Well. Summer is in full swing around here. For me, summer means planning for the upcoming school year and also tackling projects that I cannot do during the regular school year--things like canning, cleaning out closets and drawers, and deep cleaning. All of these activities actually bring me great joy.
We didn't plant a garden this year. After last year's traumatic experience with the deer eating my entire garden, I just needed a break from the commitment and work of having a garden. However, I am still canning, but instead of fresh produce, I am canning jars and jars of dried beans. I ordered 100 pounds of dried beans from Azure earlier this month. I also had lots of bean from my order last summer....so I am going to can until I run out of jars. I actually started today. My canner holds 19 pints at a time, so today I plan to can two batches. I am not sure how many jars I have, but I'm guessing I have at least 100.
As far as school planning goes, I have planned 10 weeks of one subject. Lynn, Leanna, and I are going to do a "co-op". We are all studying American government and the presidents, and we have planned three group meetings. During these meetings the children will give brief oral presentations about an assigned subject or president. We also planned various other learning activities and games to review what we covered at home. Leah and Sam have never done a co op like this, and I anticipate they will love it! When Olivia, Julie, and Clay were younger I participated in co ops similar to this for many years. They have fond memories this, and I hope that Leah and Sam will as well.
That leaves me lots more planning to do! I now have to condense Core F of Sonlight to roughly 24 weeks. (Since we are spending 10 weeks on the presidents and government.) I also have to make decisions regarding which curriculum to use for Clay's economics and American Government courses. I am considering using something different from what I used for Olivia and Julie. Then I have to make my shopping list for things such as math, worldly wise, daily grams, Apologia elementary science, etc. I hope to place my order for school books and materials next week.
The timer beeped (the beans are ready to process), so I better get back to the stove!
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canning. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Friday, May 8, 2015
The Garden
Well. I planted my garden a few weeks ago. I kept waiting for an opportunity to get it in the ground, but we had SO MUCH RAIN in March and April, that every time Jimmy tilled it, it rained for days, and I could not plant anything. Finally, I had a window of sunshine.
Jimmy expanded my garden size this year. It is 30 feet by 30 feet. Not too terribly big, but the biggest garden I have had. It has 10 rows. I planted 4 rows of tomatoes, 40 plants in all. I will be canning tons of tomatoes this July! I planted 4 bell pepper plants too. The rest of the things I planted were from seeds: cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, crowder peas, and green beans. I did not label my rows, and so except for the tomatoes and peppers, I was a little unsure of what was on each row for a while. I tried to remember and write it down on my garden chart when I got to the house, but I got a little mixed up. Surprise! That's what I will have when the plants start growing. I have figured out which plants are the green beans and squash. A few seeds still had not sprouted earlier this week, so I replanted a few things. Who knows what all will come up and where in a few weeks! I am sure I will need to thin out some of my plants when everything sprouts.
In addition to canning tomatoes, I also hope to have enough peas and green beans to can as well. We will see!
I am so happy to have Olivia home! She and Julie and Leah too, when she is not doing school, are crafting like crazy! We gave Julie a sewing machine for a graduation present, and she and Olivia have their sewing machines set up in our school room. Julie has already begun piecing a quilt.
Leah, Sam, and Clay have just two more weeks of school! Then let the summer fun begin!
Jimmy expanded my garden size this year. It is 30 feet by 30 feet. Not too terribly big, but the biggest garden I have had. It has 10 rows. I planted 4 rows of tomatoes, 40 plants in all. I will be canning tons of tomatoes this July! I planted 4 bell pepper plants too. The rest of the things I planted were from seeds: cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, squash, lettuce, crowder peas, and green beans. I did not label my rows, and so except for the tomatoes and peppers, I was a little unsure of what was on each row for a while. I tried to remember and write it down on my garden chart when I got to the house, but I got a little mixed up. Surprise! That's what I will have when the plants start growing. I have figured out which plants are the green beans and squash. A few seeds still had not sprouted earlier this week, so I replanted a few things. Who knows what all will come up and where in a few weeks! I am sure I will need to thin out some of my plants when everything sprouts.
