What are you canning today? Part 6

[Simplegirl]

Cricket, I am just cutting off the tops and slicing before dehydrating. To reconstitute I just soaked in water until they got a bit bigger and then just dropped in my seasoned flour to bread them. They were a little more slimy/soft than fresh but worked well.

 

I know slimy sounds like a bad word to use for food... but if you have ever cut up an okra, you totally understand. :wink (2):

[indy gal preps]

Did Pickles-zucchini relish& getting ready to make the elderberry jelly. I am So glad to have all this food.I bought a couple mums yesterday and an elderly man in front of me said its hard to believe its time to plant mums,he said he thinks its going to be a long hard winter also.My tomatoes are also like sticks with maybe one small tomato on each of them,I have never had such awful looking tomatoes,usually they are taller than I am and really loaded,guess I will have to buy some at the farmers market this year.

[Donit]

I just woke up from a two hour nap. I had only had 8 hours sleep broken up over the last three days because I have been canning so much. My "little space" is filling up nicely and every jar that lines up on those shelves makes me feel that much better about this Winter for my family. I am canning everything the neighbors have on the ground but aren't going to use (I am making fruit wines this year for the first time because of a wonderful elderly neighbor that taught me how and gave me the fruit to do it!!!!!). I am road-hunting wild things. I am working through one last box of apricots and boxes of apples now for sauce gathered from a friend's tree and I need to send out the deputies to go pick my tomatoes again. I am thankful to have them. We grow our own transplants from seed (over 100 varieties) and so far have not had blight problems, even though we are surrounded with neighbors who have dead, blackened sticks with a few sickly looking tomatoes dangling from them. I am wondering if it is because we grew our own???? Anyone else having this experience??? One neighbor has 700 tomato plants and is not even getting 100 pounds every three days, as she watches the blight move not-so-slowly across her field. I still have geese, ducks, and chickens to butcher and can. I also have some four-footed yet to do, as well as however many deer we all get. I am going to can as much of it as I possibly am able because I want the freezer space for other things.

 

My goal for this year was to go into Winter with every single one of my jars filled. I actually think I may have to go buy more. If that is the case, my husband will probably fall over dead from the shock and awe. At a minimum, he will have to build me some more shelves or give up the floor of the basement . I'm trying to slowly prepare him for the news. I told him earlier this Spring I was going to try and he shook his head and gave me "the look". You know, the one where they are thinking "Why in the world is that particular fantasy helping you now?????" because it is so incredibly much work that no one could really do it.....right?...... Let me say right now that "the joy of the Lord" in the midst of the valley of the shadow is really strong stuff. I definitely know what it means in Heb 11 where it talks about those who "won strength from weakness". God is very good to us in our weakness and He really does give us eagle's wings when we wait upon Him. "God is the strength of my life and my portion forever". I am loving his provision as I do my part to provide for our family.

[Violet]

Donit,

I want to say how happy I am for you to have all of that prepared. I know it is tiring, but it is a blessing. Reading your post is uplifting to me ! Thank you for sharing about the goodness of the Lord ! I agree.

May you continue to be blessed. Amen !!

I am also very proud of you.

Truly,

Violet

[Jori]

Donit, that is amazing! What a blessing that you have this abundance of food to prepare for winter.

 

I am going to make grape juice tomorrow, first timer. I was able to get black seedless grapes at Walmart tonight for $.79 a lb. I'm going to post this on the correct section but I want to post it here, too. Does everyone know that Walmart will price match "apples to apples" so to speak? It has to be the same brand name and size but they will price match, produce included. They will NOT do % off or buy so many get 1 free but it's worth the legwork to go through the sales papers and bring them with you. You can also use coupons for those items.

 

The grapes were originally $1.49 and they matched one of the local stores for the $.79. I was also able to grab Scott toliet tisse 12 pk for $5.99 instead of the $9.49.

[Necie]

So far this summer we have seven 5-gal buckets of potatoes in storage and I canned 14 qts of small taters for soup, stews, casseroles, etc.

 

Canned 21 qts of green beans (one didn't seal, so we ate it ).

 

Tuesday evening I butchered 13 young roos and spent all day Wednesday and Thursday til I had to go to work boiling them down and pulling the meat off the bones (along with about 10 others that were already in the freezer-makes more freezer space ). Tomarrow morning I'll start canning. Hope I get at least 14 qts and some extra pints of broth.

 

My tomato plants are big and beautiful (if ya can find them in all the weeds ), but the few tomatoes that are on them are small and still green. I only planted 5 for fresh as I canned enough last year to last 2 to 3 yrs, but BOY, haven't even had ONE to graze on yet! Luckily, we have friends/family who are willing to share one or two for salads/sandwichs.

 

Still have to get my Anaheim peppers picked and stuffed for the freezer, and the pear tree is loaded. Still looking for peaches. This will be the third year that I haven't been able to find peaches. They're either crappy quality or crappy price...or BOTH! grrrrr

 

 

[snapshotmiki]

Today-8 --1/2 pints of Carrot Cake Jam. They all sealed but one and look lovely and taste better! I just won't let myself be stopped by the 1 foot counter space problem. As long as I can get 1/2 pint jars cheap (that is the biggest ones that will fit in my spaghetti pot for processing), I will perservere! Maybe sliced dill pickles next.

[Virginia]

8 half pints of Salsa Verde. Hope it is good.

[Jake]

I butchered 6 very large chickens and froze all of the breast and leg/thighs and then made broth from the bones and cleaned the remaining meat off the bones and canned it up also. I got 12 quarts of broth and 4 pints of meat.

