Tomatoes!

This year,we have had a good turn out with our  Rutgers Heirloom tomatoes.We have 12 plants,which have given us about 12 lbs or so of tomatoes. According to Ball Blue Book,I need 45 lbs to can sauce,so obviously that wasn't going to happen this year. I didn't want to waste all the tomatoes I had laying on the window sill,or in the bowl,or on my table,so I decided to just can them in water and use them later.This was my first attempt at canning tomatoes,and I had heard that it was a lot of work (though I suspect those folks had far more tomatoes to can than I did!). I found it rather easy.Here is the recipe for raw pack tomatoes in water,whole,halved,or quartered in quart jars:

2 1/2-3 1/2 lbs tomatoes per quart
Bottled lemon juice
Salt (optional)

Make sure your jars are clean. Heat jars and lids in a sauce pot of simmering water ( 180 degrees).Do not boil the lids! Keep jars and lids in hot water until ready to use.Elevate rack in canner,and put the lid on the canner.Heat water to 180 degrees and keep hot.Make sure you have enough water in the canner so that the jars are covered by 1"-2" of water.

Use tomatoes at the peak of their quality,firm,and free of cracks,growths,and spots. Wash and drain. (My tomatoes did have some cracks,etc.,and I think they were a bit on the soft side,but I did it anyway).

Place tomatoes in a wire basket (I used a metal strainer) and lower into a large sauce pot of boiling water;blanch for 30-60 seconds,or until the skins start to crack.Remove from the boiling water and dip into cold water ( I filled one side of my sink with cold water).

Slip off the skins,trim away any green area,and cut out core. Cut tomatoes into quarters,halves,or leave whole. (I found it very easy to remove the skins;some tomatoes were small enough to leave whole,other I cut into halves).

Once the tomatoes are prepared, add 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice to quart jars,pack tomatoes into hot jars,leaving 1/2" head space.Ladle hot water into jars,leaving 1/2" head space. Add 1/2 teaspoon  salt to each jar,if desired. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two piece caps. Place jars in canning rack and lower into water. Cover, bring to boil,and process for 45 minutes. When finished,remove lid to canner and let canner sit for 5 minutes. Remove jars and place on towel to cool.

One thing I noticed about the  tomatoes is that they lost volume once they were canned. I stuffed those jars as tight as I could,and they wound up only half full,and mostly water at the end.Perhaps I didn't use enough?  Has anyone who has canned tomatoes come out with the same result?

Adventures In Pressure Canning

Today I finally attempted to pressure can my green beans. I admit,with all the horror stories I heard about pressure canning,I was a bit nervous,but I figured if I followed the directions,I should be OK.Some of my nerves were just from attempting something new,not knowing what to expect, and not having the rhythm down.

Well,folks,I am here to tell you that pressure canning is EASY. Yes,that's right,E-A-S-Y. The hardest part is reading through the instructions,getting used to the equipment,and realizing that if your pressure regulator is not rocking like it is suppose to,and steam is pouring out of the air vent, it's normal. It doesn't mean that the canner is going to explode.

I bought my  Presto  pressure canner/cooker ( as well as my water canner) last year when I was wide eyed with the typical canning virgin excitement.I did not have enough veggies to warrant canning them,so I made friends with my water canner and made relish,pickles,and strawberry jam.This year,however,we picked about 4 lbs of green beans,so I knew I could at least break into the pressure canning world with a batch of that.

The first thing you want to do is read the instructions,check out the canner,  it's parts,and read the recipe. Then do it all over again.Pressure regulator?Vent pipe? Overpressure plug? Good to know what they are and what they are for. Then you have to decide if you want to hot pack or raw pack the beans. Raw pack has no precooking,and that is what I did (after checking with Rick to see what he would prefer).I did not add salt,which is optional.

I washed out the canner per the instructions, the green beans the jars,lids,and rings.

I needed to boil water to keep in the jars until I was ready to fill them. I also boiled the lids and rings.

