Hello everyone! Today my laundry is being dried by the gracious sun and I am cleaning out the pantry. Ugh. It never ceases to amaze me how easily it gets out of hand. In the process I am taking inventory of my canning jars. I currently have amassed....
18 Quart Jars
29 Pint Jars
3 half-pint jars
A million saved glass jars that are for storage and refrigerator pickles, but not canning
So, how many canning jars does one need? I have no idea. How many do you have? Is it enough? Where is the best (best meaning cheapest) place to buy them? How many do I need? Can you tell me? How and where do you store yours when not in use?
I have been working on some "canning goals" and going through that fabulous Ball Canning book and picking out the recipes that I plan to use. I figure that is a start. Is that a start? Is that a good start?
My camera sucks cow butt so I have no pictures right now. But will soon!!
The garden....is overall doing very well. I do need to weed and plan to do that this evening. We used hay (straw?) mulch around everything. One and a half of those GINORMOUS round bales to be exact. So far so good.
Successes include....
Tomato seedlings
Pepper seedlings
Cucumbers
Popcorn
Sweet Corn
Zucchini
Squash
Radishes
Carrots (have just recently made their appearance! I was so excited!)
Beets
Potatoes
Pumpkins
Strawberries
Green Beans
Peas
Melons - I am leery about the seedlings, so I direct planted some as well.
Stevia is still in pots and doing well
Recently planted Dill in the garden and Rosemary in pots. Will wait a bit longer to plant some Cilantro because last year by the time we needed it it was bolted and spent. I do have a volunteer Cilantro coming up. I let it grow. Just in case we need some sooner.
Iffy Things....
Sweet Potatoes - some of the slips are growing so we'll have some
Onions - the dozen or so I got in the ground early and then waited on the rest because I thought the soil was too wet are actually doing very well. However, ones I planted later are so-so and not a lot are making it. Even the green onions are having issues.
Lettuces - Some are coming up, but I think they needed to be planted earlier and will try a fall crop and use the cold frame
Okra - I was inspired to plant a few (thanks Mrs. S!) but so far they aren't doing so well. I am going to try re-seeding to see if we can't get it going.
Watermelon - Looking puny. Remember I tried seedlings? I went ahead and direct seeded to see if those would do better.
Total Failures...I think due to planting late
Cabbage
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
The Dirty Diva's got a little rearranging. As I have said and anyone with ducks knows....they are THE messiest little things when it comes to water. Their set up had their food feeder and a 5 gallon waterer inside the duck house, with their pool outside, and we'd let them out in the mornings and they'd put themselves up in the evening and lock them in. Well, they were emptying that whole 5 gallons overnight, and a lot of it (most of it!) was ending up on the floor which is essentially dirt covered with straw. The problem is that it was stinking to high freakin' heaven, to the point that I couldn't even clean it out, hubby had to do it, because I was gagging horribly! It was also becoming a breeding ground for those annoying little gnats.
So we (meaning hubby...I watched!) got the inside scooped out and cleaned up and laid down a nice thick fresh layer of straw. It is now their sleeping quarters only. Their their food got moved outside next to their pool in their play yard. When they go to bed at night, we do not shut the coop door in case they need to eat or drink overnight. Do they eat or drink overnight? I have no clue. But I do know this is working out very well and they are doing just fine. We are thinking of ways to improve the inside of the coop so they can have a waterer in there. But this will do for now. I have contemplated cutting our flock in half. My original plan was 6 or 8, but to get this kind (Khaki Campbells) we had to order a minimum of 15. No way could I eat them, they are too sweet, but I could sell some. Hubby thinks we should just keep them all. We'll probably just keep them, we'll see. Sixteen ducks is A LOT of ducks.
We are thinking about moving the majority of the garden up to the yard next year in the spot where his grandparents always had their garden. Hubby brought home a gigantic roll of thick black felt that they use under bridges. If we do, I think we are going to lay it down to (hopefully) kill off the grass over the summer and then we will remove the felt and till in some leaves to compost over the winter. But then again we may just stick to what we have been doing and keep the garden on the edge of the soybean field. We go back and forth. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.
I also did another totally cool re-purpose! The kids have a swimming pool, you know those easy set pools with the blow up top ring and soft sides? 12 X 3 I think. They love it. Anyway, last year the black lab dog chewed up the chlorine floater thing. I looked at them at the store a week or so ago and they were a whopping $10! Saving money tends to get the wheels in my head going. So I decided to make my own. I used an empty 2 liter soda bottle with lid and a small sour cream container with lid. I tied a string tightly around the neck of the soda bottle. Then poked a bunch of holes in the sour cream container and tied the string in holes on each side. I wish my camera worked, I'd show you! I'm really proud of it. :) The chlorine tablets go in the sour cream container, lid goes on, and in the pool it goes. The sour cream container fills up with water and sinks, dissolving the tablets, and the pop bottle stays afloat to keep it floating around. I'm a freakin' genius! :) No, not really.....just a momma motivated to pinch pennies and squeeze George til he screams and who saves way too many empty containers. :) LOL Or maybe that makes me a Redneck? :)
Oh, I have been knitting too. More of those Knitted Babes. I knitted a newborn one for my daughter to go with her big girl, hope to get a picture up soon. And I knitted a big one for my niece's birthday and am going to knit her TWO newborns since her mom is pregnant with twins.
