Orange Scented Vinegar Cleaner

A few posts back,I talked about trying to jazz up my vinegar and water cleaner with some orange scent.

I filled some mason jars with orange peel,and then vinegar. I let them sit for a few weeks.

It was time to try it. Would it smell like oranges? Or would the vinegar scent prevail?

I took my jars down from the shelf:

I lined the strainer with cheesecloth. The first time I did it,I only doubled the cheesecloth and  had some sediment on the bottom of the bowl. I re strained it,tripling the cheesecloth,and it came out fine.

I use a 1:1 ratio-one cup of vinegar for one cup of water.

You can still smell the vinegar,but it does have  a mild orange citrus scent to it. So I would say it does work. Next time I will try it with lemons.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!

Jazzing Up Vinegar and Water Cleaner

I try to make as many household cleaners as I can. The less chemicals I have around my house, the better.

One of the things I use and love is white vinegar and water as a glass cleaner,etc. I also use it in my bathroom.( I do use bleach and water on more nasty areas,such as the toilet.) While the smell of vinegar is strong,it doesn't last very long and it doesn't really bother me,but I do admit a more pleasant smell wouldn't be bad. I saw this idea a long time ago and had always wanted to try it,but for some reason,never did it. I would think if it when I was all out of cleaner and had to make more,or when I didn't have any oranges on hand. It was brought back to my attention by my friend,Teri,who posted about it. It gave me a reminder and the timing was good,because 1) I still had plenty of cleaner left and 2) I had a whole bunch of oranges on hand.

It's so very easy!!!

Take any kind of jar with a cover to seal it. I used canning jars. Fill them with orange peels,and then fill with white vinegar.

Let set for two to three weeks. Use a strainer ( or cheesecloth) so any little mucky pieces that may have settled are flushed out. Use it to make your cleaner. Folks do it differently- I've read 2/3 water to 1/3 vinegar,or vice versa. I use 1 cup of vinegar to 1 cup water and it has worked great. Right now, I am still in the steeping stage of the orange peels,so I can't comment on how well it works,but from what I've read,the vinegar does pick up a nice orange scent. We'll have to wait a couple of weeks to see.

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!

Inspirational Reading

Though I don't talk about it in every post,I am still on my decluttering journey. Keeping my mind from going off into every direction at once is not easy-I struggle with it almost every minute. Even now as I type this I am thinking about a variety of things. I have to stop myself and think,"Be in the MOMENT. Be in the NOW.Focus on what is in front of you,not what is in the next few days."

I would like to share with you some of the things that I have been reading that have helped to inspire me.

The first two books are by Courtney Carver":Simple Ways To Be More With Less" and "Living In the Land of Enough". I also have her website,"Be More With Less" under my blog list. I found them to be very insightful.

The next couple of books are by Gretchen Rubin-"The Happiness Project" and "Happier At Home." Her blog,"The Happiness Project" is also on my blog list.

Since we live in a little cottage (918 sq ft) I am always interested to see how others who have small homes live with lack of space. Tammy Strobel's book,'You Can Buy Happiness ( And It's Cheap)" explores how she decided to live in (literally) a very tiny house and how she makes it work and how she loves it! She also has a blog,Tiny House.

I had hit a wall with the day to day housework jobs. It was the same old-same old,and I needed a fresh outlook. "Zen and the Art of Housekeeping" by Lauren Cassel Brownhill offered new insight into making what seems like a daily chore into something far more meaningful.

Those are some of the books that I have found inspirational and helped refresh my spirit. Even if they go further I will go,I can still glean fabulous insight and apply their ideas to our lifestyle.

What books do you find inspirational?

Have a fabulous day on this Fabulous Planet!!!

Taking Advantage Of Beautiful Weather

Thanks to everyone who sent their kind words and sympathies regarding our Little Mo. We appreciate it! 