When I was ready to fill the jars,I poured out the water,packed the jars tightly with the green beans,then filled the jars with water to allow 1" of head space,using my head space measure.I used a rubber spatula in each jar to get rid of air bubbles.I wiped the rims of the jar,then put on the hot lids and rings.

I had to boil 3 qts of water to put in the pressure canner. I poured in the water,then placed the jars on the canning rack.I made sure the cover and the body of the canner closed correctly.I turned the burner on high,and waited for steam to start coming out of the vent pipe on the top of the canner. I lowered the heat so that the steam still came out steady;the steam had to come out for 10 minutes.I was then ready to put the pressure regulator which was set to 10 lbs, on the vent pipe.

Now was the part that I was nervous about. At 10 lbs of pressure,the quart jars needed to be processed for 25 minutes. However,you could not start counting the process time until the pressure regulator started rocking back and forth. That was the signal that the canner was ready with the proper 10 lbs of pressure.

I figured it wouldn't take long. Well, you know the expression "a pot never boils?" That also applies to pressure regulators.They don't rock if you watch them. In the photo above,you can see on the left hand side of the lid a little flat head button.This is the air vent/cover lock.(it had already popped up in this photo)To the right,in the back,you see a black button.This is the overpressure plug. The overpressure plug was popped up,and the air vent had steam pouring out of it-I thought something was going to blow for a couple of minutes. I kept watching the regulator,waiting for it rock.Then the air vent popped up and I kept waiting and wondering what I did wrong.Finally,about10 minutes later,it started rocking.I put the heat on medium so it would still rock,but not hard,and turned the timer to 25 minutes. After it processed,I had to wait until the pressure had gone down-the air vent and the overpressure plug had to both drop back down . That took about half an hour. I opened the lid,and took out my first batch of canned green beans. 

So....I used a pressure canner and lived to tell the tale! If I can do it,trust me,so can you!!!!

Goodbye 2010...Hello 2011

It doesn't seem possible that we are already going to say goodbye to 2010 in just over 12 hours. So much has happened to us this year,and we have learned much.Not everything got accomplished,and some things that I personally was striving for (such as weight loss) fell to the wayside. However,the overall year was certainly more positive than negative. Here is a reflection on the year that was........

The biggest things that happened to us as a family was that Rick was finally medically retired from the military in April. It took three med boards and 5 years for this to happen. By November,he was 100% disabled through the VA,collecting his monthly pension and receiving Social Security Disability. In May,his knee problems were finally diagnosed by one of the best hospitals in the US,Dartmouth Hitchcock,which is also a training hospital for Dartmouth College,one of the Ivy League schools ( For those of you who are outside the US and may not know,Ivy League schools are schools that are the oldest in the nation,such as Harvard,Yale,Brown,Princeton).He was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Degenerative Arthritis,which was incurred from his days in Combat Airborne back in the 1980's,fighting what I call President Reagan's "secret little wars." Both knees were replaced with titanium.He spent three weeks in rehab,and has made  a quick recovery-his surgeon is very pleased. Those three things are most certainly the biggest things that have happened to us this year.

At the beginning of the year,we sat down and discussed what we wanted to do,why we wanted to do it,and how. For the first time,we started seeds indoors. That was a learning experience.Lights,grow trays,heating pads, timers....the one big thing I learned was that I should not take peppers off the heating pads once they sprout. Our basement is cool,and it stunted the growth of the peppers,but I put them back on heat and they did wind up growing.We learned about Square Foot Gardening,and made boxes,made a compost shifter,and shifted lots of compost. We bought a compost tumbler,and my sister gave us a compost bin. We put a small bucket in the kitchen for composting kitchen scraps (who knew that paper towels were compostable? I didn't!). Rick and I built our turkey cage and got Narragansett turkeys from one of our friends. We built a chicken house and got chickens. I discovered that chickens and turkeys love weeds pulled from the garden. We did our first canning this year,and though my veggie weight tally wasn't complete,I do know we grew 28lbs of cukes! We set up rain barrels from juice barrels that Brother Dale gave us. That helped keep the poultry watered since our dug well was low. We planted blueberries,blackberries strawberries,and raspberries. We started a kitchen garden-mint,rosemary,oregano,thyme,and basil (Rick and Brother B tell me I need to plant and dry more oregano next year).Our Concord Grapes took off last year and we bought a trellis,which is already too small-I think we will make an arbor this coming Spring. We got edible apples from out Jonathan apple tree this year! It was planted before Rick went to Iraq. We used our neighbors wood chips to make a walkway to the house and we also used them in between the raised beds. Our  other neighbor let us use a mix of their dirt and wood chips to extend our driveway.  We made our own maple syrup,as little as there was.I made lye soap,continued making laundry detergent,and attempted to make dish soap,but because I didn't like the results I went back to store bought,but went to Planet,and stopped using Ajax. I stopped buying Clorox wipes and started making my own cleaners-bleach and water for disinfectant and white vinegar and water for glass cleaner. I began making my own brown sugar ( sooooo much better than store bought!). I make our own bread and baked goods.I started teaching myself how to knit.

