What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow. ~ Martin Luther

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The 2013 Canning List and Other Such Nonsense



The "Putting Up" has officially begun- so I suppose it is high time I cleared my sidebar list of last years' list and begin again with a fresh start.

The foodstuff I am able to put up this year will be added to the sidebar as it is prepared/I am able.



Here is last years' list, for the sake of posterity ~

The 2013 "Put 'Em Up List"

~Canned~("jars" unspecified means I used a variety of sizes)


* Jalapeno jelly- 6 jars
Bread and Butter pickles- 7 pints
Green Beans- 21 pints, 12 Quarts
Volcano Pickles- 14 qts.
Zuke "Pineapple" Tidbits- 21 pints* zucchini relish- 10 pints* elderberry and honey flu syrup- 7 jars
*
 elderberry jam- 8 jars
Salsa (medium)- 10 pints
*
 Spaghetti Sauce - 51 qts
batch 1- 7 quarts
batch 2-12 qts
batch 3-11 qts
batch 4-12 qts
batch 5- 9 qts

Pizza sauce- 12 jars
Whole tomatoes- 18 qts
*
 Jalapeno Mustard- 13 jars
Hamburger Dill "stackers"- 6 quarts
Bread and Butter Spears- 5 quarts
Sunrise Salsa (with pineapple)- 9 pints
Pears- 6 qts
Grape Juice (with water)- 21 half gallons
Grape Juice (pure)- 7 qts
apple butter- 29 pints
*
 applesauce- 58 quarts

~Frozen~

* Huckle/Blueberries, 34 pounds
* Dill- 2 gallon size bags* Strawberry Freezer Jam- 7 jars
Quartered chicken-40 lbs (.57/lb sale)
* cilantro- 4 gallon bags
* pesto- 28(ish) cups
* Corn- 33 ears
*
 squash (slices)- 2 lbs
*
zucchini (shredded)- 7 cups
*
 Green beans- 6 lbs
pumpkin puree- 20 cups


~Dried/Dehydrated~

* Chamomile
* Calendula

* Hyssop
* sundried tomatoes- 1 quart jar
*
 zucchini- slices
* banana slices (loads)






I always like to keep track of what I put up for the year so that I can adjust quantities to more or less depending upon how much we use.  We almost always run out of tomato products by January so I know that 100 jars of tomato products just doesn't cut it.  I need to increase that number.   I should make a bit less apple butter and a bit more applesauce because we still have quite a number of those apple butter jars left- but only one more jar of applesauce!  Having a list helps me keep track of these things.  My goal is to (every year) do a little bit more, waste a little bit less, and prepare a little bit better for winter.  The best way to make sure that happens is to keep track of what I actually do.

 Besides, it is fun to look back on and see the work that I have done throughout the year and the progress I have made.  When I first started canning, I was so proud of my handful of jars!  I now have armloads and armloads of them-but still not enough to make the need for grocery shopping obsolete.



Once upon a time, women DID that.  They lived only upon the food that they could store and preserve themselves.  And that was that- a good year in the gardens or a bad year- they had what they had and that was it.

In some ways I am very glad that a job like that isn't required of me.  I like the fact that if my tomatoes get blight, I can still get some from the grocery store.  But there is a great wealth and blessing in what they had too- even if it was by the sweat of their own brow.

I have a long way to go and a lot to learn...



Two weeks ago we went blueberry picking at the local u-pick place.  It is a backwoods place, way out in the sticks, and the cost is .85 a pound.  (Many places around here are $4.00 a pint!) We picked 23 pounds and planned to go back again for more- but the men (who are a bit slow of mind) decided to close up shop this week, despite bushes DRIPPING with berries.  Unfortunately, after the storms today, I wonder if there will be any left on the bushes by the end of the week anyway.  We never even got out to go huckleberry picking this year!  It has just been a crazy summer.  I hope that, if the rains don't spoil things, we can get out picking one more time at the end of the week to match last years' berry yield of 34 pounds- we still have a few left, so that was a good number for us.

I've been canning green beans from a friend (my bean plants- all two plantings of them- were eaten by something) and I have some serious squash to contend with.  Last night I made my pineapple zucchini which I really need to post the recipe for.  It is wonderful!  Tastes just like canned pineapple- but uses summer squash from the garden! I'll post it one of these days (along with my pizza crust recipe, Leah!).

