Family Canning Event

Yesterday we picked 95 pounds of tomatoes.  

Yes.  95.  Ninety-Five.  NINETY... FIVE.

It was a busy day so when we got home in the afternoon I took a nap and just didn't have the energy to start working on them.  So this morning I woke up and started getting things organized.

Luckily, the boys were more than willing to step up and help.  I decided not to question their motives and we had an assembly line across the kitchen counter. 

I dropped the tomatoes in the pot to boil for a minute and then dumped them into the cold water in the sink.  The youngest would pick them up and peel them, then I would cut the cores out, and then the oldest would scoop out the seeds.

We got about 40 pounds of tomatoes done this way.

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 I was able to start the pot for spaghetti sauce.



Then I realized we had a lot of seeds, juice, peels, and core pieces that were going out to the chickens.  Too many.  So I did some research and saw that I could dehydrate the seeds and peels and use them in recipes later so I started doing that.




I was also reminded that I could dehydrate tomatoes to make sun-dried tomatoes so I decided to use a bunch of the small ones for that purpose and I sent the oldest out to the garden to grab the few small tomatoes that I'd seen growing.

The youngest got one tray organized in an artsy pattern while the oldest disappeared outside.

 And then the oldest walked back in.  I guess we didn't just have a couple tomatoes in the garden.

We ended up with three trays of tomatoes to dry, some were peeled and some weren't.

We ran out of space in the dehydrator and I didn't want to waste anything so I poured the tomato juice and seeds into jars and put them in the refrigerator.

We also have two containers of tomato peels waiting to be dried.  And even with the plan to find ways to use those parts of the tomatoes, we still had 8 cups of core pieces that we blended up and took out to the chickens.

And that is only from about half of the tomatoes.  I estimated that we used about 40 pounds of tomatoes, which leaves 55 pounds to still work on this week.

What's left for this week

 The tomatoes look almost done in the dehydrator and the spaghetti sauce looks and smells great since I ran out to the store to buy the other ingredients to add to it and it's been cooking all day.

Once I had the spaghetti sauce completely ready to cook all day, we took off to spend a few hours at the pools.

I'm excited to get this canned this week and to finish with the rest of the tomatoes, but the task does seem a little daunting as well.


This post was shared on The Homesteaders Blog Hop

I thought the eggs were bad....

We came home from a very long day and I told the boys I was going to take a nap.  My last message to the oldest was to feed the goats and to let the adult chickens out to free range.

Within minutes, I was completely passed out on the couch.

The next thing I heard was the oldest bursting through the door screaming "Mom!  Come out here quick!!!!"

I jumped up and it only took me three steps to get through the kitchen towards the door.  I was planning to run outside, in my socks to chase off a fox or save one of my birds when he added "We have chicks!"

Really?!

#1 I thought the eggs all went back since SilkieSue got off the clutch for several hours.

#2 I didn't want any more chicks as they're too much work and I swore that any more birds I got would be pure bred.

#3 I'm sleeping, and we've had chicks before.

I just yelled "Really?!?!" and went back to the couch to sleep.

When I woke up, I took the camera and went out to see what we had...

It is a lot harder to not want them once you've seen them

There were three chicks when he saw them earlier, and now there are four.  There's only one egg left and I didn't hear any peeping and didn't see any pip marks so it may be a bad egg.  I'll check later tonight.

I guess I'll be going out to buy chick starter feed tomorrow.  Sigh.

More proof of the craziness

This would be the chicken door into the chicken coop.

That would be Carrie, thinking she might fit through it to eat the chicken feed.

This was AFTER she broke into the chicken run, ate all of the chicken feed in there, and then got herself locked into the run.

I'm quitting the chicken farming life....

Last night we went to lock up the girls and all of them were outside the coop.  Turns out that the oldest hadn't opened the coop door, so none of them could go back inside.  As I walked around picking them up from various spots and putting them back in the coop (and silently cursing him) I kept counting them.

The numbers weren't adding up right.