We made a few investments: a new (used) four wheel drive truck,an artesian well (which will never run dry),a new snow blower,and a new wood splitter. We purchased tree length wood,which should keep us in heat for a few years. Rick bought me a Cuisinart stand mixer,with  food processor and meat grinder attachments.

We took a lovely trip to Malone,NY,and got to explore the world of Almanzo Wilder,the husband of one of my all time (if not THE all time) favorite authors,Laura Ingalls Wilder. It was so much fun,and was really something to stroll among the grounds and in the house that I have read about so many times in Farmer Boy.

Personally,though I haven't succeeded at weight loss,or conquered my procrastination issues,I have done much soul searching this year. I feel as a person I have grown and have a more sense of self,though I still have much more growing to do. I am more comfortable in my own skin and in what I believe. I don't get into religion and politics on this site,because that has nothing to do with what we are trying to achieve here.However, these two issues have been some of what has been rolling around my head this last year. Suffice it to say I don't like extremism in religion or in politics,and I don't like it when people try to use fear or paranoia to try and gather followers or votes. Sadly,there is much of that out there right now. I think it's scary.

We have a list already in the works for this coming year:
-Double the size of the garden
-New metal roof on the house and garage
-New deck
-Weatherproof the mud room so we have a place we can keep coats,etc since we dont' have a coat closet.
-Remodel the bathroom
-Remodel the kitchen
-Paint the house and garage
-Clean out the attic
-New windows in the basement
-Make a cold frame with the old sliding glass doors
-Have a cold weather garden this year
-Maybe get goats!

I am sure the list will be added to,and though I know not all will get accomplished,that is what we would like to see happen.

Thank you all for following our lives here in our little cottage.I am very grateful that you all have followed us on our continuing journey.

From all of us here at The Little Yellow Farm to all of you throughout the world,have a wonderful New Years! I hope your joys are many,your sorrows few.

See you next year!!!!!  :)

My Precious!

One of the things I have always wanted,but never really felt was necessary,was a standing mixer. I have always used a hand held mixer,and for the amount of baking I did,it sufficed. Plus, after seeing the prices of Kitchen Aids and Cuisinarts,I felt it was too costly for the occasional cookies or brownies. It would be more of a luxury than a necessity.

Another thing I have wanted was a food processor. I had one,once,about 12 years ago. I thought it would be a great thing to have,since I worked full time. I never used it. In fact,it sat for two years,and when I tried to use it,it didn't work. It was a waste of money.

Now I am making my own bread,baked goods from scratch,and canned goods. I chopped more food this past summer than ever before,and my sore wrist attested to that! When making bread,the bread would ride up the beaters all the way to the bottom side of the hand mixer. It wasn't the best mixing job.

When I went to the Drs for my sinus infection,Rick and I decided to do a bit of Christmas shopping,since we were right in Newington where all the malls are. While I was there,I wanted to stop in the kitchen store and finally get a couple of pie rings. You know the rings,they stop the edges of the crust from burning. It's another item I always wanted,but one of the those things that I kept forgetting-until I had to struggle to keep the tinfoil from falling off the pie edges!