The weather last week was gorgeous,as I previously posted. Buds are coming out on trees,some flowers have bloomed,which is just weird for NH in March. Usually,we still have lots of snow left on the ground,but not now-

Friday it had started cooling down a bit,so we decided it would be a good day to start on the compost area. Right now,we just dump our compost in a pile,which has some old cut down saplings and various branches mixed in with leaves,pine needles,etc,etc. We had a small pile of clean compost that we used some of last year for the  garden,but we didn't have enough to fill all the boxes,so we had to buy some. It also gave Rick a chance to play on his tractor. She's a sturdy old thing,and she started right up after sitting outside all winter.Not too shabby for a second buy on Craig's List:

.

 Our goal is to clean up the area by separating the "breaking down" pile and the "broken down" pile,as well as taking out all the big pieces of branches. The area will get raked out,then bins made out of pallets and old wood for each stage of the compost process. Then,the piles will be put into their respective bins.

I would rake the top layer of leaves,etc off the pile,put the leaves in one area,the branches in another,and pull down the good compost. Rick would put the leaves in one pile,and the compost in another.He would also use the tractor to pull down the bigger branches so they were easier to get to. We did this over a course of a couple of days-Zach helped me with the raking and sorting of branches on Saturday-he was a big help.

This end of the pile was mostly branches!

I was very pleased to see once the top layer had been removed that we had lovely compost underneath-more than I thought we would have. We also encountered some frozen compost,so we were scratching at it with rakes,loosening up the branches and compost ( I try not to refer to it as "dirt"!). We have not made back out there since Saturday,though. The weather got real cold and windy,and we had some rain. This is where we are at:

On the far right you can barely see the compost pile,to the immediate left you can see our leaf pile. On the left side of the photo,you can see the pile we are still working on-and all that lovely compost! The bins are going to go behind this big pile,set further back.

Do you compost? How do you store it?

Orange Slice Ornaments

Here is a repost from last year about how I made my orange slice ornaments:

One of the things that was new to me this year was making ornaments from orange slices. I will be doing this again next year.I love the way the look on the tree,they add a lovely primitive look. When a tree light is right behind a slice,it looks like stained glass. Unfortunately,I couldn't capture that on film.

If you would like to try this next year for your tree,here is how I did it. I used an oven.Never having used a food dehydrator before,I wasn't sure what temp or length of time I should use,so I didn't go that route.I didn't want to shrivel the slices,just dry them.However,it does take a good bit of time:5-6 hours,depending on how much juice you can get out of the slices before you put them in the oven. It's a good project for a day when you are doing other things in the house.

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees (this was the lowest temp my oven would allow).Cut oranges into 1/4" slices. Put the slices in between paper towels,and press down on each slice. I had to use several pieces of paper towel,and there was still a good bit of juice in the slices. Do what you can. I burned the paper towels in the wood stove,so there was no trash.

 When you feel the slices are as dry as they are going to get,place them on a baking sheet. As you can see in the photo below,I had two going at once. Leave the oven door ajar. Each hour,turn the slices over so they dry out evenly. When they are ready,you will be able to tell-they will be dry to the touch.

Once the oranges are dried,I cooled them down on a plate,then took ornament hooks and pushed the hooks through the slices,right below the white part of the rind.

Voila! Orange slice ornaments! They will have no scent,but once Christmas is over you can make a pretty potpourri with cinnamon sticks,whole cloves,and the orange slices.

Enjoy!

It's 3:10 AM ....Do You Know Where Your Deer Is?

Very early this AM at 3:10 (or is it very late at night??)I woke to the sound of our phone ringing. Lately,we have been receiving "Private Caller" calls around 3:00 AM,which have been nothing but beeping noises,much to our annoyance. Usually,when a phone rings in the dead of night (or is it dead of morning??) one assumes it's not good news-something terrible has usually happened,which is why these annoying beeping calls are even more frustrating. I heard Rick answer it,and heard him say," Rt 16? Where?" When I heard this,I knew it wasn't bad news.None of our loved ones would be out and about up here,since none of them live near us.Especially that time of night ( or is it morning???)