In addition to canning tomatoes, I also hope to have enough peas and green beans to can as well. We will see!
I am so happy to have Olivia home! She and Julie and Leah too, when she is not doing school, are crafting like crazy! We gave Julie a sewing machine for a graduation present, and she and Olivia have their sewing machines set up in our school room. Julie has already begun piecing a quilt.
Leah, Sam, and Clay have just two more weeks of school! Then let the summer fun begin!
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
A Trip to the Zoo
Monday our family and our friend, Jessica, visited the Memphis Zoo. Even though it is July, we are having a "cool spell" here in Mississippi, and the weather was really nice.
We spent our time in one side of the zoo, and so I plan to take the children back soon to visit the other side.
We began by watching the sea lions show, and then we ate lunch.
Lunch at the "Cat House"
Seeing the elephants.
Olivia reminded us of the difference between African and Asian elephants.
(I can't remember which kind these were!)
After lunch and the elephants, we watched the grizzly bears being fed. There were three bears, and right before feeding time, there they were, heads up, waiting for the food to be dropped!
"I'm hungry!"
After being fed various fresh fruits and then a hunk of frozen fruit in some sort of popsicle, these bears were ready to play! I think we stood and watched these two bears interact, chase, and play for at least twenty minutes. It was quite entertaining.
We visited some more animals, and then posed the children for a picture.
Sam, Clay, Leah, Olivia, and Julie
Our last stop before heading back to the car (well, the next to last stop……Leah and Sam wanted to visit the huge gift shop first) was to wade in the stream.
After leaving the zoo, we went to Target. Because of course if we go to Memphis, we have to visit Target! We all had an afternoon snack of Starbuck's coffee (and Icees for Leah and Sam) while we looked all around Target. We were able to get a few things that Olivia needed to take back to school, so that was productive.
Yesterday I canned more tomatoes! Actually I made 9 pints of spaghetti sauce out of that batch of tomatoes. Tomorrow I am canning black beans, and probably on Saturday I'll have more tomatoes ready to can. And that will be it for a while. I plan to put all my canning paraphernalia back in the basement---it's all on my dining room table right now. We start school next Monday, and I don't think I will have time to can anymore.
I'll post homeschool planning links and tips beginning tomorrow---at least that's my plan!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Canning and Planning
That's the theme of my days lately. I canned pinto beans today. 7 quarts. I have learned that I prefer to can in pint jars instead of quarts, because my pressure canner will hold 19 pints, but only 7 quarts. However, I bought a case of quart jars, and I want to use them. I think I have 5 or 6 quart jars left.
Kelly asked me last night (while Jimmy and I were eating supper with Kelly and Lynn) why was I canning all this food. "Are you preparing for some world-wide disaster?" I told him that I didn't know why I was doing all this canning. Well, the tomatoes are coming in like crazy, and it's either can them or let them ruin….but for the beans…..I can't remember why I thought that buying 75 pounds of dried beans and canning them was such good idea.
Except that they taste so much better than the cans you buy in the grocery store. And I hope that I am buying myself some time when school starts---it's a lot faster to open up a home-canned jar of beans and reheat them than to remember to soak dried beans overnight, and then either cook them all day in the crock pot of watch them simmer on the stove top for 2 hours. I think I will be glad come fall.
I just made a Final School Planning To-Do List. It is as long as the piece of paper in my notebook! And I did not even itemize the things to get Leah's and Sam's school ready. Once I get all subjects planned, organized, and ready for each child, I will tackle the huge project of creating a daily schedule for us to follow. Going with the flow does not work for me! I am not a slave to my schedule, but putting in all on paper and seeing how it could possibly work in a perfect world gives me a goal to aim for.
I'm going to work on my school list now.