While in the store,Rick guided me to mixer area. "I was going to buy one of these for you for Christmas,but they wouldn't allow me to use the ATM card since it's in your name. Now that we are here, you pick out the one you want. It will be an early Christmas present,since I know that you can use it now." There before me, shiny and new,were Kitchen Aid mixers. I protested it was too much money ( I don't like people spending money on me,never have). Rick replied that this was also an investment. "We are also going to get the food processor attachment," he informed me. When I protested further,he reminded me,"Think of how much chopping you did this last summer. Think of the time this will save. Now you are making more from scratch,this will be a big help." He did have a point. And boy,they sure were pretty all lined up with the store lights shining off of them. Hmmm. "Which color would you like?" he asked. There was only one color-white. White goes with everything. Except....they were out of white. Damn.But wait...behind us were Cuisinarts. They were the same price...but they had them in white. So we looked at them a bit,and they were a bit more compact than the Kitchen Aids,which was good for our storage space. Rick started looking at attachments. There were more attachments than the Kitchen Aid. He said,"We will get the meat grinder and the food processor attachments." I started to protest again,but again he insisted that these were investments and will come in very handy. Plus,we can grind up some turkey meat when we harvest the turkeys,and any other meat we want to make into burger. And,we can make sausage,which will be a plus. I couldn't believe I was getting all these wonderful things.

We brought the items home,and I proudly put it on the counter to take a good look at it:

I jokingly started stroking the smooth,new top surface of the mixer and said in my best Lord of the Rings voice,"Precious,my precious!" which made Rick laugh. It is now known as "My Precious." So far it has served us well in the baking dept. I haven't used the attachments yet,but since the holidays are fast approaching,they will be used and highly appreciated!!!

Laying Low

This past weekend I have been laying low.My allergies kicked into full gear making me stuffy,my head swimmy,and I have been left overall lethargic.Completely drained. I was suppose to can tomatoes-well,that didn't happen.I didn't have the drive to do it at all. Saturday I did poke around in the garden,and pulled up the plants past their prime-the cantaloupes,lettuce,most of the cucumbers,some of pumpkin vines.I left my corn stalks (which are a lovely shade of tan) because I didn't have the energy to tie them up into groups for decoration. I spent all day in bed yesterday,popping Benedryl and sleeping,and today my head still feels off and I have no energy. So the tomatoes will not get canned yet again. I wanted to make sauce,but I don' t have the 40 lbs of tomatoes called for in the Blue Book,so I was going to content myself with canning them in water. I don't have the drive to do it,though. Maybe tomorrow. I have been saying that since this started on Friday! I feel very guilty for it,but there is no way I can do it. I already feel like going back to bed,and it's only 8:50 AM.I feel like I am letting my family down.I don't like feeling sick,when there is so much to do.

Today is Labor Day,and Zach has had a long four day weekend.His Cousin Brody came up over the weekend,and all the menfolk went hunting.It's squirrel and bear season,as well as coyote and other small critters. Alas,things were rather elusive,but Brody enjoyed his first hunting excursion.

We did have a special visitor this AM. Brother B had made a store run and on the way back,he saw a bull moose lumbering down the treeline that separates our yard and the neighbors. Mr Moose then crossed the road and went into the woods . If we had the blinds on our french doors open,we would've seen him. Drat! Rick said that he has noticed deer tracks in our yard,more than he has seen since we moved up here in 2003.This is the second moose we have had in that amount of time. We haven't had any bears yet this year,but I did see one about two miles south,crossing Rt 153 a couple weeks ago on my way back from Farmington. I am surprised that we didn't get one in the yard this year,like we did last year,especially since we have more bird feeders and our garden is bigger.

I should go attempt to do something.....have a great day!

Misc Catch Up and the Death of My Soap

I have been fighting headaches and allergies since the weekend,so my motivation has not been at an all time high. One Benedryl and I am ready for a nap. If anyone out there has taken Benedryl,they know what I mean. It wipes you out.