A deer had been hit,and we are on a call list for any deer or moose. We have friends in the Middleton Police Dept who have let it be known to other Police Depts in the local area that they can call us any time of the day (or night) when they get a call about dead deer or moose,so we are on their call lists. We don't get them often,but we have a couple of times.

This deer was not far from the house-maybe about 10 minutes down the highway.It was a buck,weighing about 140 lbs.

When Zach woke up,Rick told him we got a deer,and he thought Rick had gone out and shot it. He wasn't fully awake yet,and didn't stop to think that it was still dark out. :)

At first,when Rick and I were first married and he got the same kind of call,I thought it was rather...well...weird getting roadkill. I won't lie. The thought of getting something from the side of the road conjured up images of  hillbillies scrounging for food,scraping up possums with a shovel (which I actually saw many years later on "My Big Redneck Wedding"-YUCK!) We weren't hillbillies,and we weren't starving. I mentioned this to Rick,and he replied that we weren't getting an animal that had been there for days.It was fresh,just like he had shot it. Better to get it,and at least not have it's death be in vain,than to just have it rot by the side of the road. Well,that made sense. When I saw the deer,it looked just like it would've looked if it had been hunted. It wasn't gross,and it was fresh. It took a bit,but I got over that mentality.

It's funny that this happened this morning (or is it last night??)because Nephew Brody is coming up after school to spend the night and go hunting with Rick,Brother B,and Zach tomorrow. After Brody gets here,then the deer cutting process will begin. We will vacuum seal the portions. I will actually get to try out my my meat grinder on My Precious (aka the Cuisinart),as well as my sausage maker. They have been lying in their virginal state in a drawer since I got them last year. We are fortunate that they The Menfolk can process and cut up their own deer,and we don't have to bring it to a butcher. I'm not sure if they will cure the pelt or not (another thing that they know how to do).

It's a good thing we invested in a new freezer this past week.

Soap and Snow

Wow,it's already been a week since I posted! Whoops. Some of that was me,some of it was due to the fact that we lost phone and Internet service for a couple of days because the AC adapter that we plug in for the phone/Internet box had exposed wire and stopped working. Our friendly cable guy came and replaced it yesterday. :)

My strawberries,garlic,and carrots have a nice layer of straw on them,which is a good thing,because a few days ago,things looked like this:

This morning,they looked like this:

A bit of snow fell last night,but now that the sun is out,it's already melting. While snow at this time of year is not completely uncommon,it is unusual. It's too early for me!

Earlier this week,I made some hand soap. I wanted to try something different this time around. I did use the same basic ingredients:

You can't see the coconut oil container behind the canola oil,but it's there. The day before I made my soap,I took cinnamon sticks and whole cloves,heated them in the canola oil for while,then put the pan (covered) into the fridge overnight so the cinnamon and clove scent would seep into the oil.

It didn't make an overpowering scent,just a few light one,which was fine,since this was a first attempt. I heated the Crisco and coconut oil over low heat until melted,then strained the canola oil so the cinnamon and cloves were removed. I then poured the canola oil into the  Crisco/coconut oil and heated it. I added a few drops of Patchouli oil ( AKA "Dirty Hippie Scent"). The lye was dissolved in water in a separate bowl. When the temperatures of both the oil combo and the lye were around 80-100 degrees,I poured the lye into the oil,then using an old hand held mixer,mixed it until it came to trace,then poured it into my silicone 8x8 pan.

It has been resting now for a few days,so today I will cut it into squares,and let it cure in our bedroom,which is the coolest room in the house. It will cure for a few weeks.

I have the recipe in my Sept 2009 post,Homemade Lye Soap. I tried to put the link in,but it doesn't like me for some reason.

I have been working on my shawl,and it's getting there.Rick's truck is in the shop. He and Zach were out hunting last weekend on Youth Weekend (no adults are allowed to hunt,only kids under 16 with a licensed hunter) and he heard a CLUNK in the back of the truck. Come to find out,the U joints need to be replaced. Bummer. They didn't get anything either all weekend. Double bummer.Tonight Zach has a Halloween dance and he is going as the slasher from the Scream movies. Monday is our Troop Halloween party,and Rick and I have our costumes,but we aren't telling what we are going as yet. :)

Have a fabulous day where ever you might be!

