A Wild Acre: I think, I can

We've tried gardening before with minimal success. This year was better, but our goals soar even higher. We want sustainable living. Self-sufficiency. Mmmm, breath it in. Ahhh. So I'm canning like a crazy woman. So far, we've done green tomato relish, squash relish, potatoes (not sure how these will jive but we were given several free potatoes so...), rotel, and BLUEBERRIES!! Yum! Still to come is more rotel and/or tomato something, jams(oh, I forgot we did strawberry freezer jam...yumomanificient!)...which will include wild grapes that grow on our property...I did blackberry but we didn't get much and have already eaten it all :(, and PEACHES!! Yum! Today was a big day well, I'm not done yet, just taking a breather. It's fun and I'm learning. We hope to have even more next year...did I say that already? John's planted some trees and we are getting more in the fall (fruit and nut). It's so fun.

Back to my canning....I've decided the time is drawing nigh when I should write my own cookbook...my husband has said I should for years, my boys tell me at least biweekly that I should, and after making relish I've decided, they're right. Who writes these recipes?? In the words of our wise 6 year old, "They must be sugar pigs." I halfed the sugar in the recipes I had for relish...half I tell you and less than half in some cases because we don't like things overly sweet. Well, they were too sweet by Akiki standards and we were all bummed. So I revamped the recipes and will NOT conform. I'm bummed because of all the work I put into it and it would be so yum if not for the extra sweetness. It is beyond our comprehension how people can palate foods that sweet. I was wise to the sweet ploy by the time I made rotel and it is just right...finally. So here's to better success with my own recipe!