Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Canning shelves

The year in canning is slowing tremendously.  Here I have my whole tomatoes, salsa, peaches, peach butter and bread and butter pickles.  I didn't make any jams or jellies this year.  I made so many last year that I still have enough for quite a while.  If I can find some grapes at a nearby farm, I may make some grape jelly.

Under the stairs is more of a mish mash of things.  There are a few more jars of salsa and whole tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef stock and chicken stock.  There are also a few leftovers from last year like applesauce, minestrone soup and the last jar of tomatillo salsa.    I love looking at all the pretty jars.  It will all be so very yummy in January.

Since there are still tomatoes coming in, a few more jars of things may make their way downstairs.  There are still 3 qts of tomato sauce sitting on the kitchen counter, along with more tomatoes waiting to have a place to go.  I'm out of pint jars, so everything from here on out will be in quarts.

14 comments:

  1. There's 6 clean L jars sitting in the dishwasher. And a half stock pot full of apples cooking on the stove. Little boy eats a lot of apple sauce - hide his melatonin and laxative at bedtime - so I'm making my own.

    I bought the apples from a local farm. A bushel for $10 is a lot cheaper than nearly $3 for 500mL a week. Did up 4L of tomatoes last week. I'm rather proud of myself after a couple of poor canning years.... It's not a lot, but those tomatoes were welcomed in the spagetti we had last night. Store bought is just not the same. One day I'll see if I can catch up with you and your winter stores :)

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  2. Looking good Heather, funny I was planning a similar post on my blog soon! I bet the peach butter is so good! Isnt it so rewarding!

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  3. Looking good Heather.
    I am doing the same, tomatoes, and will try to catch the Colorado fruit people to get some apples. I don't have access to orchards where I live, pretty rare around Nebraska in my neck of the woods, so I have to resort to Grand Junction CO fruit.
    Keep up your good work, everything looks amazing!

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  4. Ahhhh, beautiful canning shelves. You have been hard at work. Your family will certainly enjoy your garden this winter as well. Great work!

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  5. Beautiful!! My shelves this year are way emptier than they ought to be at this point; I kept missing things whose season ended before I was ready! I'll have to do a lot of catching up with applesauce to fill the shelves!

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  6. We have only made some kimchi this year and planning on doing some freezing.

    I have signed up for fall canning classes.

    Your rack is loaded. My goal is to have the rack like this in 2011.

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  7. Farmwife, good for you! It's easier as the kids get older.

    Kerry, the peach butter is amazing. I love doing this!

    Denimflyz, it's so sad that you don't have orchards in your neck of the woods. I hope you're able to get some fruit.

    Lorie, we'll be loving it all this winter.

    Lise, you have that beautiful little girl to chase after! In a few years she'll be able to help you with the canning.

    Jay, canning is very easy. I think it just seems intimidating until you actually try it. Good luck to you!

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  8. Looks like you are well stocked. Awesome!

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  9. Look at all those jars. They look beautiful. I love seeing all mine lined on my shelves. I don't even own any quart jars though. I wouldn't know what to do with a quart jar as I only have a small canner.

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  10. There is something really beautiful about a pantry full of good food - especially those we grew ourselves and put up for later days. I always have to leave the jars on the counter far longer than they really need to be to cool properly - because I love to look at them. :)

    I did alot of canning earlier this week as well and have a box of apples to process into applesauce sometime this coming weekend. I am out of space on the pantry shelves though for the applesauce so I am going to have to find another place to put those jars once done.

    Love your sturdy shelving. One can never have enough really good shelves to put things on.

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  11. I love seeing jars lined up like that. What a blessing. I really like the look of those shelves too, sturdy. Usually I am able to can grape jelly from our wild muscadines. Disappointingly, they didn't product this year. I may have to look around to see if I can find some locally too.

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  12. Daphne, they're a beautiful sight.

    Laura, you have been a busy girl. It's a nice problem to have no space for all the jars, isn't it?

    Leigh, I'm hoping to find some soon.

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  13. Hey, your tomatoes did the same thing mine did, with the whole clear-liquid separation thing. Do they always do that for you, and is it a problem at all?

    I'm jealous of your canning shelves...my canning shelves are the ledge around the perimeter of my sewing room. So now I have no place to put all my fabric.

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