Garlic and Onions Learning Curve

Today is overcast and chilly,the kind of Fall day when one looks at the gray clouds and thinks,"Hmm...looks like rain or snow flurries." You know it's not quite cold enough for snow,but man..those clouds make you think it.

Today was garlic planting day. This is our first attempt at garlic. We have been given bulbs in the past to plant. We have never actually done it,but we have enjoyed them in our meals! This year,our neighbor gave us quite a few bulbs and cloves,and I was determined that I was going to plant at least some of them. I decided to plant about 10 cloves in a couple of places. I have an eco box that I planted 5 in after I moved it a nice sunny spot.

One does not plant the whole bulb,but plants the separate cloves that form the bulb.The pointy side of the clove must be facing up,though this photo doesn't show it..

Since we live in zone 5A,we have to plant the cloves at least 3"-5" into the soil,and if you are making rows,they need to be about 18" apart.I only planted a single row.I then planted 5 more in the box I had the beets and peas in. I need to water them for the next three days,and will have to cover them with mulch before too long.We haven't had a frost yet here,which is amazing!We usually have had one by now,though other parts of the state have seen one.

The next thing I did was clean out my onion bed.I left my onions right where they were,in the soil,even after their stalks had dried up and turned brown. Some of the onions didn't reach this stage,so I think my thought process was just to leave everything be until they all were ready. That was my bad,because some of the onions started to regrow green stalks! I wound up having some that were not good-if I could smush the onion in between my fingers,forget it. My red onions turned out to be much hardier than the white ones. I placed them on our drying screen/compost sifter,and put this in our mudroom.Now it smells like "Eau de Onion" out there!

One thing I did learn was that I need to space my onions more,or build a bigger box for them. Most of the onions came out rather small,but they are still good!

Tonight we are having spaghetti and homemade sauce,which hopefully will come out fabulous with homegrown ingredients (tomatoes,herbs).I am going to make enough so I can freeze some for future spaghetti nights. Last night we enjoyed homemade crock pot chili,gluten free cornbread,and homemade chocolate fudge for dessert. Rick took one bite of the chili,and said,"You have done me proud yet again,Woman." :)

Our AC's have finally been taken out of the windows....our list is getting smaller and smaller....finally!

Ahhhhh......

Yesterday,as I mentioned,it was quite a raw,dreary day. It rained off and on a bit,but the boys were able to put more wood on the porch,and put our flagpole back up.(It had been knocked down during Irene by a branch). When it was time to get Zach off the bus,the rain became steady. Now,the bus stop is right in front of our house,and technically,we don't need to get Zach on or off the bus,but we have been doing it since he was in First grade.I imagine at some point he will tell us to stop,but until then,we like standing there,waiting for him to arrive. Even if it means standing in the rain. Now that's love! ;)

When the rain came,the air became even more raw and chilly. Even the inside of the house felt that way. I voiced my opinion as such:"I think we need to start the wood stove and get the chill out." Now,we always try to hold off as long as can we when starting the heat,and I figured we were pretty good this year. Last year it was started at the end of September. Of course, the men gave me a hard time about it (kidding,of course),but it was started.

Rick cleaning the glass of the wood stove so we had a great view of the flames

Stocking the stove with kindling and newspapers

It's starting...come on,you can do it........

Ahhhh.....Heaven!!!

It was wonderful to feel the wood heat.There is nothing like it in the world! Anyone else start their wood stoves yet,or are you all being good? :)

How I Saved Over $200

I began making my own laundry soap on Sept 5,2009.Why I remember this is because I have kept track of when I make the soap,and how much I have spent on the ingredients so I could see how much I saved.

When I purchased my items,though,I failed to mark down how much they were. Last week when I was shopping I wrote down the prices to use a guide.