Kelly asked me last night (while Jimmy and I were eating supper with Kelly and Lynn) why was I canning all this food. "Are you preparing for some world-wide disaster?" I told him that I didn't know why I was doing all this canning. Well, the tomatoes are coming in like crazy, and it's either can them or let them ruin….but for the beans…..I can't remember why I thought that buying 75 pounds of dried beans and canning them was such good idea.
Except that they taste so much better than the cans you buy in the grocery store. And I hope that I am buying myself some time when school starts---it's a lot faster to open up a home-canned jar of beans and reheat them than to remember to soak dried beans overnight, and then either cook them all day in the crock pot of watch them simmer on the stove top for 2 hours. I think I will be glad come fall.
I just made a Final School Planning To-Do List. It is as long as the piece of paper in my notebook! And I did not even itemize the things to get Leah's and Sam's school ready. Once I get all subjects planned, organized, and ready for each child, I will tackle the huge project of creating a daily schedule for us to follow. Going with the flow does not work for me! I am not a slave to my schedule, but putting in all on paper and seeing how it could possibly work in a perfect world gives me a goal to aim for.
I'm going to work on my school list now.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
My Day of Canning
I have already completed 4 canning sessions (which is one reason why I have not been blogging), and as I get ready to start another batch, I thought I would blog along as I go. You can enjoy the process too, and hopefully I won't make any mistake or have any mishaps as I go. I plan to share my Monday's canning saga later……so you can learn from my mistakes. :)
Here goes.
10:56 AM: Drain and rinse garbanzo beans (11 cups, dried) that have been soaking since about 7:00 PM last night.
11:03 AM: Put beans back in huge pot (my water bath canner), cover with about 3 inches of water, and place on stove with burner on extra high.
Wash, dry and put away bowl, colander, and large measuring cup used to drain and rinse big pot of beans.
11:06 AM: Wash 16 pint jars, lids, and rings (that I will use to can these beans in).
Put 3 inches of water in pressure canner to bring to a simmer.
Turn oven on warm setting to place clean, dry jars in to keep warm.
Run down to basement to get one more lid and ring.
Periodically check and stir beans. Waiting for them to come to a boil.
11:21 AM: Put lids in small pot of water to simmer.
Dry jars and place in oven to keep warm.
Let rings dry on dish towel.
Stir beans…..almost boiling.
11:25 AM: Skim icky foam off top of beans…..still not quite boiling.
Run outside to check if polaris is through cleaning the pool.
11:29 AM: Skimmed more icky foam off top. The beans are now boiling! Set the timer for 30 minutes.
It is so nice outside this morning…..when Leanna and I ran at 6:00 AM, it was 59 degrees! In July! In Mississippi! When I checked on the polaris (and the pool is clean so I turned it off and also took the water hose out of the pool because the water level is back up---I had backwashed the pool earlier and the water was down…), I was tempted to come inside, turn everything off, grab a book and go sit outside by my pool and enjoy the beautiful day.
WHOOPS! The beans started boiling over while I was typing……I turned the heat down and skimmed off more icky foam. All is well now!
11:35 AM: While the beans are happily boiling, and I have everything ready, I am going to fold a load of clothes and put another load in the dryer, and another load in the washer…..checking back on the beans periodically…..
11:44 AM: Pleasant surprise in the laundry room--there was NOT a load in the dryer waiting to be folded. Just a few hang-to-dry items. I found a sleeping bag that someone had left in the floor, so I folded it and put it away. Checked on the beans. Stirred them--they are doing great! Finished my 3rd cup of coffee, and now I'm switching to water.
Scanned Facebook while waiting for the beans to finish…..(my laptop is on the counter right beside my stove)
11:55 AM: Scanning The Happiness Project (also a title of the book I am currently reading) website.
Stirred the beans. They are almost through with their 30 minutes of boiling.
11:59 AM: The timer is beeping! The beans are ready to can.
