Allenwrench, I have recently done something similar, been consuming the product and we are in good health. There were some differences though. It was pickled peppers, I used 5:1 5% vinegar, water and pickling spices (5 cups vinegar and 1 cup water), but we did put the jars directly in the fridge, this is where they will live until the pickles are consumed. About the rest of the processing, the vinegar/water/spice mix was brought to a boil, the peppers where lightly steamed just to get them hot, jars sterilized, punctured peppers packed in the jars, vinegar mixture poured in jars, covered and let cool. When cool refrigerate. We also made other hot pepper pickles to keep longer (outside the fridge) but we pressure canned those.

I hope to see a few cherries here on a small tree I planted last year. Its the sour cherry, montmorency type. Almost didn't come out of dormency until mid July, when it finally started to branch out and get more leaves. My dad was partial to bing cherries and right now, they do sell them, but they come from Chili. He decided to stew some in booze. He filled a jar with the bings and poured in some VO whiskey. They are still in my fridge and have remained there for well over 20 years now. No signs of any spoilage, and I would expect them to be quite mellow by now. Bings are nice for fresh eating, but not as well suited for canning or pie making, because they don't hold up as well as sour types.

Hi Kristi, This is our first official year at the farmer's markets... we go to two... small towns. We have grown everything using organic methods, no chemicals, etc. Our tomatoes are the first on the market. We are selling our Sweet Baby Girl Cherry Tomatoes for $3.00/pint which we weigh out (for ourselves to be consistent... not officially) to be approximately 1# each. We will hold that price for "Matt's Wild's" & Grape Tomatoes. We use the grocery as a gauge & go a bit higher. Our standard size tomatoes are selling for $3.00/quart box which is approximately 1# as well. We usually harvest the day/evening before market & wash only if necessary because of mud or dirt. Our tomatoes are staked & fairly clean. We use green strawberry quart size boxes & when they sell we put them in a baggie with a twist tie & keep our boxes. We've been leaving them in the house covered with a towel to keep fruit flies from 'nibbling' during the night. It seems that I read somewhere that refrigeration is not recommended for tomatoes. As far as other vendors selling for less, our policy is to do our research, set our price & stick with it. We let people know when they are looking at our table that everything is freshly picked, locally grown by us (not bought in from somewhere else) & that we don't use chemicals. We've found that most people appreciate knowing those things & are willing to pay a fair price for our products. We struggled alot at the beginning of the season, but when we consider how much work we put in to grow, weed, harvest, clean, package, etc & then look at the grocery prices knowing most of the produce has travelled many miles, been treated with chemicals or gassed, we realize we are offering a terrific product at a very fair price! May you be blessed & encouraged in all you do! Sally ;o)

I received my wonderful box from Jeanette! It was full to the brim with bright orange and black wrapped surprises! I got: a wonderful Halloween kitchen towel. I love to change my kitchen towels for the season and didn't have a Halloween-themed one - thanks! a cute pumpkin votive candle holder with a scented candle in it a black and orange paper lantern a wonderfully scented potpurri mix a halloween wind sock a spider web wine/champagne goblet (so cute!) a spider on a spring a silver starred Halloween hat (sorry Jeanette - no digital camera to take a picture - my daughter kept saying "you're not going to wear that in front of my friends are you? - LOL!" a spooky hanging ghosty that emits an eeery sound - scares the daylights out of my little dog......... mummy's passion fruit tea bags and a ghost tin of chocolate kisses (oops all gone - how did that happen he he) Thanks Jeanette! Sue G.