I have two cabinets left-my pots and pans ( which is more or less just straightening and wiping down the inside of the cabinet) and the dreaded under the sink area. Yuck. Today will not be the day,however. Zach and I are meeting My Dear Friend Michelle and her boys at the lake,then later this PM Rick has an appt with his PTSD counselor,Ken down at the VA Outpatient Center in Somersworth. He hasn't seen Ken in a while,not since before he had his knees done,so it should be a good visit. I think Ken will be pleased to see Rick doing so well physically,which also helps him mentally.

Rick is now in the midst of stopping his morphine. He is lowering his dose by 15 mg each week. He was at 120 mg a day. Last week he started at 60 mg in the AM,then 45 mg at night.This week it is 4 5mg and 45 mg,next week it will be 45 mg and 30 mg,etc., down to nothing. It is not easy. He has been on it for two years,and as most people know,morphine is physically addictive.Each time the dose is lessened he has some minor withdrawal symptoms,but it only lasts for a couple of days until his body adjusts. At least we know it is temporary each week.He is happy to finally not have to take it anymore and is anxious to stop altogether.

Yesterday Brother B canned 9 pints of blackberry jam. He had gone down to North Hampton to help out his Dad and there is an area loaded with blackberry bushes. He picked 9 lbs,so needless to say we still have quite a bit of berries left! He hadn't canned in years,so I just helped him out a bit on the first batch.

I am not loving my homemade dish soap at all.We had a nice ham dinner on Saturday,and when Rick washed the dishes there was about an inch of grease on the dishes.He went up to the neighbors and borrowed some detergent. I am glad it worked out for some people,and hope it worked out for you. Not here,I am sad to say. I will stick to my laundry and hand soap. Tomorrow I will return to the land of Grapefruit Ajax. At least I gave it a shot.

Corn!

I blogged a few weeks ago about a torrential downpour we had that laid our corn down horizontally. Rick and Brother B set it back up with string and stakes,and we held our collective breath to see if it would die or grow. Here is what it looked like on Tuesday:
Nice and green,and pollen was flying everywhere! A good sign. Then,we noticed this little guy nestled in the stalks:

Corn silk! After a closer inspection,we noticed 9 more silks popping out. So we have 10 little ears of corn growing. We were quite happy. Even if we get only those 10 ears out of the 98 seeds I planted,it's better than having the entire crop destroyed. As Ma Ingalls used to say, "There is no great loss without some small gain." We are still keeping our fingers crossed that we will get more ears,and judging by how nice the stalks look,I think we will.

Today I made 6 more pints of bread and butter pickles after we went school clothes shopping for Zach. Last year he picked out most of his clothes,and this year he asked me if I could refrain from buying him a polo style shirt. "I don't want to look like a geek," he informed me. Both my Mom and I had each bought him a collared shirt last year, which he only wore twice-the first day of school and on picture day.Actually, I think he wore them for Easter and Christmas too. I remember arguing with my Mom when we went school clothes shopping,and I don't think it's worth the aggravation. I did ask him to please get a T shirt without any funky graphics on it for the first day,and for picture day. So we got a striped t shirt,which he picked out. As long as he is happy with his clothes,and they are decent, I really don't care what he wears. I do draw the line at huge baggy pants,however,and thankfully he doesn't like them either ( at least,not so far). He got three pairs of jeans, 5 t shirts,a sweatshirt,and new sneakers. We will get long sleeve shirts later in the season.Any clothes from last year that are looking worse for wear or a bit small will become his "bang around" clothes,and anything that is way too small but decent we will donate. He does still have a few things from last year that fit,so he can still wear them to school.

It has been brutally humid today,and we just had a thunder shower roll over us,so things should start cooling down,or at least drying out some. At least I don't have to water the garden!!!

Time To Replenish

My first time making laundry soap was on Sept 5,2009. Since then I have made 6 batches,or 12 gallons of soap. My initial purchase was a box of Borax,a box of Washing Soda,and two bars of Fels Naptha soap. It was less than $10.

