STOP CANNING!

[manybirds]

we didn't get the garden planted this year so we can't can our own stuff. i was really looking forward to it this year. so u have to stop cause missery likes company lol. maybe we can get some veggies at the farmers market still but its still not the same!

 

[daisychick]

Almost all of the yummy stuff I can is from the farmer's market or the local farm store. I can't grow enough in my garden to keep up with my canning addiction. It really is just as delicious if you get your produce from local farmers and can it. I promise, you should try it and it will help your saddness.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

Yes, plan "B" for you. Canning is a must! Maybe a neighbor who has not found the joy of canning and has an abundance? There are always people trying to give away cucumbers, tomatoes and squash around here. Not the same, but fresh is fresh and free is free; and if you can get fresh and free without weeding, who won?

 

[manybirds]

lol i suppose. besides we always get peaches to can from local amish farmers and they're always the best! we havn't had them in years though. if we're gonna do that we better hurry, green beans will be getting scarce soon! mama's canned green beans are one of my all time favorite foods i wonder if i could replicate them this year hhhhhhhmmmmmm. i've gotta pick raspberries soon, we make jam.

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

We went to a friend house and picked some black currents this weekend. I made some juice last night and will be making some current jam over the next few days from the recipe in the Ball, Blue Book. Never had it before, but free turned into food = great in my book! Best wishes with the green beans!

 

[manybirds]

We went to a friend house and picked some black currents this weekend. I made some juice last night and will be making some current jam over the next few days from the recipe in the Ball, Blue Book. Never had it before, but free turned into food = great in my book! Best wishes with the green beans!

never had currents before, are they like black/blue berries? its always great when u can get some free good food! farmers market is tomorrow hopefully we'll find enough to can. maybe some tomatoe's and other veggies to make salsa

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

We went to a friend house and picked some black currents this weekend. I made some juice last night and will be making some current jam over the next few days from the recipe in the Ball, Blue Book. Never had it before, but free turned into food = great in my book! Best wishes with the green beans!

never had currents before, are they like black/blue berries? its always great when u can get some free good food! farmers market is tomorrow hopefully we'll find enough to can. maybe some tomatoe's and other veggies to make salsa

Picked from a distance, they look like dark blueberries. They are about the size of wild blueberries, but grow on something that looks more like a raspberry cane only without thorns. Tall random canes that criss cross and make a big mess of a patch if you don't tame them. The taste...well alone, I wouldn't just eat them for a snack. They are very different tasting. Kind of a little bitter - sweet. To me oddly they smell a little like pine.

I'll let you know what it taste like when I get it done!

 

[Cricket]

Wild elderberries make a really good jelly--kind of like blackberry, but with an earthier taste.

Maybe if you can't go for volume, Manybirds, you could do more specialty foods that don't take as much produce, but are a real treat in winter. I have a book called 'Small batch canning and preserving' that has things like beet horseradish relish and carmelized onion and red wine relish and different things that you'd look at in the store and say, 'I'm not paying that for that!' They make nice holiday gifts, too. Plus it's a good way to try out recipes that sometime you might want to make in volume. I have a recipe from the Kerr canning book for apple ketchup, which sounds gross, but tastes a lot like A1 Sauce. You can also get airplane bottles of boozey stuff and add to jams (like amaretto to strawberry). It doesn't make you feel self sufficient, but self-indulged anyway! Last summer we had so much rain that a good part of my bean crop was a big bunch of cotton fungus--this year we are watering all the time.

 

[TeamChaos]

Dang, I'm a little nervous about how our canning is going to go this year- I'm not seeing a surplus of veggies anywhere yet, not in our garden, not at the farmers' market- not anywhere! Yikes!

 

[greybeard]

I stopped canning a while back--planted early, harvested early and all done for the year.
Does that make you feel better?

Hey--I DID stop....