I actually have canned a little bit before. I like to make salsa from an old recipe only slightly modified that I received from a marvelous lady who worked along side me as a nurse in Arkansas. She was “older” and I wouldn’t dream of guessing her actual age then except that she should probably have been retired. Ms. Renck’s Salsa is how the recipe appears in my tiny favorites book.
My husband likes peppers in red sauce. His grandmother used to make them and he would do all kinds of work for her if those peppers were his promised reward. They aren’t hard to do.
I have set one goal for myself and the new farm:
Goal #1
Grow, eat, process and “put up” ALL our tomato based products for next year (harvest to harvest). This is for my “little family” and the gatherings of the “big family”. That might or might not stretch to include the “giant family”.
That won’t be all I do, but it is the main goal I am working toward for next year. But, since I plan to have a large garden and get more of our food from our own backyard – I need to learn to get out of my comfort zone and can other things.
I am still scared of a pressure canner, but I will work on that. There has to be a class at the cooperative extension or something. That is on the list. But, today I tried two new things. I tried peaches and pickled beets. I did “cheater pickles” – from mix last week and everyone seemed to like those. So, today I jarred up one quart and one pint of peaches. I would have had more, but the peaches were so good from the farmer’s market that everyone ate them before I could experiment. Still, they look okay – except they float and I think that is a rookie mistake.
The pickled beets were supposed to be cheater beets from a packet, but I tried a recipe on line that seemed to have a few things my husband remembers tasting from when he was growing up. They are in the water bath canner as we speak. Personally, I think my husband might have mentioned that I would need some gloves to prevent myself from running around looking like I just left a murder scene. He will at least know I’ve been working at home while he was working at work.
Maybe it will wear off soon!
brandnewfarmers 