Well, I think I hear the pantry calling so off I go. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Girl, you just wore me out reading your post! LOL Whew!
ReplyDeleteI had about 150 canning jars. Lots of quarts, pints and jelly jars. You know what I did? I sold them all on Craig's List in a fit of cleaning last fall. Didn't think I'd can again (cause I haven't it three years). I'm kicking myself from here to Kansas now. Ugh. Well, I have something to look for at yard sales now!
Good luck with all your work.
Whew, I agree, what a post! I read ever bit though. Hubby is trying to carry on a conversation about people I don't know from across the house in the bathtub so between that and reading this it has taken awhile.
ReplyDeleteLet's see... I have no idea how many jars I have but plan to inventory them soon so stay tuned. Garage sales are definitely the best place to buy the jars, or look for coupons to use on new ones. I am kicking myself now because I didn't write down how many jars of each food I canned last year. My goal was to have enough fruit (peaches, pears, and applesauce) to last us all year. We're already down to 6 jars of almost burnt applesauce - the rest is long gone.
I try to keep track of how much we use per week or month to figure how much I should can. Chances are you'll overestimate some things and have way to much of another. For example, I still have some frozen zucchini that I'll never use.
I talked to my Mom today about the tomato sauce deal and she said I am making it right, that you do want it cooked down to at least half the original amount to be thick enough (like the Ball book says). She shared a neat trick too: Once the tomatoes are cut up let them sit in the pot for about a day. A lot of the liquid will rise up as the tomato pulp settles. Then suck up the liquid with an old towel before cooking it down. That should save some time - last year it took forever to thicken.
I didn't have any luck with watermelon last year, they didn't ripen in time and then the puppy ate the closest one. This year I am trying a new variety created in Iowa, I think it is called Black Mountain. Supposed to do well in a short season.
My comment is going to be as long as your post so I'm stopping here!! Maybe more later! :)
whew! I agree--I'm tired now :)
ReplyDeleteI am not ambitious enough to take on any canning yet...my mom had always done it and it just appears to be too much work at this point in time...though someday I will want to have food stored for the whole winter from our garden :) It will be nice that you will be a seasoned pro I can ask all my questions to by then.
Can you store them in a tote in one or your buildings or in an attic? We have a tote shed (because our house is small with no storage) where we have a ton of totes holding all sorts of our stuff.
The ducks--yeah, keep them all, lol :) 3 ducks are SO MESSY I cannot even imagine 16!!! I just decided today I'm going to pull their water at night inside--can you do that? Does someone else know? I'm hoping it does two things--keept he place cleaner and convinces them to go down to our creek for water when they get out. We can't keep the door open with all the coyotes and critters around here...one night when the dogs were shut in, something was trying to rip into the playhouse where the chickens were already.
garden sounds awesome!
we have things poking up (i only planted seeds) but i'm not totally sure what they all are.
i planted broccoli, lettuce and cauliflower earlier in window boxes before the garden was in..they are doing well for now..but if it gets hot, i'm sure they are shot--and i'm not sure that there is enough depth in those boxes. last year the started and failed due to my late starting...i'm going to try fall on those things again too.
i had the similar problem with tiny melons last year as well. i wasn't sure if i was sposed to pinch of flowers so there'd be less fruit and the other could get bigger, or just cause i planted too late.
very handy with the pool floater--at first i thought you meant a floating toy and i though--oh my, what is she doing..but then i caught on and realized how clever you really were--good job!
very nice, informative post--let me know if you hear if the ducks can go waterless all night from someone--i'll keep peeking back at comments
wish your darn camera was working :)
Try craigs list for canning jars. I have about a million and they all came from a little lady cleaning out her barn. The boxes they were in were horrible but the jars were all perfect and just needed washing. And they were free!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had a Ball canning book. That is the best.
Please tell me you are going to make pickled beets???
My mom used to make pickled eggs by re-using the beet pickling juice so the eggs were purple and wonderful.
Did you save the seeds of the cilantro when it bolted last year? It is coriander you know?
I am so sorry about your camera. I know mine will bite the dust soon.
wonderful garden!!! I am so excited for you. My garden is just part time. I hate that. I just work too many hours. My pumpkins and squash are doing wonderful
It is getting in the 90's here so the lettuce is done.
