Bugs Bunny Would Be Proud

A couple months ago, I was surfing the net, looking for new canning recipes. I found a really yummy-looking one - Carrot Cake Jam (tell me that doesn't sound the best!) - and have kept it in the back of my mind since. Today I tried it out.

After a bunch of running around earlier, I settled down to the job at hand. I pulled a handful of carrots from the garden. Almost everything died back awhile ago when we were hit with hard frost but the carrots just keep getting better.

Last crop in the garden

I had picked up a basket of pears at the Market last week and they've been sitting, staring at me relentlessly, ever since. Oh, the pressure. Turns out, I only needed two pears for this batch. What do I know. I see an apple-pear sauce, or something, in my none-too-distant future. May even share a couple with the chickens. What the heck, they give us food every day.

The fruit and veggie were peeled, grated and/or chopped, thrown into my beautiful maslin pan with a can of very not-local pineapple, spices added and everything brought to a boil. I'm not usually one to use pectin, but had found some Pomona pectin at the health food store and wanted to give it a try. Instead of using the...are you sitting down...6-1/2 cups of sugar that's called for, I used about 2 cups. As it cooked down, I had a wee sample and it tasted mighty fine, if I do say so myself. Ended up with 4 - 250ml jars. The final judgment will take place in the next few days, with a slice or two of toast and a hot cup of coffee.

Carrot Cake Jam. Oh. Mmmm.

Under Pressure

We've been kissed by frost the last few mornings. I covered tomatoes Thursday night and, with more frost in the forecast, I decided to bring them all in on Friday - green, red, and everything in between. In they came. Saturday I awoke to a balmy 1 degree. There's no question that fall is in the air.

Dorito was up on Saturday. She arrived at the house around seven and we headed over to Lindsay. After a lovely breakfast, we went to St Andrews church for a canning and preserving class. I've got the water bath canning and dehydrating down but have long wanted to learn to pressure can - this was the day. 

We started with a quick run down on how a pressure canner works and then went to the kitchen, washed and snapped beans, prepared jars and lids and then watched as the pressure canner was put to use. No vinegar. No worrying about acidity and botulism. Just beans, boiling water, and ultra-high temperatures to make everything safe.

Jars of prepared beans going into the canner for processing

Turns out I didn't have to be scared of the 'pressure' part of pressure canner. There were no explosions, no holes in the ceiling, just beautiful jars of preserved beans for winter eating. I can do that.

We also were shown how to make strawberry jam in a water bath, dehydrate apples and tomatoes and, best of all, use the canner for beef stew. How great would it be to come home after a busy day, pull a jar or two of stew from the shelf, warm it up and eat a truly homemade meal in no time flat?

Beef stew just about ready to be canned.

Now, I just have to save my pennies (and loonies and toonies) for one of those fancy-shmancy canners. Think I'll go buy a lottery ticket too...

Putting Up Peaches

I spent most of the weekend at it and I'm happy to report that we have enough peaches put away to see us through another year. Yay! Pretty near killed my back doing it but it's worth it. Or, at least it will be. One day. When a bit more time passes and naked peaches stop chasing me in my dreams.

Saturday, after I came home from the Market, I peeled, pitted and sliced up two of the flats and ended up with 14 litres of canned peaches. I used the same recipe as last year (you can find it here, if you're interested). Only change I make is to use a lighter syrup than they call for - about 9 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar. The kids love it.

Sunday I peeled, pitted...this is starting to sound repetitive isn't it...and sliced up about two-thirds of the last flat. Looking for any reason I could find to stop peeling the damn things, I came up with the brilliant idea of putting some away for kids lunches. You know - in the fresh, round, unpeeled form. Surely, my back would thank me later.

This batch was mixed with pears that Paul had picked up earlier in the week at our favourite orchard, some mint from the garden and canned in a honey syrup.

Sliced peaches and pears sitting in the maslin pan

I had used this recipe last year but didn't care to add the store-bought maraschinos this year and I didn't have any grapes. Still looks good and we ended up with seven 500ml jars.

And, last but not least, I ripped carefully removed the peel and pits, hacked away at gently sliced the last of this beautiful fruit, hunted for a recipe and made peach muffins. When Nolan saw them he asked what they were. I told him peach muffins, he made a face and said he didn't like them. Then he tried one. Fifteen minutes later he had another. The fly swatter came out to prevent removal of a third.

