!!!!!!!!!
Not only that, we had a lot of rain this summer and fall – so much so that our garden and all the fruit trees around this area have been kicking out the produce like I’ve never seen before. So now, our garden looks like this:
So many beautiful peppers!
Our green bean plants have provided bucket after bucket of green beans. We’ve eaten them to our heart’s content – 4 months of fresh-from-the-garden green beans!!! And we’ve frozen many gallon-sized bags of beans too. We’ll be enjoying them all winter!
Our tomato plants are still giving us many tomatoes every day. Plus we’re picking spaghetti squash and honey dew melon.
An orchard nearby has had the best “apple year” I’ve ever seen. These bags keep making their way into my kitchen (and the kitchens of my friends). We’re eating all we can hold, and making jar after jar of Homemade Applesauce.
All this to say – we thought we’d be done enjoying garden produce by June after the hail storm was so destructive. The joke’s on us. We started canning and freezing produce in July. Here it is the end of October and we are still going strong. I usually have my canning supplies packed away by now. Not this year. There’s still applesauce to make and green beans to pick. I am amazed! I shouldn’t be though. Isn’t it just like God to show us in such mighty ways of His love and care for us?
Here’s a fun peek into our pantry and freezers. We have over 50 jars of applesauce, and I’ll be making more this week and next. This batch turned out so pink, it looks like I added food coloring! Nope, just straight empire apples. So pretty!
Some friends gave us cucumbers, so I made about 40 jars of dill pickles. It was a fun experiment and they turned out great!
We bought sweet corn at a road-side stand in August, and froze about a dozen quart-sized bags. Pay no attention to the fact that I desperately need to defrost my freezers. I would if I wasn’t so busy canning and freezing produce.
I’ve stuffed bags of green beans in our freezers as I’ve found room. Pay no attention to the fact that I desperately need to re-organize my freezers. I would if I wasn’t so busy canning and freezing produce.
Our peach tree did pretty well this year, so we canned about a dozen quarts, and froze several bags of sliced peaches for smoothies.
Next you see a mixture of Sweet Pickle Relish (from the cucumbers our friends shared with us), Homemade Salsa, and more Applesauce.
As you can see from the above picture, I’m no longer organizing the jars as I fit them into my pantry. I’m at a point of simply trying to find room for it all. Dozens and dozens of full jars of produce! It is so exciting!!
I’m so grateful for the bounty and for God’s sense of humor. There may have been a hail storm, but that didn’t stop God from giving us one of our best garden years ever! Go God!
Wow! I’m impressed by all of the hard work you’ve put in this summer and fall. That is a lot of food production! This week, I’ve been grateful for the books we’ve read aloud as a family that have helped shape us and build character for the hard days. http://lisaappelo.com/kindergarten-best-advice/
Such a good reminder for me……God is so much bigger than my earthly worries! Blessings…
That is a great harvest God has given you. He is so good.
This week I am thankful for Marriage
http://sandrasark.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/i-love-marriage-things-i-love-18-sat.html
How do you have enough jars? Do you just keep buying them?
My quite simple life.
Laura, since you have tried your dill pickles and feel that they came out well, could you share your recipe/directions on your blog?
Wow, beautiful!! I would be too giddy from staring at all of those gorgeous jars of delicious food! Today I am grateful for my husband, who gives me more grace and patience than I deserve.
You and God are amazing! I will do some things differently next year, 1st of all im planting fruit trees. I read the blog good cheap eat and twice a year she does a pantry challenge, it really does sav money and force you to get creative. I am totally impressed with your ability to store up healthy food for your family :-) now if you can talk your husband into hunting and fishing you will be completely self sufficient! :-)
You are a great mom!
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who likes to stare at all the jars of blessing the Lord provided for our family to use this winter :)
Wow! You have been busy!!
Do you add anything to the applesauce before you can it? Sugar? And do you know how long you process it?
Thanks for all you share!
