Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Beans, Beans and More Beans!

Two days of canning green beans ... and the season has just begun! Yesterday my wonderful husband helped me figure out the procedure for pressure canning, and it turned out not to be as hard as I thought it would be! We processed 35 jars that day. This morning Mountain Fire Keeper came over and brought a 2nd pressure canner, and that really helped speed up the process. I was able to take one of the stove and replace it with another full one, so the processing time was greatly reduced compared to the day before.

We had the whole family involved. Jim and some of the boys picked in the garden, and some boys stayed in to snap what was already ready to go. Mountain Fire Keeper gave us some valuable pointers -- and help filling jars. Now to pick up the pieces tomorrow, and get the house back into shape.

5 comments:

Grammy B. said...

Glad to hear you have the pressure canning figured out - it apparently works OK on your stove.

You'll enjoy those beans this winter.

Love, Mom B.

Marci said...

Lynn, how many total quarts are you going to put up of beans? Or are you going to can all you get? I am trying to figure out what we will need, add a bit and then stop when I hit that number. I am not sure that will work, but I will try.

Emily said...

Wow, with the amount you're canning it sounds like you'll have plenty to tide you over until next season. That's wonderful. Wish I lived closer so I could help out, too, and get some "hands-on" learning. Off-topic here, but meant to ask, how are things going with Samson and the chickens?

Anonymous said...

Marci, we will continue to can more beans, but I'm not sure how many we'll do. I'll run out of jars before we run out of beans! We also are saving some to dry for next year's seeds, and maybe leave some to dry just to eat later. Steve Schadler has a good method of determining how many jars a family would need for a year, so maybe you should check with him to help you make a decision. I just hate to leave things go to waste, and would prefer to just keep on going until they are gone -- but then I have tons of tomato plants to deal with as well!

Emily, I'll send you a note!

Authentic Farmer said...

Mmmm-mmmm! Good job on the canning! What a great sense of accomplishment there is when you've worked hard to put food on the table and to provide for the winter! Enjoy!

Lisa