All set for another year

Now, what to do next? Judging by the forecast, I'm thinking tomatoes will be involved. We'll be seeing frost in our not-too-distant future, I suspect. And so it goes.

Pickles - Check!

I took a bit of an early lunch yesterday so I could zip over to the Farmers' Market that's held downtown every Wednesday through the summer. I wandered around, stopping as I always do for perogies (oh, mmmm) all the while searching for pickling cucumbers. The kids and I are home for a few days to take in the last of the summer days before back-to-school on Tuesday. It's as good a time as any to make pickles, I figure. As I approached the last stall, I thought my luck was running out when I spotted a small basket of the sought-after treasure. And then the stars aligned and the man behind the table appeared with a 1/2 bushel basket of cukes.

"That's what I'm after," I exclaimed whilst pointing at the basket.

"We love you!" came the reply.

I'd like to think the response was due to my shining personality. Then again, the market was closing in another hour and it may be that they didn't want to return to the farm with all those cucumbers. Nah. Let's go with the first option.

After work, I stopped at the General Store and picked up a few bags of ice and dumped it into a cooler with the cucumbers. They sat overnight, nice and cool.

Cucumbers on ice

I decided to make two kinds of pickles today - the ever popular bread and butter and last year's awesome discovery, sweet dill. (Cheryl wrote about them here last year - and I'm very glad she did.) My beautiful maslin pan came out for the first time this year too. Have I mentioned that I love my maslin pan? I do. I love it.

Despite the sticky, humid day (aren't they always when you've got the stove going for hours?), I managed to put up 11 - 500ml jars of sweet dills and 13 bread and butter. There's still a few cukes left. Haven't decided whether to make relish or try drying them into some kind of a dilly cucumber chip. I'll have to think on it.

2011 bread and butter pickles - check!

No More Pickles, Thank You

Two-thirds of the kids started back to school today - you know, the two-thirds from the knees up. Ya, that was a lame attempt at humour, but give me a break here. This blogging gig ain't easy. Ri and Cammy caught the bus this morning for the ride in. We weren't sure who our bus driver was going to be, so when we saw it was Christopher, who we've had for the last couple years, three cheers went up and there were high fives all 'round. He lets the kids chew gum on Fridays. You can't beat that with a stick. Nolan heads back to school tomorrow for his first year of French Immersion. We've taught him a handful of phrases - Bonjour. Comment ça va? Je m'appelle Nolan. And in preparation of hockey season - Le but! (The brown-eyed one is quite adept at using this one.)

After we waved adieu, Nolan and I walked back up the driveway and went inside. I still had cucumbers sitting, nay, staring and waiting to be made into something more than a plain green vegetable. So, I pulled out my trusty collection of pickling recipes and made Nolan's and my favourite, bread and butter pickles. These, along with the dills and sweet dills that were made during the past week, will give us a nice variety over the next year. Happily, the vinegar can now go away.

B&B Pickles in my precious maslin pan

Vinegar and Honey

A couple weeks ago, I was visiting Cheryl (figuratively-speaking) at Good Nuf Ranch and she was posting about pickles. (She's in Deadwood Alberta - how's that for a great town name?!) Anyhoo, I'd kept it in the back of my head - the pickles I mean - for later. A few nights ago, as I was going through my Bernardin book, I came across the recipe for the same pickles. Yesterday was Farmers' Market day, so I picked up everything I needed and today they're all put up and sitting on the counter. I didn't bother taking pictures as Cheryl's got that covered. (Besides, I was busy refereeing my offspring dear, sweet monsters loving brats children while slicing cukes.) Go take a look.

There's also a yummy-looking fruit cocktail concoction in the book, made with peaches, pears, grapes and maraschino cherries (don't let the picture on the link fool you). With the exception of the cherries, the fruit is from Niagara, the honey's from the Kawarthas and the mint is from my backyard! Yea!! (At least something grew this year.) Oh, and the water's from our well. Wa-hoo! Local water!

Sweet Sliced Dills and Summer Fruit Cocktail

Your Pickles Are Ready

*ring*

*ring*

"Hello."

"Hi Dad. It's your favourite daughter."

*silence*

"In Ontario."

"Oh hi! Are you out fishing?"

"No. I got your pickles made today."

"Oh, that's great."

"Ya! There's fifteen jars for you."

"Oh, super. Do you know what's green and sour and lives in an aquarium?"

"Uh, no."

