Help, PLEEEEZE!

[Thewife]

Hi folks!
Hope you dont mind me popping in here and picking your brains a little?
Im am old lady happily stuck out on a small cow/calf operation, with a bunch of ducks, chickens, geese, guineas, and 4 dogs to keep me company! I am married to what I thought was a nice man that put up with me and supported my zoo!
But now, he really wants me to get back into canning, so I am questioning the "nice" part!
(Still havent heard yet if he is planning on helping me)
Now that we are in between hayings, I figured its time to concentrate on my pathetic excuse for garden and decide what I am going to do with any food that might come out of it!
I have tons of jars!(somewhere)
I have pressure canner. (feeling too lazy to go out to the shed and look at the box to see what brand) It is huge, with metal to metal seal and a pressure gauge. I bought it used a hundred years ago and I have never had the gauge checked, should I?
I have tons of rings, but some of them have little spots of rust on them? I know mom would have never used them, but I have a friend that would. How bad does a ring have to be before it is considered bad?
The slugs didnt wipe out my green beans this year, so I am going to try to do some of them. Do I really have to cut off both ends?
My corn wasnt knee high by the forth of July, so if the geese dont get to it, I might do some of that too!
My cukes look like they might do OK! I have heard if you put grape leaves in the pickles, it will help keep the crispy? Has anybody ever done that?
I will just leave my carrots in the ground. They do OK, other than the tiny worms. Dad always told me to add cedar shavings in the soil to keep the worms away? But then, last year, he told me the worms were from the cedar shavings?(yea, hes a whole nuther subject) Anybody have any ideas how to keep the little worms off of my carrots without using poisons?
Hubby would also like me to can stew? Can that be done safely?

Sorry if I got carried away on the questions, I would really appreciate any help you can give me!
I used to do a lot of canning, but when mom passed I lost my help line and just could not get into it anymore! Now I feel like I am starting all over! I am sure some of it will come back to me, but I figured asking questions before I start up again, would be better than finding myself standing in the kitchen with a sink full of veggies or stuff boiling all over the place?

 

[big brown horse]

Hi there Thewife! Welcome to SS!

You are too funny! You made me laugh!

You will find your answer here, but not from me...sorry. I only know how to water bath can, and that is mostly jellies, tomatoes and pickles.

There are lots of folks here to help you out with your dilema.

My mom always described the corn being as high as an elephant's eye by the forth of July, but that was TX! You must be from way up north!

Again, WELCOME!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

The most highly recommend resource for canning on here is Ball's Big Book of Preserving The Harvest. I checked mine out of the library and it covers jams, sauces, soups, stews, broth, pickles, veggies, meat, you name it. It also covers safety & the methods of water bath & pressure canning. Really good overall resource book. You should be able to pick one up for cheap at Wally world or online if thats your thing.

You are a hoot! Yeah, its always better to do your research before you're wallowing in hot tomato sauce! Thats why I'm here too!

 

[justusnak]

Hi TheWife Welcome to SS Im sorry, I cant stop giggling! You are too funny! ok...now, let me get my composure together....aaahem! OK, first, the pressure canner....definately get that checked. Call your local co op, they will be able to help you in getting that done. Dont need any explosions going on in the kitchen. Been there, done that, and let me say, it will scare the beejeebers outta ya!
As for the rusty rings...Hmmm...mom would...I wont. Once they get rusted..I use them in the garden to scare birds away. Wrap them in foil, and make a "wind chime" sorta thingy.
If you go to Wal Mart, they have Balls canning guide there. Its VERY HELPFULL!
As for the grape leaves...never heard of it...but then again, I dont usually have very good luck with makeing crispy pickles. :/
Oh, and the green beans...I always snap off both ends, and break them at least in half..and for the stew...not sure there. I can my "stew stuff" seperate...and just mix when ready.
Have fun with it...and enjoy your hard work this winter!
Oh, and the corn....Mom always said...knee high by the fourth of july..however....mine is JUST over ankle high, so we will see! LOL

 

[freemotion]

Howdy, thewife! Finally, someone who uses exclamation points as much as I do!!!!

I pressure can like a maniac, but I don't do veggies on their own. I don't like the texture, so I blanch and freeze them, other than tomato sauce.

I do a lot of one dish meals in the pressure canner, stews made with pork, beef, chicken, and veggies that I feel hold up well in the pressure canner without becoming too mushy.....rutabaga, collards, carrots, as well as the usual onions and garlic and scallions.

Chili cans well, and of course, spaghetti sauce (with meat and mushrooms sometimes) and I also do pizza sauce for a quick pizza that is all homemade. Just made 12 pints, but I didn't feel like taking out the canner in this heat, so I froze them. I can always thaw them out and run 'em through the canner when I am making something else.

