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on May 03, 2014

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Everything I Know About Canning (Not Much)

There are two types of canning: hot water bath and pressure cooker canning. Hot water bath canning is easier and requires that what you preserve has a high acid content. Mike and I hot water canned tomatoes. Here's how we did it. 1. Cut and boil 'maters until they reach your desired thickness. We'll eventually use ours for sauce so we cooked them down for several hours and added some tomato paste. You should also add some salt for preservation. I added 3 tablespoons for every 16 quarts. 2. Run mason jars through dishwasher with very little detergent. 3. Preheat oven to 300, put jars in and reduce oven to 250. 4. Put lids in boiling water to activate glue. 5. Take jar from oven, place on an even surface covered with a towel. Fill jars with tomatoes, wipe the top clean, add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice, place lid and rim. Leave 1/2 an inch at the top of the jar. 6. Fill your canning pot with four inches of water and boil. If you have an official canning pot, this would b...

Whose Idea Was It to Move to the Tornado Belt?

Mine. This blog is being written from my bathtub. I would be in my basement, but I just went down there to set up shop with the kerosene lamp and a lighter and there is a crazy bird flapping about. I guess I'll take my chances and weather this storm in the bathtub. That's what most people do in tornado season because basements aren't that common in this area of the country. However, most people aren't running for cover right now because technically it's only a thunderstorm. There is a tornado watch , but currently no tornado to speak of. So why am I wearing my galoshes in the bathtub with my dogs and a can of chili for when diaster strikes, behaving like a hot billy goat mess? Because I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to tornadoes, thunderstorms and natural disasters in general. So is my 10 pound Chihuahua, and we feed off each other's anxiety. He's behind the toilet, I'm in the tub. And tornado season has just begun. Every beautiful 70 degree Februar...

This Holiday Season, Give the Gift of Bats

Bats have never had an easy going relationship with humans. Many people are just plain freaked out by them. However, bats are not interested in harming humans and they aren't vampires (except for three measly species in Latin America). Bats are dying by the millions while humans apathetically stand by. Their populations in North America have been severely diminished by a fungus called "white-nose syndrome". Since 2006 over 5 million bats have died! I first read about white-nose syndrome in the New York Times when it was discovered in New York State. It broke my heart and I've been following the plight of North American bats since that time. As a novice farmer I've learned about batty contributions to our eco system. They eat ridiculous amounts of insects making them an invaluable asset to organic farmers. They are also big time pollinators. Without pollinators our plants don't produce the fruit and seeds that are vital to reproduction and deliciousness...

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