"A tro-pickle fish."  *laughs heartily*

*favourite daughter in Ontario rolls eyes*

"So, when do you want to get them."

"How 'bout tomorrow."

"Okay. What time?"

"About ten to..."  *chuckles*

"Uh-huh. See you tomorrow."

"Alright, hunny bunch. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye."

*click*

~~~~~
This is a pretty good example of a typical chat with my Dad. Usually a bit longer, but you get the gist. If you ever need a bad joke...a really bad joke...he's the guy to go to. (It explains a lot, doesn't it?)

Fresh From Niagara

One of Riley's best friends from school spends some of her time in Oshawa. On Friday, we invited her up for a couple days. And, guess what - the Oshawa Farmers' Market is held on Fridays. I know! What a coincidence.

After I did some running around here, Ri and I drove down to the 'Shwa and hit the market. We wandered around until we came upon a sign that read, "ask about our canning special." So, I asked about their canning special. Well, turns out, if one was to buy a flat of peaches - that's four baskets instead of one - one would get a bit of a deal. I bought two flats. Then we picked up Ri's friend and returned home.

Today, was a sunny, warm, humid one - perfect conditions for having the stove on all afternoon. After enjoying a morning coffee out on the front porch, it was time to get to work. So, I hung some sheets out on the line, poured myself another coffee, and enjoyed it out on the front porch; thus successfully delaying the chore that lay ahead. I love the results of preserving - I'm not so great on the getting-going part.

After dawdling awhile longer, I took all the canning equipment out, got the canner going, made some more coffee, started sterilizing jars and lids and put Ri to work peeling peaches. She was awesome and hardly complained after the first five minutes or so. Such a trooper. Fast forward to the end of the day, and we have thirty-two jars of Niagara-grown peaches cooling on the counter. Time for a shower.

See, Mum? I'm helpful.

Oh Those Beautiful Raspberries

A few hours of picking up at Caza in Buckhorn and three 4 litre baskets soon filled to overflowing with raspberries. Didn't hurt that I ran into a friend from work and her Mum out in the middle of the berry patch. They volunteered to help and, being no fool, I was quick to accept. By the end of the day, I had sixteen 500ml and four 250ml jars of bright red raspberry jam processed and cooling on the counter. Cammy's set for another year of his favourite schooltime lunch - raspberry jam sandwiches.

Out To The Berry Patch

I love this time of year. It's the season of picking. Today I took the day off work and loaded up on big juicy strawberries. I picked for about two hours and came away with the treasure below. The berries were a little hit and miss. I think all the rain we've had in the last little bit is finally having an effect on them. They seemed to be spoiling in small patches. But, just when you thought you weren't going to find enough to fill the basket, you hit the motherload and on you went. This afternoon, I'm making jam. Drippy jam, we like to call it. Nolan will be happy.

UPDATED SATURDAY, JUNE 26: Well, didn't get the jam done Friday but I'm happy to report that on Saturday I put up 12 jars of bright red strawberry jam. The same bright red hue, coincidentally, as the kids' stained faces. Those strawberries were good.

Today's Favourite

Ri's poor ole nose has been stuffed up and she didn't get much sleep last night so we spent the day at home. She took it pretty easy (lucky thing I had recorded Ghostbusters) and so it seemed like a pretty good day to dive into the apples that have been sitting here for a few weeks waiting to be made into sauce. Paul had originally picked up 4 bushels and we had been storing them in the garage. Over the course of a few days, a critter of either the masked or striped persuasion was into them and relieved us of about 1/2 a bushel. (Probably a friend of the pea-snatching deer.) They've been in the not-quite-as-warm-as-the-rest-of-the-house room since. I'm happy to say that we now have a nice stash of applesauce.

Anytime I'm working in the kitchen, I have the Wolf on the radio. And each time I listen, there's a song that stands out. A song that I can't get out of my head for the rest of the day. Today it was the Tragically Hip's 'Wheat Kings', the story of David Milgaard. Great song.



If you're a fan of the Hip, check out this site. I've gotta say, I didn't know that Willie Nelson was anything other than Willie Nelson. Gives new meaning to those trips to Bobcaygeon.

Back in the Sauce

This morning I had a call from a friend at work. She was planning to make pickles and had borrowed my canning stuff but, alas, she couldn't find cucumbers anywhere. She wanted to let me know that she had dropped my stuff off at work. She knew that I had plans for applesauce.