For an hour we walked around in the dark looking for piles of feathers.  I was sure the fox got them.  I even got the dog, brought her into the goat pen, and let her off her leash to walk around with us.  No sign of chicken feathers but I knew the girls wouldn't have gone far so the fox got two of my girls that should start laying any time.

I didn't sleep well and had long detailed dreams about them and that stupid fox all night.

I woke up feeling depressed and seriously considering getting out of the chicken life...  It's just too hard dealing with them getting sick or hurt or dying when I've named them and grown attached.



I walked out to feed the goats and there was the neighbor's guinea, who's been getting closer and closer to our birds when I let them free range.

And then, there was RebaSue*** (named today).

RebaSue

Alive!!!!

My heart was about to explode I was so happy and relieved.

A moment later, the other missing bird came out from around the corner.

Alive!

RebaSue walked right into the chicken run, but the second one I tortured by snatching her up and hugging her.

No really, I literally hugged her several times before I put her into the chicken run.

She didn't appreciate it, I'm sure.



***RebaSue has been named after Reba and her song "I'm a survivor" because this bird was the one that survived the caking of the rotten egg that exploded and now survived a night in the woods with a fox.

I may be a real canner now

I have been determined to can and have things for this winter so on Sunday we went to a you-pick farm about an hour away.  This farm had the biggest selection of produce to pick, but wasn't the friendliest place.

We ended up picking over 20 pounds of roma tomatoes, a few zucchini and squash, less than a pound of string beans, 2 pecks of asian pears, and 4 pecks of peaches (3 yellow and 1 white.)

The veggies

 We still had the 20+ pounds of tomatoes from Saturday's farmers market visit as well.

So, Sunday night, I got to work and the kids helped to boil and peel the tomatoes.

Boiling

Icing

Peels and seeds from the first few tomatoes

Peeled and coring  

 Once the tomatoes were peeled and cored, the boys disappeared and I scooped out the seeds and squeezed out as much water as I could.  Then I mixed them up in a big pot to make spaghetti sauce.

The start to the spaghetti sauce

 It smelled so good, even our new renter kept stopping by the pot to smell and comment on it.  I felt like the tomatoes weren't breaking down enough so I chopped them up with some special scissors that I got from Pampered Chef a few years ago and decided to let it cook overnight.

This picture doesn't do it justice.

 It smelled so good then next morning, and then I canned it.  I only got 3 quarts and one pint.

Spaghetti Sauce

I almost don't want to eat them since we only have three jars.

Then I got to work on the peaches.  I found a new recipe last night that sounded much easier and faster.  I simply had to peel the peaches, slice them up and then drop them into the jars.  I added about a fourth to a third of cup of sugar part way in the jar, and then filled it with water.

Filled with peaches and a little sugar poured in

Added the water and got the air bubbles out

There were a LOT Of peach peels.  I used the food processor to chop up a lot of them and then send the oldest out to the coop with treats for the birds.  I did try finding an idea on using the peels, but all I could find was peach peel jelly and I didn't think I had the energy to attempt it.

Just one of the two bowls of peels

This was definitely easier and quicker and I wasn't as worried about making things fit in a complete jar as I just stopped peeling and slicing when I knew I didn't have enough left to make another full jar.  I ended up with 13 big quart jars.

Canned Peaches

Then I got to work on the salsa.  This time I was going to make my own seasoning from a recipe I found online.  I left the jalapenos out since I don't like spicy food.  I managed to get the boys to come peel the tomatoes while I diced them up.

Again, this smelled so good.  (At this point, things got too messy and I got too busy to remember to take pictures of everything.)

Salsa in the pot

 As soon as this finished simmering for thirty minutes, I canned it.  I managed to get 10 pints and then two half pints that I wanted to use for gifts.  There was another pint jar that was about 3/4 full, it wasn't enough to can so I happily put it in the fridge to eat soon.

Mild Salsa

 I still had another 12 pounds of tomatoes left so I had the boys peel them and I sliced them up to make canned quartered tomatoes in their own juice.  The only thing that surprised me about this was how long they had to sit in the water bath.

We got 8 pint jars and one half pint jars of canned tomatoes.

