Pressure Canning Tips

I did some canning yesterday.  Squash and Zucchini were the the stars of the stage.  Thirty five squash made ten pint jars and five zucchini, of various sizes, made seven pint jars.  I add in "various sizes" for I purposely used the zuc that had gotten a little out of hand.  You see, here in Tennessee, we had very high temps for a few weeks then rain, rain, rain.  The rain caused a few zucs to grow wild and out of control and the garden was too muddy to pick.  I am happy I took time on a Sunday morning to spend a few hours puttin up.  I will appreciate my efforts more when winter rolls around and I have ready-to-go squash and zuc for my minestrone soup!

While canning, I devised some tips for canning veggies.  Especially listed for pressure canning. 

Tip #1  soak rubber gasket in canner while heating up water.  this will allow it to make an easy fit and quicker seal.  this is only needed before the first batch.  after that it is already swollen.

Tip #2  splash a tablespoon of white vinegar into the pressure canner while heating water.  this will prevent your jars from becoming cloudy while cooking.

Tip #3  heat jars in microwave.  fill halfway with water and heat off and on until ready to use.  then use the boiling water in the jars to fill jars again once you put the hot veggies in.  brill.

Tip #4  loosely hold dish rag around canner to catch water until seal has formed.  it can make a big mess with an older canner.

Tip #5  you don't want your canner to constantly rattle.  when rattling begins, turn the heat down a touch until it regulates again.

Tip #6  store pressure canner weight, the little round thing that regulates pressure, wrapped in a paper towel to prevent rusting. 

Tip #7  when using a pressure canner for the first time, involve a friend.  assure them that they won't get hurt.  sometimes an extra dose of confidence is all you need.  plus canning is more fun with a friend!

Aren't these beautiful!? 

Every time I can there is always at least one or two jars that I look at and say "Oh, you're going to the Fair!"  And I am not kidding.  I take canned items to the Robertson County Fair every summer.  And canned squash as beautiful as this is surely a winner! 

Worm in the henhouse

It is 419 am and I am up confessing to my readers that there is a worming in the hen house about to take place.  Not actually right now or this morning as I don't have the dewormer as of yet.  And I hope to goodness that the vet doesn't ask me to bring a chicken in to be evaluated because, well, that's not going to happen. 

I noticed something moving in some runny chicken poo a couple of weeks ago.  I asked the guy at TSC if he may know what it was, since he was loudly telling another customer about the 200+ chickens he raises.  He didn't know what I was talking about which leads me to believe that he could have a worm infestation and not know it.  So, yesterday I was giving the chickens their daily snack outside then hen house and little Pepper jumped on my lap, which is a weird feeling on it's own.  Chicken feet are hot and grippy feeling and eventually lead to, pardon my language, being shit on.  Which happened.  I didn't panic but asked Shaun to promptly hook up the hose pipe.  She got down and I washed off.  During the 10-12 seconds of waiting period there I noticed, once again, something moving in the poo.  A worm.  Which has now woken me up in the middle of the night wondering.

I have looked up online if it is safe to eat the eggs, which come from a different area of the body but in my mind... a parasite is a parasite.  Is this why my nose and sinuses won't clear up?  Does the dog have them? Do the cats have them?  Do I need to clean the entire chicken coop?  Should I just kill the two hens that have been ganging up on the laying hens that think they are roosters all of a sudden or are their bellies just upset because they have worms and they are taking it out on the others?  Do I need an antibiotic just in case?

This is the same way I overreacted when my cat got fleas.  Just get the medicine and take care of it and go back to bed.  Or make coffee and get on with my day.  Sometimes you learn things when you get shit on.  Other times you ignore it when you shouldn't.

My friend Nutmeg here is getting picked on by the roosterette gang pretty hard because she is so pretty.   Which leads me to want to kill both of the butches.  They are probably only doing what their "hormones" are telling them.  But you're picking on my egg source here!

4 Fanciful Things

1.  i love love love these dream catchers i found on everydayemma!  i know i have a shawl in the attic somewhere that i can use on this craft project.  i will update with pics soon.  2.  wicked by gregory maguire.  my summer reading from the library has been put on hold this summer for lack of interest on my part.  hopefully this one will help.  3.  my supplies ordered from layer cake shop, are currently in the mail to me.  i am so excited.  mainly about the twist ties.  i love having an excuse to order them.

4.  while working on the dove book, i came across this site.  it generates new photos into old looking photos.  so cool.  and free.  don't be afraid, if the website comes up in japanese just hit the button to translate into english at the top.

Busy Bee

Lately, I have had a whole lot of doing and not a lot of sharing!  I have had many days of work at the day care (thank goodness!) and after work it is on to watering, chicken feeding, husband feeding, working on the dove hunt magazine and gardening.  By the time I sit down it is time to turn on Sanford and Son and call in the dogs. 

Today I thought I would take a quick minute to share some pics of our garden.  All the hard work shows I think!  And finally I noticed this morning that my egg gourds are finally coming up.   After three tries, with apparently old seeds, I bought some new seeds on Etsy and planted egg gourds for the fourth time.  Now we will have eggs to decorate next Easter that won't go bad!  I can't wait.  All I have left to plant for now are pumpkins.  Maybe I'll do that tomorrow night since the seeds need to be soaked.

Dill reminds me of fireworks.

Green beans and black beans.  Laurie... you've got some canning to do!

My husband, showing how tall the trees have gotten that were plated a couple of winters ago.

This picture was taken a week or more ago.  We strawed our tomatoes this year to help with the weeds and water.

Volunteer Zinnias.  Came back from last year, along with volunteer basil, dill, and sunflowers.