On ducks sometimes they sleep on the water so I think they must like to drink all night long. I feel your pain. They are messy little stinkers. They are also the only animal that I have ever seen that really didn't stick to the normal male+female=marriage deal. I had 3...2 males one female...when she went on the nest...well I will leave the rest to your imagination. If you have a male make sure he has 3+ females.
Yes I have a comment on everything! lol. I love the idea of opening up a new garden area with the felt but do you know what? I would pile on all that wet duck straw, all your kinda finished compost and what leaves you have, and then add water and put the felt on top. Let the worms do your tilling for you all this year. Check it around November and see if they need help tilling, mix it up if needed and then recover with another layer of leaves.
Let's see... Yes, complete genius on the floater thing. When we had a pool, I was always tempted by the ones that look like rubber duckies, but your frugal one takes the cake for shear frugal-ness.
ReplyDeleteCanning jars: Keep checking craigslist, freecycle, and rummage sales. I did buy some at the Amish store recently that are slightly less expensive, so that's a place to look if you have the chance. As for how many you'll need, that's hard to know for sure. I try to estimate like this. I know that we use about a third of a quart jar of tomato sauce every week on pizza night, so I'll need at least 15 quarts of tomato sauce just for pizza night. Throw in 10-15 more quarts for other recipes, and I'll want 30 quart jars just for that. But that's just my goal. So, if I have a bumper crop, I'll need more, because I won't quit at thirty if I've got more tomatoes sitting around needing saucing. I guess the answer is that you'll need more than you think, lol. Half-pints are good for jam and jellies, but you might find that your family eats enough of it that you can can that in pints and it won't go bad in the fridge once it's open. For the two of us, I use half-pints to make sure it all gets used before it can get moldy or what not.
Maybe this might be more helpful:
I use half-pints for jams, jellies, cranberry sauce, and gifts of things, like applesauce for muffin kits at Christmas.
Pints are good for dill slices, pickled okra, specialty things, like brandied apples and cherries, or spiced apple rings, or jellies and jams if there's lots of people going through it fast, juices, tomato sauce if you don't go through it very much at once and don't want to open a large one and have to use it up.
Quarts I use for tomato sauce, pickles, fruit in light syrup, applesauce, drink concentrates and juices, and storing dried things.
Okay, not sure if that helped at all, but you'll end up just collecting jars as you go. I've bought them a bit at a time, as I've realized they're needed, or gotten them from other people. Put the word out that you need them, and maybe you'll get them from aunts or in-laws or such. That has happened to me. And if you give any canned things as gifts, make sure to beg back the jars and rings. Lots of people forget that you can reuse them.
I think that keeping the ducks' food and water outside is just fine, and more hygenic. Our chickens have lived for a year with no food or water overnight, since there's no room for in their coop, and they are just fine.
Also, sounds like your garden is doing great! Can't wait for some pics!
Hey Long time since we last talked! Replant your Okra after is has gotten really warm. I usually wait until the second week in June!
ReplyDeleteWow! Your friends sue do comment! I love when I get comments on my blog...thank you Jennifer for being such a faithful commenter!
ReplyDeleteDid your daughter pass today??? I've been thinking about her. Some kids just get so dog goned nervous it messes them up.
I know an electric fence isn't it my plans for this year, but probably for sure next year!!!
Thanks for your chicken condolences. It's heartbreaking.
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy for your daughter! And now...my condolences to you! lol....
I've still got a couple of years with Aaron. I just can't imagine it....
Thank you all so much! :)
ReplyDeleteJayme...yes, she passed her permit test! Stay off the sidewalks everyone. ;) 150 canning jars? Sounds like a lot but it probably about right. My MIL guesstimates I'll need 4 or 5 dozen more quarts. I hear your pain....I have gotten rid of things and then it is like 'darn it, what was I thinking?' :)
Breanna...thanks for the tip! I will plant some more again soon. Two of the seeds did come up but they don't look too good.
Bethany...thank you so much for the info! It did help, a lot! :)
Sweetheart's Mom...that was a lucky find getting those canning jars! Your idea to put compost and stuff under that felt and let it cook is fantastic! I never would have thought of that bit if we do it we will definitely be doing it that way. Thank you! No, didn't save the cilantro seed, wasn't thinking that far ahead last year. I did know the seed is corriander, but I have never used it for cooking so I have no clue what to use it for. I will definitely try to make some pickled beets. :)
Tbsomeday...the only thing I do know for sure is that if you pull the water at night, pull the food too because they need it with their food. The Divas are doing just fine sans food and water at night and I somehow seriously doubt they go out at night to eat or drink, since they put themselves to bed in the coop in the evening. And by the time I do all the canning I have planned, I may be kicking myself for taking it on right now! :) LOL
Jena....I am definitely going to try your mom's trick. That sounds like it would work really well. Good luck with your melons! And thanks for all of the great info! :)