Canned tomatoes in their own juice

Now I just have to cook the green beans and squash as I don't think there is enough to can, and decide what I am doing with the Asian pears.

 He insisted on being Vanna White in at least one picture.

In other good news, I wore my tennis shoes the entire time I was working today and my back wasn't killing me like it did the last time I was canning, and was barefoot.

Final Dill Pickles

I got, what I think is, the last of our pickling cucumbers from the garden.  There were several funny shaped ones but I wanted to can them just to be funny.

And then we went to the farmer's market and bought almost 20 pounds of pickling cucumbers this morning.

And I got to work.

It took me about two hours and I ended up with 10 quart jars, 2 pint and a half jars, and 4 pint jars.

I'll add these to our other stash once they cool off and then we will see how long they last.  I hope they will last until next summer when I can do this all over again.

Tomorrow... I have to start the 20 pounds of tomatoes that I bought....

WE canned!!!

Yesterday we went to the farmers market to buy pickling cucumbers.  The pickles were so good and we wanted to make sure to have more.  They didn't have any pickling cucumbers and I didn't want to waste a trip, so we bought peaches and tomatoes to can.

Tonight we made salsa and then we made peach pie filling.  I say we because, for the first time, the boys really helped.  The youngest helped peel the tomatoes and wash the peaches, the oldest helped core and dice the tomatoes and peeled the peaches.  It was nice having extra help to get the work done and it was great to have the jars on my counter this evening.

As long as the jars all seal, and as long as the half-filled jar of salsa that is in the fridge tastes good, then I'll buy more tomatoes and try to make some more salsa from scratch.  We are planning to get more pickling cucumbers on Saturday, when the farmers market promised they would have more. 

Laundry Day

I have been wanting to line dry our laundry for several months.  The first hurdle was that the clothesline posts that came with the house were being used to hang a hammock, and the kids pulled one of them out of the ground (again) after having a ridiculous number of kids sitting on it at the same time.

So last week, we dug a new hole about 4 feet deep, filled it with concrete, and then added some boulders on top.

A few days ago I discovered that after the oldest had used the washer, it suddenly didn't work anymore.  I didn't notice this problem until after I had loaded it myself and then came back and hour later to find soaking wet, but still dirty clothes.  I couldn't just leave them, so I had to hand wash the entire load, squeeze them dry, and then put them in the dryer.

Today I bought and tied up the rope lines on the clothesline posts, and then cleaned and filled the two plastic pools we have.  I decided to try out hand washing and drying, for the heck of it.

This was the wash cycle

Okay, really, this was the washing cycle

And the rinse cycle

And the line dry

We did cheat, because we had so much to wash and dry, I ended up putting a lot of things in the drier once they only felt slightly damp.

It was a fun experience but I kept wishing I had that crank machine that would squeeze the water out of the clothes.  :)  Now I need to find time to sit down with the washer machine and figure out what is wrong and actually fix it.

Amazingly pickled

When I made the next batches of pickles last week, I was a bit nervous.  We hadn't tried the first batch of pickles since they needed to wait four to six weeks, and I'm a bit picky about how I like my pickles.  What if I made this second batch and then when we tried them in a few months, they tasted horrible?  What a waste that would be.

I decided yesterday to crack open a jar from the first batch.  It had been seven weeks since they were made and I figured if they tasted bad, I wouldn't make any more.

I passed a pickle to each of us.

I have to say, they were some of the best darn pickles that I've ever had.  My reaction was "Darn, we should have made more pickles...." and I started wondering where I could get larger jars and more pickling cucumbers.

The oldest agreed with me that we need a lot more jars of pickles to line the basement walls.

Guess who is at it again

I walked into the coop four days ago and saw Silkie Sue in a nest box.  I just knew.

I don't want any more chicks!!!!

She only has 5 eggs under her and I've marked them all.  Every day I move her over and check for extra eggs, I've pulled out two that were freshly laid by other birds.

I guess I'm going to let her hatch them, but I'm not sure how that will work since she's now up on the highest nest box, which is about 4 feet off the ground and not a safe place for chicks.  As soon as they hatch, I'm finding them homes.