My first initial purchase:
2 bars Fels Naptha soap @ .99 cents apiece= $1.98
One box Arm and Hammer Washing Soda= $2.69
One box of Borax= $3.69
-----------------------------------------------
Total spent= $8.36

Until then I had been buying Purex,which costs $4.49 for 2 qt,8 oz (I averaged it to 2 qts to make it easier to figure out).

Each batch I make is 2 gallons,which means I would have to purchase four Purex to equal 2 gallons (remember,I'm rounding down,here).

I have made 12 batches of soap since 9/09,and have only had to purchase two more bars of Fels Naptha since then,making my investment to date at $10.34,which averages to $.86 cents for every two gallon batch.

Now, if I had continued to use the Purex,I would've had to buy 48 jugs to equal 24 gallons,which would cost $215.52
                                                        Purex-$215.52
                                                  -    My soap-$10.34
                                                    -----------------------
                                                            =$205.18
That'a a great savings! It also lessens the amount of plastic jugs hitting the landfill.

Homemade Apple Cider

First,thanks to all of you who sent good wishes and warm thoughts for my Mom.Her surgery went great and she should be going home tomorrow. She will have visiting nurses and a physical therapist go to the house. She refused to go to rehab,preferring to be in her own home,in her own surroundings. I think it helps heal faster.

Now that we have 28 lbs of apples,the first thing we said was,"OK,now what do we do with them?" Rick made a couple of wonderful pies with Gluten Free crust. I wanted to try apple cider, but we don't own a press. Could I make it without the press? I wondered. Surely I could find something on the internet.

I sure did!Several variations,in fact.

                                                      Homemade Apple Cider

I used about 25 apples. The norm seems to be 36 large apples for one gallon of cider.Our apples all came out rather small,so I knew I wouldn't get anywhere near that amount. Plus,if it came out horrible, I would have all this cider that no one would want to touch. 25 apples made 1 qt of cider. 

First,you core the apples. I don't have an apple corer,so I just cut out the center of the apples.Don't peel them. Cut them into quarters.

After you cut them,put them in a food processor and puree them. The more the apples are pureed,the more juice you can get out of them. I have a food processor attachment for My Precious ( the Cuisinart),and it's not big,so I could only puree a few cups at a time.

I put a big bowl in the sink,and put a strainer in the bowl. I lined the strainer with cheesecloth,and put the pureed apple goop in the cheesecloth.I twisted the cheesecloth and squeezed it as much as I could. I then realized that by keeping the strainer in the bowl,all I was doing was making the apple goop absorb the juice I had already strained,so I put the strainer across the sink,with the bowl underneath. I would chop apples,and while they were pureeing,I would work on getting the juice out of the previous pureed batch.

Once I had purred all the apples I wanted,I then pasteurized the cider by heating it to 160 degrees. The cider was sour (remember,the apples were quite small) so after it reached 160 degrees,I took it off the heat,and added sugar,stirring until dissolved. I used about an 1/8 of a cup of sugar.

I wound up with one quart of apple cider. By pasteurizing the cider,one can keep it refrigerated for three weeks. If you don't wish to pasteurize it,it will only last about four days.

Rick and Brother B pronounced it delicious!!!!!

Apple Harvest

This time of year is for harvesting apples. The last few years,we have gone to Butternut Farm over in Farmington to pick apples. The have a fabulous variety. I don't know if we will do that this year,though,because.......

We have our own harvest this year! We had approx.60 apples on our Jonathon apple tree. We planted it before Rick left for Iraq in May,2005. We finally saw the first apple three years ago. Each year, we would see maybe one or two more apples. Last year we had 8. My,how times have changed!

We promised Zach that we wouldn't pick the apples until he got home from school. He enjoys picking apples as much as we do. So as soon as he got off the bus and put his backpack on the kitchen table we went to the side yard to do some serious picking.Most of the apples had some small brown blemishes on them,but they did not hurt the apples. They still tasted great!

We had a couple of apples that were high up,so Rick with his 6 ft.stature (more like 6'1" with his knee replacements!) picked those for us. We did not prune our tree last year,so that is on the agenda for this Fall.It's way too tall and the branches are too low to the ground.

