Canning season '09

It is that time of year again, well almost. I have been taking stock of what is left in the pantry from last years canning. Hmmmm there is a lot! I have decided to make a few changes this year. The apricots from last year taste really great but the light syrup I made turned into heavy syrup. It is nasty nasty stuff! A friend of mine does honey instead of sugar for her syrup and I think I am going to give that a whirl. The cherries the kids loved however they look unappealing to me so I rarely open them. (They turned dark over the last year and kind wrinkly!) This year I will get twice as many cherries but dehydrate most of them. Same with apricots. The blueberries flew off the shelf as well as all the jam. Iactually had to buy store bought jam this year......ICKY NASTY stuff! So that will also have to be bumped up. The blueberry was by far the most favorable so I will need to make a lot more of that.

Overall though we used a lot of what I put up. Its a matter of fine tuning everything I think. This year I am making it a priority to get my pressure canner fixed so that I can do a bunch of soups and veggies. Its my #1 thing to do in the next few weeks. (And really how hard is it to buy a new seal and pressure gage, I was just lazy last year!) To make life easier this year I was given a victorio strainer for Christmas (woot woot!) so I will definatly be making gobs and gobs of tomato sauce and apple sauce.

So since I totally deleated last years posts (what a dumb moment for me) here is the list I did last year. If it is in green it is long gone! Not to bad huh.

Canning/Preserving 2008
20lbs apricots FREE
3 dehydrator trays
5 pints apricot nectar
8 Qts apricot juice
48lbs of peaches $32
Froze all peaches, ate a few!
Carrots approx 30-40lbs
approx 10lbs cold storage
3 trays dehydrated carrot slices
12 pints frozen carrot slices
Broccoli approx 1lb
1 tray sliced dehydrated
Zucchini approx 14lbs
8 qt bags shredded zucchini
shredded Zucchini 5 dehydrated trays
10 trays sliced dehydrated
13 lbs blueberries @ 2.00lb
10 pints 2 quarts whole berries
8 pints blueberry jam
1/2 gallon bag frozen whole berries
30 lbs Apricots @ 1.30lb made:
21 quarts halved/quartered fruit
5 pints apricot jam
20lbs Cherries @ 1.30lb made:
Cherry marmalade 4 pints
Cherries 9 pints 6 quarts whole
Strawberries 8 gallons @ 3.75 gallon made:
1 gallon frozen whole berries
5 quarts whole berries in light syrup
1/2 gallon sliced frozen berries
Strawberries 14 pints jam
6 pints whole tomatoes
18 quarts grape juice (free!)

The fruit stands open here in a few weeks starting with glorious organic strawberries. Oh baby! Then it will be blueberries and cherries. I tell ya life doesn't get much better than fresh fruits and veggies. If you are in Idaho check out this link to all the upick farms in the state. And here is another one for Idaho (I haven't checked if the lists are the same) If you are anywhere else in the country check out this link.

Happy fresh season everyone!

Canning season '09

It is that time of year again, well almost. I have been taking stock of what is left in the pantry from last years canning. Hmmmm there is a lot! I have decided to make a few changes this year. The apricots from last year taste really great but the light syrup I made turned into heavy syrup. It is nasty nasty stuff! A friend of mine does honey instead of sugar for her syrup and I think I am going to give that a whirl. The cherries the kids loved however they look unappealing to me so I rarely open them. (They turned dark over the last year and kind wrinkly!) This year I will get twice as many cherries but dehydrate most of them. Same with apricots. The blueberries flew off the shelf as well as all the jam. Iactually had to buy store bought jam this year......ICKY NASTY stuff! So that will also have to be bumped up. The blueberry was by far the most favorable so I will need to make a lot more of that.

Overall though we used a lot of what I put up. Its a matter of fine tuning everything I think. This year I am making it a priority to get my pressure canner fixed so that I can do a bunch of soups and veggies. Its my #1 thing to do in the next few weeks. (And really how hard is it to buy a new seal and pressure gage, I was just lazy last year!) To make life easier this year I was given a victorio strainer for Christmas (woot woot!) so I will definatly be making gobs and gobs of tomato sauce and apple sauce.

So since I totally deleated last years posts (what a dumb moment for me) here is the list I did last year. If it is in green it is long gone! Not to bad huh.

Canning/Preserving 2008
20lbs apricots FREE
3 dehydrator trays
5 pints apricot nectar
8 Qts apricot juice
48lbs of peaches $32
Froze all peaches, ate a few!
Carrots approx 30-40lbs
approx 10lbs cold storage
3 trays dehydrated carrot slices
12 pints frozen carrot slices
Broccoli approx 1lb
1 tray sliced dehydrated
Zucchini approx 14lbs
8 qt bags shredded zucchini
shredded Zucchini 5 dehydrated trays
10 trays sliced dehydrated
13 lbs blueberries @ 2.00lb
10 pints 2 quarts whole berries
8 pints blueberry jam
1/2 gallon bag frozen whole berries
30 lbs Apricots @ 1.30lb made:
21 quarts halved/quartered fruit
5 pints apricot jam
20lbs Cherries @ 1.30lb made:
Cherry marmalade 4 pints
Cherries 9 pints 6 quarts whole
Strawberries 8 gallons @ 3.75 gallon made:
1 gallon frozen whole berries
5 quarts whole berries in light syrup
1/2 gallon sliced frozen berries
Strawberries 14 pints jam
6 pints whole tomatoes
18 quarts grape juice (free!)