I will also do some meats by themselves that will make a quick meal...chunks of beef and pork. There is a recipe on this forum for "cream of x soup" that I made, thank you again, farmerlor, as a cream of mushroom version with a homemade chicken broth base that is absolutely to die for. I can make a quick meal by dumping a jar of beef or pork cubes in a pan with a jar of that soup and some milk and I have an instant main dish that tasted like I slaved all day. Well, I did, but earlier in the year, and when I slaved, I made many meals all at once. It can be a real timesaver and money saver once you get into the swing of it.

I also can up a lot of broth that I make in the traditional manner, I simmer it for 24 hours or so, then strain it, de-fat it (save the fat, of course!) and can it up for.....whatever. I do some plain, no flavoring, and some flavored with my favorite seasonings. It is really handy when someone is sick and wants some real broth, or on a cold winter's day, a nice mug of broth is soooooo good! I do some with no seasoning at all, not even onion and garlic, so I can simmer it and make a reduction for a highly flavored sauce or gravy.......oh, that is beyond YUM!

I also can black beans, our favorite, for adding to recipes and such. You get something like 7-8 cans for the price of one can, if you buy canned beans in the store.

I canned boiled peanuts, 47 quarts, this past spring, and I have one or two jars left.....and I used self-control and tried to make them last!

I make my own catfood, there is a whole thread on that subject alone.

That's all I can think of right now, I hope it gives you some ideas.

I would use the rings with just a little rust, especially if you can scrub them with a metal pot scrubber and get some of it off. The rings are just to hold the flat lids in place during the canning process, and if they are still in good enough condition to do that, they will be fine. If you store your canned goods without the rings, as many of us do, you won't need as many rings as jars, just enough to get through a day of canning, then remove them and save them for the next batch. So if you do need to buy some, you don't need more than your canner can hold.

Happy canning! Be sure to do a search here, too, there have been many discussions on pressure canning. I just got my pressure canner last August, and I have done literally hundreds of jars since then.....I love it!!

 

[Wifezilla]

I am no help. I dry or freeze everything. That darn freezer is plugged in all the time, it is darn sure going to earn its keep

 

[SKR8PN]

Welcome The Wife.......wait....did that sound right?

ANYWHO........get the gauge off that pressure canner and then find out if you have a county extension agent. They will check the gauge to be sure it is accurate. THAT is the single most important part of pressure canning. If you don't have a county agent to check it for you, FIND an instrument testing place to check it out.
Post up where your from and I am sure we can find someone to help you out!!

 

[Thewife]

Thank you for the welcomes everybody!

I checked my corn again, I have ankle, shin and a few knee highs!
If I don't do something about the geese soon though, none of it is going to make it past my thigh!

Big brown horse, I was born and raised in Washington, all have ever heard was the "knee high by the 4th of July"! I've never heard the elephant's eye one before, I like that one better!

Noobiechickenlady, online is about my only thing, I will look around! Hubby takes my rig, the boy takes Hubby's rig and that leaves me with the tractor! I have a couple of books around here somewhere, I like hearing how real people do it too!

Justusnak, mom did all of her canning in with the water bath, it was her horror stories about pressure canners that makes me scared to death of the darn thing! Do you think if I just ordered a new gauge, it would be OK? I know they do checks every now and then in a town not far from here, but that would require me to comb my hair and leave the farm!

Freemotion, it wore me out just reading what you have canned! I know Hubby would love me to at least can up some stew, only because it's one of the few things I can cook! You did give me some good reasons to get him to build my green house, expand the garden and maybe help out in this adventure! If I could grow more, and he could do the cooking, WE could can it up and he could come home to a real meal more often!
And yep, I love exclamation points!!!!!

Wifezilla, have you ever dried peas? I only use them in my stews, don't care for canned peas, power goes out too much to rely on the freezer, wondering how dried ones would do?

SKR8PN, I'm in Washington, if I can get away with just buying a new one, it would be alot easier than trying to get anywhere to get it checked!

 

[freemotion]

And yet I forgot one of my favorites, canned meatloaf. No egg or breadcrumbs in it, just ground meat with onions, garlic, whatever you like to flavor it. Half-pint jars make a perfect size chunk for one sandwich, or it can be the meat for a meal. I gotta make some more soon!

 

[Thewife]

And yet I forgot one of my favorites, canned meatloaf. No egg or breadcrumbs in it, just ground meat with onions, garlic, whatever you like to flavor it. Half-pint jars make a perfect size chunk for one sandwich, or it can be the meat for a meal. I gotta make some more soon!

Oh, that sounds good!
Can you just eat it cold out of the jar?
How well does it come out of the jar?

I "think" I have a bunch of pint jars that are just tall and straight?