Beautiful Saturday

Spent most of my day sitting out back and washing the vintage canning jars.  I am getting them ready to be priced so we can set them out on the 2 weekends of the Spoon River Drive.  We live off a major route of the drive that gets a lot of traffic and Renee and I will be setting up our crafts.  I will be putting out my rag rugs, soap and baskets along with some of the canning jars we picked up last month.  I will finish washing them up tomorrow and then I will start the pricing.  If you want to read about the Spoon River Drive check out the link here:   http://www.spoonriverdrive.org
After washing the jars I might get started on canning the russet potatoes, I want to have them done by Thursday.  On Friday we will be going down to the Arthur Amish Produce Auction for the last time this season.  Of course we will go to the bulk food store and the salvage store while we are there.  Not sure what we will find as the growing season is about done.  I am hoping to get some squash, would love some beets and anything I could use to can mixed vegetables for soup.  I have red potatoes, onions, peppers and carrots so far.  If I can get some cabbage for it I could always use a bag of frozen corn and frozen lima beans.  When I get this mixed canned all I have to do is throw some beef in the crock pot, add a little water and cook.  About 2 hours before done add a jar of tomatoes and a jar of the soup vegetables and you have wonderful healthy vegetable beef soup.  You could also use chicken or turkey instead of beef.  Having so many things canned makes meal time easy and very cheap.  I added up the amount of jars of food I canned for myself this year and have about 600 jars done so far.  I am proud as a peacock when I look at all the stuff in my storage closet.  After the potatoes, vegetable soup mix and whatever I pick up Friday the only thing left on my list is chili beans and some black beans.  I will continue to dehydrate cherry tomatoes and peppers from my garden and when I find some celery and mushrooms on sale I will dehydrate them.  I am completely out of the celery I dehydrated last November, running low on dehydrated carrots and also low on mushrooms.  I won't get any of those items until I find them on sale.  I picked up 6 bags of carrots at Aldi today for 49 cent a pound; I will be using them for the vegetable soup mix and will dehydrate some.  Aldi is the best place to pick up fruit and vegetables on sale.  I look at the ad on line every Wednesday to see what they have special for the week.  I seldom buy anything unless it is on sale, this is the only way to live.  With my storage closet and the deep freezer we are pretty much set.  Now if I could only get Ron to stop buying candy we could save more money, oh well it could be worse.  :)
Later, take care.

Busy Wednesday and Thursday Canning

Getting things canned for this winter has kept me very busy the last few days.  I have canned 31 qts of different varieties of ham and beans the last 2 days.  We now have sm Lima beans, lg Lima Beans, pinto beans, navy beans and mixed beans.  Next  I will be doing the russet potatoes to have for mashed potatoes and then hopefully next weekend I will can a mixture of vegetables for vegetable beef soup.
The weather has really changed the last couple of days.   We have some rain moving in and it will get in the upper 40s tonight.  Just a couple of weeks ago it was in the 90s.  I love this cooler weather and appreciate the rain we have been getting.  The grass is so pretty and green and looks nice.  Soon the leaves will be covering the ground and the weather will be much cooler.  Summer is on the downward spiral the garden is almost done.  Plans for next years garden has started and the dreams of it have started to fill my head.  
Later, take care.

Bacon and Potato Soup Mix are Done.

First thing; I need a remote control for the stove.  Getting up and down all the time to adjust the burner so the canner stays on the correct pressure is killing me.

Up before the sun today and had to turn on the outside light so I could see while I was hanging a load of laundry out.  Put on the last load of canned bacon and when that was done made a trip into town to get 50 lbs of Red Potatoes for $8.99.  Renee called last night and said her mother-in-law got potatoes at a True Value Hardware Store for $8.99.  I called them last night and sure enough they had Red or Russet potatoes for $8.99 for 50 lbs.  She said they get them every year about this time and are a big seller.  Renee and I split a bag and I've already used about half of mine to make the potato soup mix.  I will use the other half for some vegetable soup mix I want to make.  I will wait until we go for the last time down to the Amish auction on the 21st to see what all I can get to put in it.  The Russets I have I will can next week and use for mashed potatoes.
So for today I canned 7 qts of bacon and 14 qts of potato soup mix.  Tomorrow it will be some ham and beans.  I need to get the beans out to check and see what varieties I have and what I want to make.  Canning the ham and beans will be a 2 day thing and then Friday I am resting or at least that is what I am planning.

Canning Bacon and Experiment With Potato Soup Mix

Up bright and early to get a going on canning bacon today.   In the first load of bacon I added a jar of potato soup mix.  The mix has 1 tsp salt, 1/4 c dehydrated celery, cubed Yukon Gold potatoes and about 1/4 # of cut up bacon.  I added water and left 1" head space.  Because I added bacon it has to process at 10# for 90 minutes (qt jar).  I did not blanch the potatoes before adding because of the long processing time.  The second load I did the same thing but added Russet potatoes.  The Yukon's are from my garden and don't have that many to do very many jars so I picked up some Russets that are on sale for 88 cents for 5 #s this week.  When we want some potato soup all I have to do is open the jar, add a little water, heat and then add some canned milk and that is it.  The bacon used was the $1.35 # that I got down at the Amish store last month, the onions from my garden, the celery is from some I dehydrated last November when I got it for 29 cent a bunch.  A pretty cheap meal and oh so delicious.  I will watch the sales in November for can milk and stock up on it.   Now I need to try out both jars to see how the potatoes held up before I make more.  I am going to test one tomorrow for supper and will see if Renee will test the other one and will let you know the results.
If the Russets don't hold up because of the long processing time I am going to still can some without anything else added to use for mashed potatoes.  5 lbs for 88 cent is very cheap and should be able to get at least 4 quarts from each bag and I picked up 5 bags yesterday.
Just put in my final load of bacon for the day, 26 qts of bacon and 2 qts of potato soup mix.  I have 1 more load of bacon and will do it in the morning and then will start on jars of just potatoes for mashed potatoes.  Not a bad day at the old ladies house.  :)

Dehydrated celery, salt, chopped onion.