On the agenda for today is more "pineapple" squash and the first phase of zucchini relish.   It should be a good day for it too, what with the storms and wind and cool rain to keep the kitchen from becoming TOO sweltering.  Oh, and of course, more cheese.



Speaking of cheese- I made stuffed crust pizza for pizza night last week using my own homemade mozzarella.



And garden veggies on top.  What a treat!



  And with the amount of mozzarella I have been making~ I think it will become a lot more common around here! 

12 comments:

Amanda said...

For starters, you inspired me to do the put up list on the sidebar from your 2013 list and it is great! I've had a lot of comments on it.

Second, I always like to pretend, without the true pressure, that I am putting up for things we will need instead of it really just being a way to preserve our tiny garden and a little bit of summer for the winter. People act like it is such a hassle but it used to be so necessary! I like to think when the kitchen is 90 degrees and I've burned my hand, in January, these peaches will taste amazing!

Third, we went to a you pick patch for their last day, despite them having berries dripping off the bushes, too. I asked why they were closing up. They replied that many of the berries you see that are blue are not just freshly ripe but rather have been sitting there for weeks. At that point, there is no way to tell the old blue berries (that get mushy and mealy on the bush) and the new ones. I think it is a standard quality control practice. Still, that is an awesome price you paid and I'm glad you brought so many home!

Amanda said...

And another thing - that pizza looks great! You should join us over at Beauty That Moves on Thursdays for the "This week in my kitchen" link party.

Unknown said...

What is your pizza dough recipe...I sorta forgot mine and now it comes out weird!!!??? Pretty please??? I just love all your beautiful photos of this yummy food you are growing and making. WOW, Rebecca! It is so COOL!!!

Unknown said...

yum - and love the picture with the oil lamp. I'm only 29 but I grew up without electricty and LOTS of oil lamps all through out our house so seeing one always make me nostalgic. Lovely post

lydia.purple said...

oh my that pizza! i want it... just the right amount of cheese. must be wonderful not to worry about $$$ when eating loads and loads of cheese.

Angela said...

Let the kids make their own "milk grown pumpkins" with some of your extra skim milk. Let's see there must be a link on Google but I read about in Farmer's Boy, the Laura Ingalls book.

Full of Grace said...

That pizza looks AMAZING!! And please invite us if you go blueberry picking again, I wanted to go, but just didn't get around to it..Or apple picking! :) Pretty Please?!? :)

beth said...

love, love these pictures of your lovely life.

Rebecca said...

Amanda~ well, that explains it then! Thanks a lot for the blog suggestion- stinker. Did you not just read that I got RID of blogs? Evil temptress. ;-)

Amy- it is coming! Soon!

Alyssa- well, that is just the coolest little factoid you shared! We love ourselves some oil lamps- and have them all over the house- but use them less often that we should I suppose. They are so beautiful.

Lydia- dairy was easily almost 50% of our grocery budgest and cheese was something I never was desperate enough to give up. But I did feel guilty eating cheese (one of my favorite things) knowing their cost at the store. So yes- it HAS been wonderful not having to worry about the costs of cheese anymore. I remember telling Matt that we would probably have to push pizza night to an every-other-week thing until Penny gave us milk because it was getting too expensive to buy that much cheese once a week. Thankfully, she freshened before we had to take such drastic measures. It will be even more wonderful when I can make some of my favorite cheeses- cheddar and gouda!

Angela- we've been growing 'whey-fed pumpkins' around here. I don't want to give up the milk but the whey after cheesemaking is another matter entirely! We'll see if it is quite the same thing this fall! ;-)

Elizabeth- well, the berries are probably all off after the storms we've been having and the apples this year stink- no apples anywhere from what I can tell- so we might, both of us, be starved of delicious fruits this year! But if I go, I'll let you know!

Beth- thank you!

Stuff I Do said...

Love that stuffed crust pizza. We are pizza fans here and I will have to try that one.

Deb said...

Pizza is definitely my favorite! And yours looks just delicious. Great pic showing the cheese inside your crust!

And I love your put-up list. You're amazing. I popped over from the kitchen blog hop.

Anonymous said...

I skipped out on the hop this week (sort of), but glad to have found your blog. I love the idea of keeping closer track of our preserved food for the year...I didn't mark it down last year and it would be great to know how much we actually used vs. what we made and what we need to make more of this year. There are never enough berries and never enough tomatoes, I know that for sure! However, it's corn season and I still have a quart of frozen kernels from last year, so at least a few things are obvious. We are drowning in goat milk and will probably make mozzarella (or something like it) today!