hand me a basket and a sharp stick

So, for the last...five or six years, right around this time of year my hunter-gather instincts go into overdrive. All this food! Must collect and store! Need warm cave! Unintelligible grunt!

Among other things, it seems to make the pigeons nervous.

But, I now have my very own canning kettle! No more will I need to drive up to my Mom's to borrow hers! Woot! On the down side, the cheap or free canning jars on craigslist are all way out in the boonies. :(

And I realized the other day, which was a lovely weekend day and I was out for a nice walk, that I was in fact scoping out the neighborhood food production. There's the escaped kiwi vine here, and the flowering quince that fruited last year there, and I wonder if anyone will harvest that fig in the landscaping, and those yards look pretty abandoned--I wonder if they're planning to harvest the apples or if they'd let me?

I need a tall, sturdy, lightweight, easily transportable ladder. Stealth harvester arrives, picks, packs up, and is gone...zoom! Maybe a little cart.

And I am scheduled to teach two people at work how to can peaches week after next (when our order from the grower shows up--25lbs for $14!) Should be fun.

Already making plans for blackberry and peach cobbler. :)