Since my kids didn't like the frozen turkey soup, I decided to try my hand at canning it. I have cooked in the pressure cooker (beans and taro - separately, not together, of course) but I haven't tried canning. I am getting wildly different canning times, depending on which recipe I am looking at. I don't quite know which time to pick - it ranges from 25 minutes to 75 minutes! I guess I will go with the longer time, just in case - and hope my jars don't explode in the canner.
Hopefully, I will also have time to pull back the black plastic and turn over the soil in the outside garden. It's time to plant broccoli and lettuce! Since we took down the fencing to make a pen around the taro patch, I am not sure how I am going to keep the hens from scratching up my seeds - or Melly from digging her little holes.
I let some poha grow where my bean and cucumber supports are and it is sure taking over. I like poha, though, and so I am more inclined to move my supports than dig it up. We used to have lots of poha here, but it all disappeared for a few years. Poha is a yellow-orange berry that grows in a husk like a tomatilla. It makes a great jam, and would probably make a good substitute in a relish for cranberry, in case I do reach my all-homegrown Thanksgiving next year.
Lepo's dressing came off, and it was probably a good thing. She's not bearing much weight on the affected foot, but the flesh exposed by the missing claw seems to be toughening up and it is dry and not infected. I will give her one more day of penicillin and talk to the vet down in Hilo about whether to switch her to something else for a longer time. It's still sunny and dry, so I let her out with the flock in the big pasture - it was my husband's idea, so she'd be encouraged to eat more. Yesterday, she lay down a lot rather than grazing.
Because we've had a such a wet year, the basement bathroom grout needed extra treatment. I just tried some oxyclean, since scrubbing with a normal cleaner didn't do all that I wanted. I hope this works!
I think I am going to be exhausted heading into the new school week, rather than rested, but it isn't restful knowing that there is so much to be done at home, either. At least, I hope I will have conquered the powdery mildew, gotten the garden ready for my greens and broccoli, and have a bunc of soup in my pantry!
2 comments:
I did some pressure canning in yhe last century, with a then-antique Presto pressure cooker that scared everyone while I "put up" some tomatoes. No problem with the process, but no one wanted any of my sauce later, being convinced we'd all die of botulism. Success is relativ. I religiously followed the Ball Blue Book of Canning. giving the maximum time at pressure, and it sealed all 4 jars very nicely.
Today, I'm unpacking our household stuff at our new place in coastal Oregon, where everybody routinely cans and preserves their veg's and fruit [and more!]. I'll get the new Ball book, hunt for a used well-cared-for All American cooker, and when the garden gets going, I hope to can all sorts of stuff. I hope your results are terrific!
Wow, you moved! Just in time for winter, too! The soup and stock came out - only one jar failed to seal, so I am eating it for lunch today after it's been in the fridge since I noticed the seal didn't take. I hope one day to have enough tomatoes to make sauce. I think I will try determinates next summer to test it out. I do have the Ball book - very useful. The big box stores have 16 quart canners which have all the extra safety valves, etc.
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