The fruit stands open here in a few weeks starting with glorious organic strawberries. Oh baby! Then it will be blueberries and cherries. I tell ya life doesn't get much better than fresh fruits and veggies. If you are in Idaho check out this link to all the upick farms in the state. And here is another one for Idaho (I haven't checked if the lists are the same) If you are anywhere else in the country check out this link.

Happy fresh season everyone!

One of those days...

Well weekends actually. You might know the ones I am talking about. The ones when everything in your little world is at peace and everything is aligned just right. Where even a cranky attitude doesn't last long because everything just feels right.

Its been one of those incredible weekends for me. I have been woken by the sounds of the kiddos stirring in bed, the birds singing, and the frogs chirping. Cool breeze has blown through my house and made everything smell fresh and clean. The sun has warmed the hardwood floors and it feels so completely comfortable to just stand and let my feet enjoy the warmth. Food has been great and the yard looks fantastic. The garden is growing with little carrot, potato, and lettuce leaves everywhere. The strawberries have sweet white flowers that make me look forward to next month. The trees have finally leafed out and when the breeze comes by they rustle and flutter and it sounds so soothing.

This is one of my favorite times of year. I get nostolgic and yet look forward to what is to come. For what ever reason I always feel balanced in late spring and it feels really good.

Its time to bake some bread this morning and turn on a little jazz in the background. Its time to sit back enjoy the wonderful sounds of the day and just relax.

Seriously, life is good.

Hope you are finding relaxation during this holiday weekend.

One of those days...

Well weekends actually. You might know the ones I am talking about. The ones when everything in your little world is at peace and everything is aligned just right. Where even a cranky attitude doesn't last long because everything just feels right.

Its been one of those incredible weekends for me. I have been woken by the sounds of the kiddos stirring in bed, the birds singing, and the frogs chirping. Cool breeze has blown through my house and made everything smell fresh and clean. The sun has warmed the hardwood floors and it feels so completely comfortable to just stand and let my feet enjoy the warmth. Food has been great and the yard looks fantastic. The garden is growing with little carrot, potato, and lettuce leaves everywhere. The strawberries have sweet white flowers that make me look forward to next month. The trees have finally leafed out and when the breeze comes by they rustle and flutter and it sounds so soothing.

This is one of my favorite times of year. I get nostolgic and yet look forward to what is to come. For what ever reason I always feel balanced in late spring and it feels really good.

Its time to bake some bread this morning and turn on a little jazz in the background. Its time to sit back enjoy the wonderful sounds of the day and just relax.

Seriously, life is good.

Hope you are finding relaxation during this holiday weekend.

I found a great site!

I am a total fruit and veggie lover. Our grocery budget is probably 90% spent of produce. The stuff is amazing and we go through veggies like mad. I am always interested in new recipes or varieties to try, there is just so much goodness out there. :)

I am also a freakishly obssessed planner. This includes meal planning. I love to meal plan and search through recipes and cook. Its all one continuous process for me. Today I stumbled over a link on a forum that I thought I would share.

http://mealplanner.eatrealgood.com/plans

This site is made for us veggie lovers (especially those who are part of a CSA.) Put in your veggie, hit enter and you will get a list of recipes that contain the food. Press the box and it automatically adds all the ingredients to a shopping list. Pretty cool huh.

I will be playing around with this more today and I can't wait to use it. Farmers market and garden season is upon us now, this will com in handy!

I found a great site!

I am a total fruit and veggie lover. Our grocery budget is probably 90% spent of produce. The stuff is amazing and we go through veggies like mad. I am always interested in new recipes or varieties to try, there is just so much goodness out there. :)

I am also a freakishly obssessed planner. This includes meal planning. I love to meal plan and search through recipes and cook. Its all one continuous process for me. Today I stumbled over a link on a forum that I thought I would share.

http://mealplanner.eatrealgood.com/plans

This site is made for us veggie lovers (especially those who are part of a CSA.) Put in your veggie, hit enter and you will get a list of recipes that contain the food. Press the box and it automatically adds all the ingredients to a shopping list. Pretty cool huh.

I will be playing around with this more today and I can't wait to use it. Farmers market and garden season is upon us now, this will com in handy!

My little Dudes!

Its such a nice day out. The kids have played in the yard and on the swings all day long.

My little Dudes!

Its such a nice day out. The kids have played in the yard and on the swings all day long.

Baby Time!

We are going to have a baby! Yup you read that right, number 4 is on its way scheduled to arrive in late December.

More details to come later. :D

Baby Time!

We are going to have a baby! Yup you read that right, number 4 is on its way scheduled to arrive in late December.

More details to come later. :D

Our News.

We are going to have another baby! Yup it's true and totally shocking to us also. :) The baby is due sometime in late December.

I'll keep you updated when I find out a more "concrete" time.

Our News.

We are going to have another baby! Yup it's true and totally shocking to us also. :) The baby is due sometime in late December.

I'll keep you updated when I find out a more "concrete" time.

The house is up for sale

Its official its up for sale. We had our first walk through on Saturday. He liked it but..... who knows. The other lady we have had schedualed a couple of times cancelled.

So heres hoping and to new changes! :)

The house is up for sale

Its official its up for sale. We had our first walk through on Saturday. He liked it but..... who knows. The other lady we have had schedualed a couple of times cancelled.

So heres hoping and to new changes! :)