Art in August: Thanks Be to Nature, Good Friends & Family

I’m pretty sure that I missed a week of the Art in August blog along fun, but I’m back and I’ve got something to share!  This weekend, some of the crops in our super-sized garden came ready to harvest so I had some canning to do.  For those of you following along with my pregnancy saga, I am still pregnant.  Being a week overdue is rough, but putting food up in summer while a week overdue is even worse.  Luckily for me, I’ve got AMAZING friends who came to the aid of my husband and I.  My friend Meagan and I did all the canning and her husband, Ryin, helped my husband do all the harvesting.  We all took turns trying to keep my poor, crazy two year-old busy.  He had a rough day, but ultimately had a great time in the garden and riding quads.  On Saturday, Meagan and I did banana peppers and pickled beets, and on Sunday, I rounded out the weekend with green beans.  Grand totals: 5 pints banana peppers, 27 pints pickled beets, and 18 quarts green beans.  Not too shabby for the first round of canning this season!

Now, you might be wondering what this has to do with art.  If you have never had the occasion to do any canning or grow your own food, it would be difficult to understand the beauty of the finished product and a full larder just waiting for winter’s arrival.  However, there is so much beauty to be found in crops growing thanks to all that is divine nature and the sweat of your brow (or in this case, my husband’s brow), as well as the gorgeous, colorful jars of food fresh out of the canner.  This entire process from preparing the soil, planting, maintaining crops, and ultimately putting them up for the winter can be described as nothing less than a labor of love.  It takes the whole family, working in concert to bring everything to fruition.  And, in this case, some very selfless friends.  Canning is HARD work and to have two people that are willing to give up an entire day to help is quite literally, priceless.

So without further ado, I give you “Thanks Be to Nature, Good Friends & Family”:

Thanks Be to Nature, Good Friends & Family

Don’t miss my other two posts:

Art in August – Descent: The Mind of the College Educated SAHM

Art in August: Hazelnut Calm

In case you are wondering what this is all about, pop over to Laptop on the Ironing Board and read the original post.

And lastly, all the other bloggers who are playing along:

• Naturally Cathy of The Plucky Parent

• Selene (セレネ) of Kawaii Kuni

• Allison Profeta of Allisonroad

• Michaela of the mmmmm family

• Katy from Sourdough Lifestyle

• redlipstickmama