Yesterday, I used the last of my Fels Naptha soap. It lasted 10 months.Each bar is .99 cents. Next week I will buy two more bars. I still have quite a bit of Borax and Washing Soda,since I only use 1/2 a cup of each in each batch. I think I may be able to keep using them until I need to replenish my Fels Naptha again.So it is very possible that I will be able to get almost 2 years of laundry soap with about $12.00. You can't get much better than that! I love my laundry soap. It has a nice,fresh,scent,not overpowering at all. And it cleans like all get out.

Another item I need to replenish is my lye. I was going to make lavender soap yesterday,but discovered that my lye was a tad short of another batch. I have a couple bars of Oatmeal Milk and Honey in use,and a couple small bar left. I did buy some bar soap while I was grocery shopping yesterday as it will take a while once the soap is made to cure. I call it my "back up soap." It's the first time I have bought soap in months! What a nice feeling it is to walk buy something you normally have to purchase,knowing you can make it at home and you are saving money! I order my lye from Brambleberry.com. It costs $10,plus shipping,for 2 lbs of flake lye. I need to send a Hazardous Material Waver Form first before they will send it me,though.

I am going to make Dish Soap. I have found a recipe on Lizzy Lane Farm that I am going to give a shot. I have just purchased dish soap,so it will have to wait. At least I can reuse the plastic container.

Today I am making Strawberry Jam,my first attempt. It shouldn't be bad. Rick's favorite is Strawberry Jam,and we are out,so he is anxious to try it. I think tomorrow I will try my hand at Zucchini Relish.

The boys have gone to get Zach's hair cut,and then they are going to chip up the brush pile,and clear back the tree line,leaving the birches. We are going to move back our compost area,which is growing bigger with the addition of the chickens and turkeys poo and hay/straw/wood shavings. We are going to get it a bit more organized.

It's a sunny,cool,breezy day here. I don't think there is one cloud in the sky. It reminds me of Fall. I love it!!!

I am off to sweep,dust,and make Jam......have a great day!!!!

Fruits of the Harvest

Now that my cucumbers are coming in droves,I have been busy canning. To date I have made 12 pints of bread and butter pickles,and 6 1/2 pints of sweet pickle relish. More pickles and relish are to follow,I am sure. I want to make sure we have enough to share with family,and to have for ourselves for the rest of the year.Maybe next year I will have enough to sell by the road for a little pocket money.However,providing for us comes first.

I spent three days in a row canning,and I must admit that I am getting more comfortable with it. Anything new can be a bit overwhelming,and since I have only one canning attempt under my belt,which was not successful,you can imagine I was a bit tentative. But each batch got easier. The timing of the getting the canning water the right temp,the water to boil the jar and lids to 180 degrees,and getting the spices and produce ready took a couple of tries. At first,I stared the water way too early and too low a temp. The third time I had the heat on high,and when the temp neared 180 degrees,I lowered the temperature on the burner. I suppose it's like anything else,practice makes perfect! Of course,we have to let these sit for 4-6 weeks;they were not brined,they were fresh packed. The pickle cukes and onions sat in salt and ice for 1 1/2 hours;
for the relish the cukes,onions,green and red peppers sat in salt and cold water for 2 hours. I am going to make some strawberry jam next. Since we just planted our strawberries this year,our harvest has been a strawberry here and there,so I had to buy them this morning.

One thing I have noticed is my batches never come out with as many jars as they say it's going to take. My relish was suppose to make( 8) 1/2 pints;I had 6. The pickles 7 pints;each time I came out with 6. My Dear Friend Michelle says that that happens to her as well,so I don't feel that bad!

Today I am making another batch of laundry soap;I have finally used up my Fels Naptha soap. I bought all my ingredients either late last summer or Fall. The two bars of Fels Naptha lasted that long! Such a savings. I also need to make more hand soap. I would love to find a recipe for dish detergent;I have only found dishwasher recipes,and since I don't have a dishwasher,that won't work. Anyone out there have a good dish soap recipe?