After 2 years struggling with loss from a miscarriage and ongoing struggles with infertility, God has completely healed the sorrow and bitter disappointment in my heart. It’s been a journey that has taken me to hell and back, but I can now say He has set me free and covered me with peace, joy and contentment. What the enemy intended to use to destroy my marriage, my own life through deep depression and despair, and my faith in God through doubts of His love and care for me; the Lord has used to minister to hundreds of people. God has raised my husband and I up in our church as we are now leading a recovery program for people in any sort of pain, addiction or bondage. It was literally about a week ago that I realized I was free from my own pain and struggles. God is so good and worthy of all praise!!!
Besides the amazing story of God’s provision, do you know what stood out to me in this post? The last photo with a container of Shaklee supplements in the top right corner! LOL! We’ve used Shaklee for years, but it still pleasantly surprises me to see others using it too. :)
I would like to see your pickle recipe, too!
I am grateful for the times we are sick because it forces us to slow down from our busy lives and really depend on the Lord. And also really makes us appreciate being well! :)
We have been totally blessed as well. I’m still doing produce. We had an abundance of peaches, which we canned, froze, and made into jam. We also had an abundance of pears, which we are still doing up. We did a few apples as well, but since we had so many pears, we felt pear sauce was just as good as apples. We also had an abundance of cucumbers for pickles, relish, and cucumber soup. This doesn’t include the tomatoes (made into sauce and salsa), green and red peppers (froze), jalepeno peppers (still working on these and going to pickle some), abundance of squash, pumpkins, watermelons, cantoloupe, honeydew, etc. We still are picking beans as well. God has been good our family! May He always remain in our thoughts all day long!
Those garden pictures make my heart smile! I love how God brings fruit from seeming disaster.
I’m grateful for the gorgeous fall weather, brilliant foliage, and health to enjoy them both!
I’m sorry this is a tad off topic, but I can’t find your post where you ask what co-ops are near your readers. You know the one I’m talking about? I would love to go through the comments to try to find a co-op near me that I’m not aware of. Could you help me out with the link to that post please?
I am very grateful for real friends. Our family has been struggling as I have been unable to find a full time job. I substitute teach and have been working every day but God has kept the door closed on the full time job for now. But through this trial and valley we have grown closer as a couple, and have found SEVERAL things we can do without…in addition to finding a new great bulk food store to buy much of our supplies. As we are basically living paycheck to paycheck a dear friend sent us a specific sum of money which will get us through until the next paycheck! I am so grateful for friends and how they appreciate us without even knowing what is going on in our lives. God works through our friends to bring about His will. (*I am not posting this on my blog as the friend is an avid reader )
Thankful for wonderful friends and wonderful church! Oh, and gorgeous weather (70s) even this late in October, even up here in South Dakota. :)
I haven’t been able to can much this year, but my freezers are full and I’m thankful for that. Also thankful for: http://onehomeschooljourney.blogspot.com/2014/10/gratituesday-october-21.html
Over the years, God has brought me from a place of not understanding the concept of respecting my husband, to respecting him unconditionally! I can only give Him ALL the glory for this transformation!
http://www.womenabiding.com/4-ways-to-cultivate-a-habit-of-respecting-your-husband/
I often feel so bad when God comes through and does something amazing and I am surprised at His goodness. We should know Him well enough to know that that is the way He operates, right? I guess it is just a part of our humanness. I am SO happy to hear that you have such bounty when it appeared that all was lost. Every other Tuesday, I get to work for a few hours so today I am thankful for work. The work is hard and the check isn’t huge, but every little bit helps. I thank God for every hour of work He provides us. Thanks for helping to keep us focused on our blessings, Laura.
I love happy endings! Congratulations on your bountiful harvest.
I’m thankful for times when, for no seemingly particular reason, life is extra sweet, inspiring, and beautiful. It reminds me just how wonderful and full of grace that God is – even when we don’t deserve His favor, even when we aren’t perfect, He still smiles on us in special ways. That is awesome!
Talk about abundant!