Much of the evening was spent reducing several pounds of homegrown tomatoes into juice and sauce, with a sink full of dirty bowls and pans, and a batch of skin and seeds that will go to the compost. In the past I've dried the skin and seeds to pulverize for seasoning (and a great source of lycopene), but it's time consuming and I still have a bunch in the freezer from a couple of years ago.

This is one of those things that is difficult to describe to the layperson. If I were being paid, the hours I spent doing this would add up to enough cash to buy a whole bunch of canned tomatoes or sauce. I have three quarts of juice and just over a quart of finished tomato sauce (I added onion, green pepper, garlic, garden herbs, salt, pepper, and olive oil to make an Italian tomato sauce). But considering the hours spent maintaining the garden, it is all part of the whole enterprise. Consider this a gift to my future self. I have two and a half pint jars of sauce cooling in the fridge and I'll freeze them tomorrow. After all of that it's too hot to process jars in boiling water (40 minutes for pint jars). Homegrown tomatoes have so much flavor and nutrition and this sauce, when thawed in the fall or next winter, will be used for something wonderful. Never mind the huge water bill for the garden.

Meanwhile, this morning I sprayed the garden with Surround WP (Kaolin clay, finely ground) so the grasshoppers will be repelled. It makes the leaves look like they were whitewashed and reflects the sun off of them, so they withstand the heat a bit better.

The dishwasher is loaded with bowls and materials from this evening. I've spent time cleaning the steam juicer and other large objects, the rest will soak and finish in the morning.