A Lovely Morning

As you can guess from the title of this post,it is a lovely morning. There is a nice breeze,and it is very comfortable outside-no humidity. On our screen porch it is 70 degrees,and it feels like an early Fall day. I love it! We did have to go through some nasty weather last night to get here,however. Terrible thunderstorms rolled in,but the worst seemed to be to the east and north of us. I haven't heard any confirmations,but there was word that tornadoes touched down around Ossipee Lake and over in Wakefield,which is the next town over from us. I still find it amazing that here in NH we have tornadoes. Growing up,I never heard of any.Now it seems they are very common. I guess the theory that we live in a hilly state and tornadoes only exist in flat states is a crock. I do admit that I get more cautious than I used to be when we have thunderstorms with a tornado warning or watch. We had a bad tornado rip through the state 2 years ago- and the path was suppose to go right by our house. We were down in Newington at a BBQ for Rick's PTSD group,and when we got home,our neighbor informed us that Channel 9 was warning that Middleton Corners was in the path of the tornado (we live in Middleton,but Middleton Corners is in reference to the four corners that is right down the street .If I stand in the road in front of my house,I can see it).The tornado decided to go more north west. Our weather patterns have been very bizarre the last few years,though in New England,we have a saying about it:"If you don't like the weather,wait a minute,it will change."

Today I am going to try my hand at canning pickles. Hmmm. Should be interesting. I haven't tried any canning since my sad attempt at making blueberry jam last year,in which I attempted to make jam with less berries than was called for. Those of you who are seasoned canners know that doesn't work so well.When they say don't deviate from the recipe,they aren't fooling! I had to buy a decent scale,so while Zach and I were out buying him school supplies yesterday,I picked up a digital one. I can use it for canning and making soap,so it's an investment.

I do need to cut back my Sweet Basil,and I should pick some other herbs to dry them for the winter months. Thank goodness my corn has been staked,I don't think it would have made it through last night's storm. My rain barrel is running over, so we have at least 60 gallons. We need to get the second one up and running soon.

Enjoy this gorgeous day!!!!!

Trial and Error

One of the things that I have wanted to try my hand at is canning. This past week, I gave it a shot and made my first batch of Blueberry Jam.
The reason why I wanted to try Blueberry Jam is two fold- I had a bunch of berries given to me,and I thought that it would be a simple recipe to start out with.

Uh-huh.

The first thing I did was purchase a Ball's Starter Canning Set.

The set came with a combo space measure/bubble freer,tongs to lift the jars, a water canning pot,a canning jar rack,6 pint Ball jars,a magnetic lid lifter,a jar funnel,and a Blue Ball Book of Preserving ( I didn't take a picture of the book).
The recipe was suppose to yield 3 pints,so I washed three jars,lids,and lid rings in hot soapy water. Next, I made sure I had enough blueberries. The recipe called for 9 cups crushed blueberries.
All of a sudden,I was confused. Did it mean 9 cups of blueberries which you crush,or 9 crushed cups? As with anything I do that is new to me,I tried to read too much into a simple direction and wound up double guessing myself. Now looking at it, 9 cups crushed blueberries is obviously 9 crushed cups,not 9 cups of blueberries which are then crushed. However, I had exactly 9 cups of whole blueberries. I said the heck with it, let's see what happens.Isn't the heading of this post trial and error? You can guess where this is heading.

While I was crushing ( or,to be exact,mashing ) my blueberries,I kept going back and forth to the book-what do I do next? How long do I need to do that? What is my next step?
My blueberries did not all get crushed. My potato masher wires were too far apart,and I came to realize that no matter how long I mashed,I would not get them all. Next time, I will make use of my blender. I think that will work much better.
I took a quick break from mashing and went to put water in the pot so I could simmer my jars and lids at 180 degrees for 10 minutes. The first obstacle was the pot. The pot I wanted to use was not deep enough (the water has to cover the jars during this process). The only pot I had to use that would work was my stock/lobster pot. Now, this is not a small pot.I put in plenty of water,clipped my candy thermometer to the side,and when it reached 180 I put in my jars and lids. I kept them in there until I was ready to fill them.

