Jackie, I was thinking about you today. Amy and I canned green beans. I should have invited you and we could have had a great time. Are you going to can this year? We did 20 quarts today, I'm sure that there will be more to can later. Who else is canning this year. We are planning on canning green beans and tomatoes. Who and what are you canning?
We canned Pickles and will also be doing tomatoes, Salsa ,applesauce and Jam in the fall, We have a late crop of raspberries... I have never done green beans maybe I will try them....
I will be doing meat,fish, tomatoes and whatever I can find at the farmers market. I would like to do corn.
I don't have a pressure canner, so I freeze our green and wax beans. I also froze 35 pounds of blueberries we picked at my cousin's blueberry farm. In addition, I've been freezing several quarts of strawberries and blackberries. As far as canning, I've done several batches of pickles, jams, and soon to start on tomaotes, tomato sauce, and tomato juice. In the fall, we head over to a local orchard and pick apples. I'll can a few as slices to use in pies later in the winter and the rest we can as applesauce. Yummy over oatmeal in the winter.... Wouldn't it be great if our gardens would spread out the produce so we're not eating and preserving it all at once??? Carol
Yeah not having to can at once would be ideal..but it never works that way. When I was growing up in PA every year the two weeks before school would start back up were canning weeks. We would do one or two veggies each day...then on the last few days we'd till the plants up under the ground so the nutrients would go back into the soil over the winter. I used to invite friends over to help us and they always enjoyed it since they didn't live on farms. We did green/wax beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, cauliflower, bread and butter pickles, refrigerator pickles, blackberry jam, zucchini pickles, carrots, corn, creamed corn, Pearsauce, applesauce, strawberry jam, grape jam, and sometimes mom and I would can pie filling so that all we had to do was add it to the pie later!
We're up to our elbows in salsa right now....got tomatoes, cucs, onions and peppers all at once. Salsa seems to fit. We've also done corn, beans, and peaches this year. We'll have okra soon. I made about 10 loaves of zucchini bread and froze it along with a bunch more that was boiled for cassaroles later in the winter. I know what you mean about having it all at once. I have to plan on every other day canning something.
Shirley, I got on to tell you I DID IT!!! and found this thread that I missed. I canned eight jars today, and will do four or five more tonight. ALL BY MYSELF!!! (I told Rachael I was going to tell you and she said, "Why? Do you expect her to be proud of you or something?" "YES!!!" And, of course, Rachael just rolled her eyes, lol!) So next year, I might try peaches!
Jackie, you are so smart!!! Way to go, I knew you could do it. I am canning more beans this morning. Just took the first batch out. Peaches sound really good, Mmmmmmm!!! If you can do beans, you can do peaches. I made a cheese cake the other day and put strawberry jam over it, it was soooooo good!!
I need to buy more beans. I want at least twice the amount I now have. Now that I know I CAN CAN (lol)! G'ma, thanks so much for teaching me how to do this! I did print off the instructions at www.pickyourown.org/canninggreenbeans.htm I was freaking out, and couldn't remember what you said. I was going to send you a PM to ask, and found this place, and was fine from then on.
Jackie, you go girl. Get that winter food canned up so your grocery bill will come down. You won't believe it but Don ate green beans out of the garden and not out of the can of Delmonte I thought I would have to take him to the ER (my dh is a VERY picky eater)
I have been canning. So far I have canned some green beans, potatoes, cherries, chicken stock, red pepper relish, a variety of jams, apple rings, apple butter, and apple sauce. Tomorrow I will be canning another batch of chicken stock, hope to do a batch of sugarfree strawberry preserves for my diabetic FIL and get some peaches to start on.
I'm impressed, Rebecca! I've been wanting to learn for years. Everyone always told me how EASY it was, but when it came to actually TEACHING me, they backed off. So last year, G'ma very graciously invited me and my kids to come up to her place. We spent the night and had a LOVELY time, and spent the next day canning. I also have a freezer full of both strawberry and blackberry freezer jam, plus pie filling for four cherry pies and two blackberry. Next month we will go apple picking. I will make apple butter and apple sauce, but again I freeze that. Oh, 10 dozen ears of corn! It's been cut off the cob and frozen!
I taught myself. I had been wanting to try for several years. I got the Ball Blue Book on Preserving and bought a water bath canner, and a pressure canner and have learned through trial and error. There are some great tutorials online. I really enjoy seeing the canning jars filled and lined up on the pantry shelves.
I am making hot pepper jelly, salsa, spaghetti sauce - and need to find a pressure canner for beans I have a TON of them in the garden!! I need to can whatever I don't sell today at the market this weekend.
I was afraid of investing that much into a pressure canner, and then not using it. That's why I wanted to "try it" first. I mentioned to Carl's aunt (one of those "It's easy!", but not willing to show me people) at Christmas and she told me that she was willing to part with hers (!!!). So I went and got it, and it works just fine!