[Jori]

7 quarts of grape juice and 3 pints of peach butter (and the burns that go with it).

[Christy]

Loot from the market at closingtime:

5kg of tomatos which will be catsup and canned.

5kg of green beans, part dehydrating tomorow (cos machine is runing something else now) and half in canner.

1kg of ginger and not sure if that will be crystalised ginger, ginger cookies, ginger beer (never made that before) or all of the above.

Limes for lemonade.

2 corn on the cob.

Total of 6,75 eurowhich is nothing here, believe me!

 

3 loaves of bread which normally cost 2,40 euro each now for 2,50 for the three.

It does pay of to scrounge there at closingtime.

Suggestions welcome.

[Tammy]

So far sitting on the counter is:

 

6 pints of chicken (plus 1 1/2 gal zip lock bags of chicken pieces in the freezer since I ran out of time)

5 pints chix broth

1 quart chix broth

25 pints ground beef

13 pints of cubed beef (more in the fridge ready to can)

7 pints of beef broth

15 pints of bbq pork chunks (2 didn't seal and are in the fridge for later)

 

PHEW! Am I a tired gal!!!

[Jori]

I just pulled 3 pints and 1 half pint of peach jam out of the canner. Not sure how much more I can do before we leave for a wedding reception.

[zophiel]

A batch of Mom-requested Triple Berry Jam--> that's 3.5 pints

Left over berries getting canned-- 1 pint rasperries, likely to be 1 pint blackberries and 2-3 pints strawberries.

 

And running my new dehydrator! yay!

[Christy]

Last night 10 jars of green beans came out of the canner.

Got up way too early this morning and already 3 half liter bottles of spicy catsup are done plus 7 small jars of plum-chutney.

 

Finally getting over my fear of using the pressure canner without C4C near the computer to guide me step by step

 

 

[Violet]

Twelve pints of sugar free sweet bread and butter pickles. Tomorrow I have 25 lb. of beets to can.

 

[Christy]

Twelve pints of sugar free sweet bread and butter pickles. Tomorrow I have 25 lb. of beets to can.

Voilet, what is sugar free sweet bread and butter pickles? Could you post an example or recipe please?

And wishing you a lot of strength forthe 25lbs of beets...

[Necie]

I butchered 6 very large chickens and froze all of the breast and leg/thighs and then made broth from the bones and cleaned the remaining meat off the bones and canned it up also. I got 12 quarts of broth and 4 pints of meat.

 

What breed/age of chickens? Wish I were doing ones that big.

 

Figured I did about 25 (butchered 13 and pulled 10-12 out of the freezer that were butchered earlier this summer). Got 13 qts of meat and one qt of broth (still have some broth to do-maybe 8-10 pints). That's only a bit over a pint of meat per chicken. Some of those young layer type roos sure are scrawny.

[Violet]

Twelve pints of sugar free sweet bread and butter pickles. Tomorrow I have 25 lb. of beets to can.

Voilet, what is sugar free sweet bread and butter pickles? Could you post an example or recipe please?

And wishing you a lot of strength forthe 25lbs of beets...

 

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_06/splend...ckleslices.html. I just subbed the spices for the ones listed for regular bread and butter pickles. It is safe to do that with spices that are dried. Wish I had not used so much turmeric, though. A strange color from all of it. Oh well.

 

Thank you for the good wishes on my beets ! I have to get busy on them. Ugh. I will be happy, though, when they are done and in the pantry.

[The MacKinnon]

H e l p!

 

Ok. Next weekend is Labor Day. My garden didn't do well, so I have nothing from it to work with. BUT I have cleaned up my AA and I have decided I WILL can something next weekend. I do have some questions.

 

1. I have new weights for it that I ordered awhile back. **Question: Do I need to calibrate it and if so, how do I do that? I could post a picture of what I have for reference if need be.

 

2. What is a good beginning recipe? I've seen a lot of good ideas on this forum, but I'm not sure what would be a good "first time out". Stephanie suggested beef.

 

3. I also have the Ball canning set for jams, jellies, etc (the blue speckled pot thing). I would like to make some jams like strawberry, or do apple butter (which I've done years ago using Carla Emery's recipe). I have the books for that, but would appreciate any advice. I'm setting aside next Sunday as my big canning debut.

 

Meantime, I'll be reading through this thread as well, looking for tips. Thanks y'all, in advance (and for all the posts you've made to guide us newbies in canning!)

[Violet]

Got the beets done. String beets for salads, 32 half pints. Sliced pints, 13. Would have had a few more but kept some out to eat on.

 

[Christy]

Voilet, that is a chore and a half. Are your hands still red?

[Violet]

Not too bad, just feel tired and worn out ! They all sealed, thankfully.

 

[Jake]

I butchered 6 very large chickens and froze all of the breast and leg/thighs and then made broth from the bones and cleaned the remaining meat off the bones and canned it up also. I got 12 quarts of broth and 4 pints of meat.

 

What breed/age of chickens? Wish I were doing ones that big.

 

Figured I did about 25 (butchered 13 and pulled 10-12 out of the freezer that were butchered earlier this summer). Got 13 qts of meat and one qt of broth (still have some broth to do-maybe 8-10 pints). That's only a bit over a pint of meat per chicken. Some of those young layer type roos sure are scrawny.

 

These were cornish cross pullets that were way past due for butchering, they dressed out at about 8 pounds apiece.

[Jake]

Yesterday I did 26 pints of applesauce. Today I did 6 pints of pears and 7 quarts of apple pie filling. I still have almost 2 bushels of apples and almost 1/2 bushel of pears to do. Not to mention all of the beets in the garden that just keep getting bigger but I can't find the time to get to.