Canning Supplies

[flowerbug]

Kexle lids

i would not use silicone lids. never heard of the brand or the issue before of lids warping, but i also don't pressure can.

almost all lids we used this year we bought last season and they were Ball brand lids. price was higher than i'd have liked to have spent, but ... we ended up using about 14 boxes of lids and a fair number of boxes of regular lids had one extra lid in the box. yes, i counted several times because i was suprised. only had one quality control issue where two lids were stuck together. no fails on sealing.

 

[Hinotori]

Victorians heated parts of greenhouses enough to grow pineapples by composting manure in them.

You can use passive solar if you're in an area with winter sun. Barrels full of water painted black. It will absorb heat in the day and let it off at night.

 

[tortoise]

I am experimenting with an unheated greenhouse in zone 3b/4a. We had a cold spell with 20 degree overnights. We had snow, so We banked snow about halfway up the sides and kept the top clear of snow. It worked well enough! There are some frost-tolerant greens growing in there. Still alive... Not expecting much from them. I mostly want to figure out at what temperatures I can start seeds in spring. My greenhouse is sitting on a cement block patio, but I don't know if that makes a difference for retaining heat.

 

[Lazy Gardener]

Why should you not til a garden to plant peas? I always did and have had no problem. Does it do something to the soil if you do?
I have considered doing the cattle panel greenhouse. Thanks for the info.

Re: tilling: Our soil is so heavy with clay that the standard garden: (bare clay soil) stays frozen much longer than a garden that has had the soil built over many years by copious addition of organic matter, AND kept covered with mulch. My mulched areas are frost free by April 14, while standard gardens may be frozen until end of April. THEN, those bare soil gardens remain too wet to be tilled until usually Mid May. Then... we can get frosts until Memorial day. Tilling the soil DOES have a negative impact on it, especially if the soil is heavy. It breaks the natural soil crumble up, disrupts the micro-organisms including the fungi. Fungi are important for plant function. They form a symbiosis with the root systems, greatly enhancing the uptake of nutrients. Also, repeated tilling causes hard pan, resulting in a compact layer below tine depth that is impenetrable, resulting in even more water retention, making early planting more difficult.

I read about doing that- it was called a a hot box as opposed to a cold frame. DH wants to experiment with that in the greenhouse, but I don't think we have enough manure to do it. Might try it one of these years though...

Something I'm working on (a few concrete blocks at a time) is building a row of walled bins along the north border of the garden- opening on the outside, to hold compost, chips, excess cardboard etc for use in making compost or other garden delights. The backs of the bins face south into the garden, hopefully working as a windbreak against those chilly winter winds and a heat sink to help keep the garden just a few precious degrees warmer.

I think all the things I've been doing like this are helping- it seems like every year I get a little more out of the garden before the weather finally kills everything. Last year some of the beets made it through the winter and started setting seed in the spring. I would have harvested them through the cold weather, but the ground froze hard and I couldn't dig them up. So this year I want to pile a bunch of chips and pine straw around them and the carrots and daikons to see if I can keep eating out of the garden longer.

Elliott Coleman, IIRC has a deep compost/vermculture bin covered by pallet type walkway down the middle of his greenhouse. He fills it with (?) horse manure, and the worms happily turn that into compost, while this bin provides extra heat. He also utilizes passive solar with use of rocks, and black water tanks. I like your use of concrete at north side of the garden. Micro-climates can be used very effectively to increase the gardening season. Coleman has chapters in his book devoted specifically to micro-climate management. Also, chapters devoted to overwintering crops in the garden.

 

[Hinotori]

My german shepherd may have them all beat when she farts after she's gotten into something with wheat. We have to open windows and the door.

 

[flowerbug]

i'm laughing here, but really, bad farts are because of a lot of fat and spice in the diet and the body has the bacteria in the gut which work on those compounds and give you the bad results out the other end.

if i eat a diet of mostly vegetables and not as much spice or fats you'd not notice i've farted, unless you smell an invisible carrot. even with a lot of beans my body is used to them. you'd not know.

that was for the humans. dogs, nope, some are really bad and then they try to look all innocent but they know and you know...

 

[Mini Horses]

I'd love to be in the area of a big community kitchen -- or a community where we could all share our kichens and canning days! Would make it much more fun. Faster with extra hands and equipment, too.

 

[wyoDreamer]

We almost bought a place that had an extra building with a big kitchen in it. I think it was used for 4-H. DH asked what I would use it for and I said "That is my Canning Kitchen." If we had gotten it, I would have checked with the UW-Extension about doing a canning class, or canning group to allow others to use it too.
Alas, we did not buy that property.

 

[Hinotori]

Only the Bi-mart down in Aberdeen has had jars. Winco did have a small amount of regular lids in. I didn't buy any. I'm good for next year.

Mom gave me all her regular mouth jars. She gave one of her brothers all the wide mouth. I also ended up with the odd old jars.

 

[baymule]

What is Grand Solar Minimum? I looked it up, kinda the opposite of global warming, but it comes in cycles. The global warming scenarios for 2050 are alarming, it it comes to pass as predicted. It makes buying land in Montana with their -30F degrees look enticing!

I have lots of jars, don't like the regular mouth quarts, but I'll use them. I try to use those for stuff I give away. LOL That way if I don't get them back, it doesn't hurt my feelings. I need lids, both sizes. I've found some and bought them, but I want a 2-3 year supply.