‘Tis the time of summer when gardens are overflowing with vegetables and herbs and flowers are bursting. While my tomatoes are slow this year, our neighbors have tomatoes coming out of their ears. They have been brining over bags of tomatoes every night. Not wanting any fresh produce to go to waste, I spent a few hours last weekend making a large batch of homemade spaghetti sauce.

I looked up various spaghetti sauce recipes and combined a few to create my own sauce. Ten pounds of tomatoes along with fresh basil, parsley, onions and garlic from my garden simmered together to make four jars of preservative-free, zero added sugar goodness.

After a delicious Sunday dinner of spaghetti and homemade crusty bread, I froze two jars of sauce for later use. I thanked the neighbors for sharing their tomato harvest with the final jar along with a bunch of fresh basil they can use with the sauce and cut flowers from the yard.

Another reason I love summer so much is how it allows the opportunity for sharing nature’s bounty with family and friends. The neighbors are still bringing over bags of tomatoes each night. Who is next in line for homemade spaghetti sauce?