home canning? read this.

there's a new new procedure for using canning jar lids.  i was not aware of this until now.

http://livinghomegrown.com/2014/08/changes-in-canning-lid-procedures.html

August 2008 Independence Summery

Well here it is, my August summery, but first things first. I have to share this somewhat fuzzy photo of my largest Brandywine to date.

If you recall the last one I showed you weighed 1 pound 11 ounces. Well this baby came in at 2 pounds 2 ounces! It was darn tasty, too!

Planting, Harvesting & Preserving –

Planted fall crop of romaine lettuce.

Still harvesting garden produce on regular basis for fresh eating and preserving. Harvesting winter squash. Harvested elderberries.

Canned 31 quarts of tomatoes, 15 quarts spaghetti sauce, 5 pints ketchup, 7 pints pickles, 11 pints sweet relish, 12 quarts tomato juice, 21 half pints hot sauce.

spaghetti sauce simmering

Froze 11 very full quarts elderberries, 15 bags squash (some zucchini, some summer squash), green peppers, hot peppers, 19 bags of green beans. I really wanted to can the beans but never had enough at one time to warrant doing that. Baked and froze 4 loaves zucchini bread, excess tomatoes.

Dried 3 pints Amish Paste tomatoes, 1 quart mixed hot [peppers, 1 pint sweet peppers.

Preparedness & Planning – Added purchased canned goods to reserves.

Managing household & reserves – Coop put together a much needed set of shelves in the cellar to store the canned good on in an orderly fashion. He also repaired cellar stairway with new concrete.

Keeping it Local – Eating from our garden daily, purchasing dairy products, fresh sweet corn from local Amish, purchased apples, sweet peppers and melon from local farmers market, sharing garden produce with neighbors and family.

Learned New Skill or Tried Something New – infusing elderberries for tincture as I write this, concocted a recipe for chutney using ground cherries.

Misc. & Handcrafting – yeah right. : ) Working occasionally on that afghan while planning a few projects for fall.

the big and the small of it

This Brandywine weighed in at 1 pound 11 ounces.

Don't these look like miniature watermelons?
They are Mexican Sour Gherkins and appropriately named as they have a real tartness tasting almost as if they were already pickled. When ripened they fall off the vine.
A unique addition to fresh salads and so darn cute!

Recently canned tomatoes here and another 14 quart canned today.
These ones are seasoned with herbs.

Sunday pickins from the garden...

I'll be canning again tomorrow but I'll be posting soon about our day trip this past Saturday to Serpent Mound.

I'm just a canning fool! :)

The past week has been an extremely busy one as August comes to an end. I actually find myself looking forward to fall and the coming colder seasons as usual, knowing they’ll bring a quieting and slowing of the pace.

Coop remains busy helping get the neighboring house ready for its part year residents and keeping up with the yard work. We’ve been so busy that our poor garden has become somewhat neglected other than when we do the necessary picking. The immense amount of rain and horn worms have done a nasty job on the tomatoes and it looks like there will be little continued production from them. I still have a separate row of the Italian plum tomatoes on the other end of the garden that are coming on and seem to be strong so we hope to save them, allowing me to preserve what I can for the winter months ahead. Thankfully I have a good amount canned already aside from what’s been turned into salsa and sauces.

Like my sister told me the other day, I am a canning fool. Friday ended with seventeen pints of homemade salsa having been canned. The basket full of Jalapenos picked yesterday morning have just been pickled and canned (12 pints!) and at least a half bushel of tomatoes are simmering into spaghetti sauce on the stove, soon to be canned. Since the tomatoes are about finished producing I will try to salvage as many of the green ones as possible. Perhaps some pickles or relish will result, but we certainly will eat a few fresh fried green tomatoes, too.

I picked my first several Butternut squash yesterday morning, also. They are beautiful! It looks like we’ll have plenty to store over the winter, plus I’ll freeze some cooked squash, give some away and of course we’ll enjoy some fresh. Coop pulled the plants while picking the last of the green beans, which I thought were finished awhile ago. But these Blue Lake beans continue to produce all summer. We’ll definitely plant these again next year! As I write I still have about 6 pounds of beans to contend with as well as about a peck and a half of tomatoes leftover to do something with. Maybe tomato relish?

Shadow is quickly becoming a good watchdog, letting me know when someone is approaching the house. He is gradually adapting to affection, getting spoiled rotten with treats in the process. Positive reinforcement, ya know? He’s such a good old boy and I am thankful for the way things worked out. Now on occasion he will allow us to rub his neck and back and let me take his face in my hands and get face to face and wooler him around the neck. But that’s only when he is in the mood. He has also taken to wanting to lie in the center of my zinnia bed…not so cute. He likes most everyone but is my boy in particular. If I go outside to sit at the picnic table or on the patio he always comes to sit with me.

Well, it’s back to my spaghetti sauce, which by the way is smelling oh so good. Once I have that canned it’s off to the car shop to drop off my little van for repairs. I have a brake line leaking and that’s not good!