I turned the beans down to simmer. I will take each hot jar from the oven, fill with beans using a slotted spoon, then fill with cooking liquid using a ladle. Add salt. Remove air bubbles (using a small cedar tool hand-carved by my grandmother). Wipe jar tops. Place lid on top (removing the lid from the simmering water using my new magnet stick). Put on ring. Place jar in pressure canner. Repeat until the canner is full of all 16 pints. I'll let you know if I have any beans left over…..it's hard to guesstimate how many dried beans to prepare.
12:28 PM: All 16 jars are filled and in the canner, but I still have some beans left. I am quickly washing and heating 4 more jars, lids, and rings.
12:37 PM: All 20 pints are in the canner! The lid is bolted down, and the burner is turned on extra high. I fill be following my canner's instructions--to vent steam for 7 minutes (it's not venting yet), and then putting the "jiggler" on 10# pressure, let it come to a jiggle, and start my timer for 75 minutes. Then I will need to reduce heat until it is jiggling only 1-4 times a minute….for 75 minutes.
I have a few beans left. I am going to transfer them to a smaller pot, and cook them for about 30 more minutes, or until tender. We will eat them for supper.
12:42 PM: I drained the beans left in the huge pot. And there were truly "a few" beans left. Like about 10 beans! So we will be eating some freshly canned beans for supper! :)
Going to take a lunch break while waiting for the pressure canner to build up pressure.
1:05 PM: The canner has vented, and I waiting for the regulator to jiggle.
Washing all my canning pots and such, and also cleaning up the kitchen from lunch and the refrigerator clean out.
1:11 PM: The 75 minutes processing time begins now!
Still washing dishes.
1:32 PM: Dishes are all washed. Dishwasher started. Now to fold clothes and put last load in dryer.
1:51 PM: Going to walk down to the garden and pick tomatoes. Since I have not had enough fun canning today, I am going to put up some tomatoes too! I'll need 10 pounds to make 8-9 pints. I have 7 pounds in my kitchen right now. I hope to find at least 3 pounds of ripe tomatoes on the vines.
2:12 PM: Back from the garden. Big surprise! We have green beans! I picked a small amount, and so we will enjoy green beans for supper tonight too! I picked 2 squash and a bunch of tomatoes. I'm about to weigh out three more pounds and wash them all.
2:27 PM: The beans are done. I turned off the heat, and now I have to wait until the pressure gauge reads 0, then I can remove the regulator, and then the lid to let the jars begin to cool.
I am going to take a short break before I tackle the tomatoes.
Leah is sick today--she woke up with a sore throat, headache, and a fever. I have been giving her ibuprofen every 4-5 hours, but she still feels poorly. She is wrapped up in two blankets in the recliner in the den.
2:43 PM: Ok. Break is over. (I ate a bowl of oatmeal and looked at a quilting book….I want to make a quilt….maybe when I finish all of this canning!)
My big canning pot of water is almost boiling, so I better wash and core the tomatoes.
2:52 PM: Put tomatoes in boiling water. Prepared ice bath (all the contents from my ice maker in a dishpan and cold water) to plunge the tomatoes in after they boil for 90 seconds. This makes the skins slip right off.
2:59 PM: Peeled tomatoes. Put tomatoes in large tray and quartered them. Put tomatoes and their juices in huge stock pot to bring to a boil.
Rinsed out canner and refilled halfway. Put on burner to bring to a boil.
Beans have still not cooled enough to remove lid yet.
3:18 PM: I have the tomatoes simmering. The water in the canner is heating. The pressure dropped to zero on the pressure canner, so I removed the lid and am now putting the canned garbanzo beans on the counter to cool. I am waiting to hear the popping of the lids sealing.
3:29 PM: The jars are washed and being kept warm in the oven. The lids and rings are washed, and the lids are simmering in a pot of water. The canning water is heating. The tomatoes are simmering. I'm going to give the jars just a few minutes more to get warm (while I check on the laundry) and then I will begin filling the jars with tomatoes. I am not sure how many pints my tomatoes will yield yet. We will see.