Added chopped bacon.

Potatoes and water were added, removed air bubbles and ready for the canner.

Potato soup mix, Yukon Gold on the left Russets on the right.  Just by looking closely I think I will not be making it with Russets but will wait for the taste test before the final decision.

Update
The russet potatoes will not work, you need a "waxy" potato like the Yukon or Red.

http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2012/09/carnival-of-home-preserving-28-come.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LauraWilliamsMusings+%28Laura+Williams%27+Musings%29



http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2012/09/barn-hop-79.html

Thanks to Whoever

We live in a rural area about 1 mile outside a little village.  Our lane has 6 houses on it and is a dead end.  On the other side of our lane is a right-of-way that I keep mowed, then a ditch which is impossible to get a lawn mower in and then a street that goes into town.  Over the years we have tried to keep the ditch free of weeds but 2 years ago after working on the culvert at the end of our lane the village tore up the ditch so bad that you can hardly walk in it little alone keep it weed free.  After we first moved in I went to the village and asked why they don't keep it mowed and I was told that it was not their responsibility but it was the states responsibility.  I called the state highway works dept and they said the opposite.  It was not their responsibility but the village.  Over the years the state did come once in a while and mow it.  No one has done anything for the last 2 years so when I do my lawn I have been trying to do a little at a time.  On Saturday Ron and I got out there and tried to make a dent in it and in the process I fell and cut my leg in a couple of places, nothing bad but after I got up I said I was done.
I have the AC off and windows and door open and am canning and heard some noise out front.  I went out to to my surprise there was someone, not the village and not the state but someone was mowing the ditch with one of those huge mowers.  I sat out front and watch him do an excellent job and when he was finished I waved and gave him a thumbs up.   He honked and waved back.  Friday was my birthday and I feel like I just got a late birthday present.  So whoever you are in the big green tractor with the huge mower THANKS so much for making my day.

Update
A neighbor stopped over and told me one of the other neighbors was telling her that I had been in the ditch and was trying to cut the weeds.  She said that she was on her way somewhere today and saw IDOT (Illinois Dept of Transportation) cutting weeds and she stopped and said that the ditch by our house needed cut and had not been touched for a couple of years except by one of the neighbors.  They said that they were not aware that it needed cut and they had not heard from anyone about it.  Let me see....someone needs to tell them that weeds need cut and if you don't call and complain it won't get done.  A good case of "The squeaky wheel gets the grease."   So the Thank You goes to Alice for being in the right place at the right time.

Another Update
Today I heard a noise out front and there was a big IDOT truck spraying the ditch.  I would assume it was some kind of weed spray.  WOW I guess it takes the right person to get things done.

Beautiful Sunday

Today was absolutely beautiful out.  The temps in the low 70's, a little breeze and the beautiful sun was out.  We went into town I got my hair cut, picked up a few items at the store and then back home.  I then put a Pepsi can chicken on the grill and made some baked beans to go with it.  It turned out really nice and just fell off the bone.  Tomorrow for supper we will have leftovers from yesterday and today.  We have leftovers at least once a week for supper; I refuse to waste good food.  The rest of the day I just sat and looked up some recipes on the internet.  Tomorrow I will start working on canning bacon.  I have the jars washed and everything out and ready.  It will probably take 2 days to do the bacon; the canner holds 7 qts and each load takes 90 minutes processing time.  So each batch will take about 3 hours and I hope to do 3 batches tomorrow.

Our delicious Pepsi can chicken. 

The bees and butterflies were all over my sedum plants on this beautiful sunny day.

My peppers are still doing wonderful.  I got my first pepper on May 31st and they still are producing.

Yard Work Day

Since we have been getting rain the last couple of weeks the yard is finally green and needs cuts more often.  Ron did the trim work while I did the mowing.  This is the first time in the last 3 months that I had help  doing the yard work and it was real nice.  It is so nice out that we are able to turn off the AC and I love that.  After the yard work we went into town and picked up Brandon so he could spend the night.  I made eggplant parmigiana for supper.  Used eggplant from our garden, sauce that we canned last month and cheese that I made.  It was very good, Brandon the picky eater had mayo sandwiches.  There is seriously something wrong with that child, if he doesn't like what we are having he must fend for himself and most of the time he has to fend for himself when he comes.
After getting Brandon we stopped at the store and picked up 5 turkey breasts that were on sale for 99 cents a pound and in a couple of weeks when we are not so busy I will thaw them out and Ron and I will make ground white turkey and then use the bones and can some broth.  I love to use ground turkey to make meat loaf and grinding my own I know exactly what is in it.  I also picked up 5 boneless chuck roasts, cut 3 of them in half for 2 meals each and then the other 2 roasts I cut up in small pieces for stew and soups.   The 5 roasts will yield 12 meals.  Since I have all the fruit and vegetables canned up I will hopefully start making room in the freezer and get the bacon canned.  I have about 30 lbs to do and a quart wide mouth jar holds a little under 1 lb of bacon.  After the bacon gets canned I will do some beans; black, pinto, lima and red.  I will also make some chili beans using pinto beans.  I have a couple shank hams in the freezer and will use 1 to can some ham and beans.  I also have canning some white chicken chili on my list.  Using some chicken and 1 of the hams and canning the bacon should make more room in the freezer.  I am almost out of egg noodles, completely out of home made spaghetti noodles and down to a couple pie crusts so the space in the freezer is needed.  I think I have a never ending list but I like it that way.