I put the blueberries and 6 cups of sugar in another pot and heated it,stirring until the sugar dissolved. Then,when it started boiling,I waited for the mixture to sheet,stirring every onece in a while to prevent it from sticking. What is sheeting? I didn't know either,until I read the book. There are a few ways to test jams to see if they are the right consistency to pour into the canning jars. The method I used is with a cool metal spoon. You scoop up a spoonful of the boiling mixture,take it away from the steam over the pot,tilt the spoon over a plate, and when it's ready,the mixture will come off in a sheet. Well, I kept trying and trying, but it didn't look like it was sheeting to me. I kept getting drops,though they were getting thicker and thicker. I cooked that goo for an hour. Seriously. Looking back,the plate method would've probably worked better. You take a plate and put it in the freezer. When you are ready to test the jam,you plop a spoonful onto the plate,and it should turn into the right consistency. At any rate, I know I over cooked it. I also know that not having the proper amount of crushed berries had something to do with the reason why it wasn't cooking down properly-the berry to sugar ratio was off.

While I was waiting for my jam to jell,I started to put the water canner water to simmer-that also needs to be at 180 degrees.

Therein I encountered another obstacle-I had three big pots,only two big burners on my stove,and not enough room on the stove for all three at once.

As you can see from this photo, I have a pretty basic stove-two big burners,two small ones. I would've loved to have had a nice 6 burner stainless steel stove right then! However, I made do with what I had,and put the smaller of the three pots on the smaller burner on the front right of the stove. My pot of simmering jars in right behind it,and like I said before, it is not a small pot.The two pots did not fit together well at all-I had to have a bit of the front pan off the burner to make it fit. Of course,this was the berry/sugar mixture. I voiced my concern to Rick,who was watching me from the living with great interest ( also, I kept voicing my concerns to him,so he was involved no matter what). Is the heat still going to be distributed evenly? Rick came over and looked. He took culinary arts in high school,and was a cook at some of the nicer restaurants in Portsmouth back in his late teens. He loooves to cook,and is an excellent one.It's a copper bottom pan, so it should be OK,no problem with heat distribution,he said.

Finally, I said it was close enough. One by one,and I took the jars out of the simmering water using the tongs,put the funnel in the opening,and began ladling the blueberry jam into the jars.

I filled the jars,using the head space measure to make sure I left 1/4" of headspace in each jar.( Anything canned needs a certain amount of space between the top of the jar and the food to allow for expansion).I used the magnetic lid lifter to lift the lids and rims out of the water,seated a lid on each jar,making sure the wax ring on the underside of the lid was firmly on the glass rim of each jar,then screwed the lid rings on.I had finished two and was working on the third when I realized that I was not going to have enough to fill it. So instead of canning that one, I set it aside to use. I then placed the full jars in the canning rack,which was resting on the top of the water bath pan. I then lowered the canning rack in the water. I didn't have quite enough water in the pan to cover the jars, so I poured some of the water from the simmering pot into it. I closed the lid,and set the timer for 15 minutes. I then heaved a big sigh.

15 minutes later, I removed the jars from the pot with the tongs,and placed them on a cutting board,with at least 1"-2" between them,and let them sit. The book recommends that you let them rest for 12-24 hours. The next morning, I checked to make sure the lids had sealed. There is a small raised bump in the center of the lids,that becomes flat when the jar seals itself. My bumps were flat! At least I had done that right!!! I wrote what was in the jar and the date I made it on the lid ( you cannot reuse the lids. Jars and lid rings,yes). I then put them in my cabinet.

I tried the half filled jar.I could hardly get the jam out of it. It was very sticky and verrrrrrry dense. However,it tasted great! We figured we could heat it up a bit in the microwave to soften if up if we had to. It is completely edible,and tasted really good on toast,though I had to put it on in clumps.

Sooooooo......what did I learn?

1) Don't read too deeply into a recipe. It will only cause confusion. It is what is says it is. Any changes will affect the outcome greatly.

2)When making jam or jelly,use the frozen plate test.( I still don't really know what "sheeting"looks like). If it seems like it's taking too long to boil down,it probably is.

3) Find a pan deep enough for the jars,but not so big that it crowds other pans on the stove.

4)Next time will be much better- I have a better idea of what I am doing now.

What's to can next? My garden isn't really big enough to can anything out of it this year. Pickles might be easy for a follow up......