3:43 PM: The clothes are folded. I checked on Leah and gave her some Coke. Everything is all ready, so it's time for me to start filling jars with tomatoes.
3:56 PM: The tomatoes are in the water bath canner, and will process for 40 minutes. It made 8 pints.
Now I'm going to clean everything up.
4:13 PM: The dishes are done. I am going to eat a snack and then take a shower while the tomatoes are processing. I ran 9 miles this morning, and I have not had time to take a shower yet!
4:44 PM: I am clean. The tomatoes are out of the canner, sitting beside the beans, and all are cooling.
Canning complete.
I'm going to sit with Leah and rest a few minutes, and then I'll cook supper. :)
Here goes.
10:56 AM: Drain and rinse garbanzo beans (11 cups, dried) that have been soaking since about 7:00 PM last night.
11:03 AM: Put beans back in huge pot (my water bath canner), cover with about 3 inches of water, and place on stove with burner on extra high.
Wash, dry and put away bowl, colander, and large measuring cup used to drain and rinse big pot of beans.
11:06 AM: Wash 16 pint jars, lids, and rings (that I will use to can these beans in).
Put 3 inches of water in pressure canner to bring to a simmer.
Turn oven on warm setting to place clean, dry jars in to keep warm.
Run down to basement to get one more lid and ring.
Periodically check and stir beans. Waiting for them to come to a boil.
11:21 AM: Put lids in small pot of water to simmer.
Dry jars and place in oven to keep warm.
Let rings dry on dish towel.
Stir beans…..almost boiling.
11:25 AM: Skim icky foam off top of beans…..still not quite boiling.
Run outside to check if polaris is through cleaning the pool.
11:29 AM: Skimmed more icky foam off top. The beans are now boiling! Set the timer for 30 minutes.
It is so nice outside this morning…..when Leanna and I ran at 6:00 AM, it was 59 degrees! In July! In Mississippi! When I checked on the polaris (and the pool is clean so I turned it off and also took the water hose out of the pool because the water level is back up---I had backwashed the pool earlier and the water was down…), I was tempted to come inside, turn everything off, grab a book and go sit outside by my pool and enjoy the beautiful day.
WHOOPS! The beans started boiling over while I was typing……I turned the heat down and skimmed off more icky foam. All is well now!
11:35 AM: While the beans are happily boiling, and I have everything ready, I am going to fold a load of clothes and put another load in the dryer, and another load in the washer…..checking back on the beans periodically…..
11:44 AM: Pleasant surprise in the laundry room--there was NOT a load in the dryer waiting to be folded. Just a few hang-to-dry items. I found a sleeping bag that someone had left in the floor, so I folded it and put it away. Checked on the beans. Stirred them--they are doing great! Finished my 3rd cup of coffee, and now I'm switching to water.
Scanned Facebook while waiting for the beans to finish…..(my laptop is on the counter right beside my stove)
11:55 AM: Scanning The Happiness Project (also a title of the book I am currently reading) website.
Stirred the beans. They are almost through with their 30 minutes of boiling.
11:59 AM: The timer is beeping! The beans are ready to can.
I turned the beans down to simmer. I will take each hot jar from the oven, fill with beans using a slotted spoon, then fill with cooking liquid using a ladle. Add salt. Remove air bubbles (using a small cedar tool hand-carved by my grandmother). Wipe jar tops. Place lid on top (removing the lid from the simmering water using my new magnet stick). Put on ring. Place jar in pressure canner. Repeat until the canner is full of all 16 pints. I'll let you know if I have any beans left over…..it's hard to guesstimate how many dried beans to prepare.
12:28 PM: All 16 jars are filled and in the canner, but I still have some beans left. I am quickly washing and heating 4 more jars, lids, and rings.
