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:

farmwifetwo said...

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 :)

Kerryanne Cummins said...

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!

denimflyz said...

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!

Lorie said...

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

Lise said...

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!

Jay said...

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.

The Mom said...

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!

meemsnyc said...

Looks like you are well stocked. Awesome!

The Mom said...

Meemsnyc, I hope so.

Daphne Gould said...

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.

kitsapFG said...

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.

Leigh said...

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.

The Mom said...

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.

Anonymous said...

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.