All told,we picked 28.42 lbs of apples. Not too shabby for a first big harvest. Gluten free apple pies will be on the agenda. Not sure about cider or jelly.I'll have to check into how much and what it takes to make those!

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?

The Bartering System

One of the things that we have had the benefit of since we moved to the country is the bartering system. This harkens back to the day when folks knew they could depend on friends and neighbors to help them on their farms,and they could return the favor. No money was expected.

We have had great luck with our neighbors. When we had problems initially with our dug well,our neighbor  Kelly had access to the equipment to dig down to the pipes (which,we discovered,was "fixed"with duct tape). He spent several hours at our house,helping us replace this pipe. Imagine what that would've cost us to hire someone! He had also dug out massive rocks from our backyard...all he required was coffee. The boys helped by watching his then bait store ,and by working on various small engine jobs that he took in.

Another neighbor had a few trees taken down,so there was nice pile of mulch an dirt in his yard.He let us take it,and we used it around our garden,in our walkway,and to expand our driveway. Our neighbor Kelly came by with equipment to compact it.Then,our neighbor down the road,Bob (who has since passed on) came driving down the road with his big front end loader,and helped move the piles and push them down,so it took less time. We offered him some money for gas,since this was not a small piece of equipment.He refused.

Kelly also wanted a pig,and wanted to know if we wanted one,too. He would keep it up at his house. In exchange for letting us use his property,we shared the restaurant scraps that Brother Dale would bring up from his job. The pork was delicious,by the way.

Last Thanksgiving,we donated a couple of turkeys and food baskets to some families in town. We wanted it to be a secret,but the person (not a family member) who delivered the turkeys and food baskets let it slip.One of the families was another neighbor,who was having a rough time. This morning,as Brother B was taking a walk,he walked past this neighbors house,and they started to chat. He told Brother B that he wanted to thank us for the food last Thanksgiving.He had a pig this year,and might we trade one of our delicious turkeys for some fresh pork? The meat would not be ready until Dec. No problem! So now we have some fresh pork coming our way.

There are other ways neighbors can help,more simple ways. Out of butter,or sugar, or coffee? No problem. If there wasn't something we needed,we knew the neighbors would give it back when they could.

Growing up in Somersworth,we never bartered with our neighbors. In fact, we rarely ever spoke with them,and our houses were closer to each other than the area where I live now. There was no dislike. Everybody just led their own lives.

I am very grateful for my neighbors. They have saved us thousands of dollars,and I know that they are grateful for what we could provide for them.It  has also created a great sense of community. I wish everyone could have that experience.

A New Game

Yesterday I was in the garden,pulling up my broccoli and lettuce that had bolted. As I walked past my green pepper plants,I saw a good sized pepper. It was the biggest I had ever grown,so I called Rick over to take a look and then I saw something I had never seen before clinging to a stalk:

Sorry this photo is so blurry.This was actually taken today on a tomato plant.

Yep,our first horn worm,or hookworm,or whatever you call it. Then I found our second one. The Girls found them delicious. I checked our tomato plants,but didn't see anymore.

Today I went out to plant some fall veggies. I don't know if they will grow or not, since I am late in doing so,but I figured I would give it shot. I planted spinach,lettuce,green beans,and butternut squash. My tomatoes needed to be staked further,so I grabbed some string and did some old Florida Weave (going behind and in front of the plants with the string to the left,then opposite on the way back). Lo and behold,there was another worm:

And another. And another. And another. I would look for these little suckers and one would be right in front of my face for 5 minutes before I saw it. How clever they are to blend right in with the tomato stalks!And how frustrating for me and Brother B. He was helping me look and every once in a while one of us would exclaim,"You little bastard! You were right in front of me!"Sneaky little suckers. I called Zach outside to take a look,and to take the photo above. He thought they were gross.

16 worms later,all looked OK in the tomato world. The Girls loved their noontime treat.

Now we have a new game-Find the Worm. He who finds the most wins tons of gratitude from the tomatoes and the chickens. :)

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!!!!