12:37 PM: All 20 pints are in the canner! The lid is bolted down, and the burner is turned on extra high. I fill be following my canner's instructions--to vent steam for 7 minutes (it's not venting yet), and then putting the "jiggler" on 10# pressure, let it come to a jiggle, and start my timer for 75 minutes. Then I will need to reduce heat until it is jiggling only 1-4 times a minute….for 75 minutes.
I have a few beans left. I am going to transfer them to a smaller pot, and cook them for about 30 more minutes, or until tender. We will eat them for supper.
12:42 PM: I drained the beans left in the huge pot. And there were truly "a few" beans left. Like about 10 beans! So we will be eating some freshly canned beans for supper! :)
Going to take a lunch break while waiting for the pressure canner to build up pressure.
1:05 PM: The canner has vented, and I waiting for the regulator to jiggle.
Washing all my canning pots and such, and also cleaning up the kitchen from lunch and the refrigerator clean out.
1:11 PM: The 75 minutes processing time begins now!
Still washing dishes.
1:32 PM: Dishes are all washed. Dishwasher started. Now to fold clothes and put last load in dryer.
1:51 PM: Going to walk down to the garden and pick tomatoes. Since I have not had enough fun canning today, I am going to put up some tomatoes too! I'll need 10 pounds to make 8-9 pints. I have 7 pounds in my kitchen right now. I hope to find at least 3 pounds of ripe tomatoes on the vines.
2:12 PM: Back from the garden. Big surprise! We have green beans! I picked a small amount, and so we will enjoy green beans for supper tonight too! I picked 2 squash and a bunch of tomatoes. I'm about to weigh out three more pounds and wash them all.
2:27 PM: The beans are done. I turned off the heat, and now I have to wait until the pressure gauge reads 0, then I can remove the regulator, and then the lid to let the jars begin to cool.
I am going to take a short break before I tackle the tomatoes.
Leah is sick today--she woke up with a sore throat, headache, and a fever. I have been giving her ibuprofen every 4-5 hours, but she still feels poorly. She is wrapped up in two blankets in the recliner in the den.
2:43 PM: Ok. Break is over. (I ate a bowl of oatmeal and looked at a quilting book….I want to make a quilt….maybe when I finish all of this canning!)
My big canning pot of water is almost boiling, so I better wash and core the tomatoes.
2:52 PM: Put tomatoes in boiling water. Prepared ice bath (all the contents from my ice maker in a dishpan and cold water) to plunge the tomatoes in after they boil for 90 seconds. This makes the skins slip right off.
2:59 PM: Peeled tomatoes. Put tomatoes in large tray and quartered them. Put tomatoes and their juices in huge stock pot to bring to a boil.
Rinsed out canner and refilled halfway. Put on burner to bring to a boil.
Beans have still not cooled enough to remove lid yet.
3:18 PM: I have the tomatoes simmering. The water in the canner is heating. The pressure dropped to zero on the pressure canner, so I removed the lid and am now putting the canned garbanzo beans on the counter to cool. I am waiting to hear the popping of the lids sealing.
3:29 PM: The jars are washed and being kept warm in the oven. The lids and rings are washed, and the lids are simmering in a pot of water. The canning water is heating. The tomatoes are simmering. I'm going to give the jars just a few minutes more to get warm (while I check on the laundry) and then I will begin filling the jars with tomatoes. I am not sure how many pints my tomatoes will yield yet. We will see.
3:43 PM: The clothes are folded. I checked on Leah and gave her some Coke. Everything is all ready, so it's time for me to start filling jars with tomatoes.
3:56 PM: The tomatoes are in the water bath canner, and will process for 40 minutes. It made 8 pints.
Now I'm going to clean everything up.
4:13 PM: The dishes are done. I am going to eat a snack and then take a shower while the tomatoes are processing. I ran 9 miles this morning, and I have not had time to take a shower yet!
4:44 PM: I am clean. The tomatoes are out of the canner, sitting beside the beans, and all are cooling.
Canning complete.
I'm going to sit with Leah and rest a few minutes, and then I'll cook supper. :)
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