We ran out of sauce shortly after the rationing began in May. Paul picked up a half-bushel of b-grade Spartans from Allin's on the way home from work on Thursday. These are great apples - nice and sweet so no sugar added, and we end up with a lovely pink sauce. Not one to mess with a good thing, I used the ole standby instructions and my precious maslin pan. Have I mentioned that I love that maslin pan? Anyhoo, I put up 10 jars today. We're back in the sauce.

Green Tomato Relish

Wednesday, after supper, the kids and I went out and picked the vines clean of tomatoes. The timing was, well, timely as we had frost the following night and the plants are done. There are now tomatoes lying out in baskets and on ledges ripening. But, what to do with the tomatoes that are so green, there's no chance they'll ever so much as blush. Well, turns out you can make green tomato relish. And so I did. Yummy, too.



(Hey, Dad - Happy Birthday!)
.

Weekend Results

Well, it turns out that glutton for punishment sums things up perfectly. The weekend's bounty pretty near killed me.

I'm happy to say, though, that I managed to put up a half bushel of dill pickles (pictured with the bread and butter pickles),


all six baskets of peaches (haven't figured out how to stop them from floating, though)


and turned about 2/3 of a bushel of tomatoes into canned crushed tomatoes. I'm not too proud to admit that the tomatoes almost got the better of me and I was reminded fairly quickly why it had been eleven years since my last encounter with them. My neighbour Darlene had taken me under her wing all those years ago and that's when I first learned a bit about canning - making applesauce, a couple of jars of tomato sauce and some ketchup. I can see it being another eleven years.

Pickle?

Modern Homesteading?

Or glutton for punishment. Either way, it's one down, two to go...


...and time for bed.

Quite a Pickle

As we often seem to do on Saturdays, we found ourselves at the Peterborough Market. The kids, however, are never quite as thrilled as I am. ("Oh mum, do we have to go?" they whine. "Uh, yes," is the typical response.) We met up with brother Enos at our usual spot on the grassy knoll, and wandered around. We picked up a small basket of strawberries & fall raspberries for school lunches and some garlic but the real hunt was for pickling cucumbers. We walked around swatting wasps, soaking up the sun and listening to the buskers. Enos was especially appreciative of the two guys playing Led Zepplin as they were obviously too young to have been around in Zepplin's heyday. That earned them a toonie.

Then, we spotted them. Baskets of cukes. I bought a half bushel and some dill. We were done. As we headed out, one of the apple vendors noticed Enos carrying the bag of cukes. He yelled out that they could be washed in the washing machine. What? On gentle. No way. Ya, he said. I asked him about using the dryer and he rolled his eyes as if I was an idiot. I'm used to that look. At least his buddies laughed. But, you know what? I tried it and it works! (Just don't let it go the whole cycle. And only in a top loader.) This has earned him a jar of pickles which I will deliver the next time I'm there.

Our washer isn't as disgusting as it looks - it's just our water.

So, here's the recipe for y'all. I love these pickles. And I'm still deeply in love with my maslin pan. One thing I do each year is write notes on the recipes. For example, in 2007, I followed the recipe and it made 3 litres. In 2008, I quadrupled it and my notes say it made 9 - 1/2 litre jars. I was obviously full of crap as this year I multiplied the recipe by 5 and ended up with 30 - 1/2 litre jars, using up the entire 1/2 bushel. The idea of notes is great - and incredibly organized for the likes of me - but it would help to be accurate. Can't push these things.

Peachy

Ri and I were in Oshawa yesterday so we dropped by the Farmers Market at the OC and picked up a flat of peaches. The vendor mentioned that I'm a regular. I told him I'm a regular in Peterborough and he said, "Yep, I've got a good deal for you." Must be the height. ;-) I paid up and he even carried the flat to the car for me.

Next, Ri and I found a backpack for school, had some lunch, and went over to Dad's place to wish Elizabeth a happy birthday. We had a nice visit there and then, much to Riley's delight (she says with great sarcasm), we hit the blueberry patch, where we picked two more buckets of berries. (I just know she'll appreciate it in January.) Then home.

This afternoon, I canned most of the peaches. In a few hours, we went from this...



to this...


Cooling on the counter are four 1 litre and six 500ml jars. We'll appreciate these in January too.

24

It's done. The raspberry jam, that is. Sitting on the counter are 24 lovely red jars of jam. Enough, I hope, to get the kids through the school year. 24. Jack Bauer would be pleased. (I know. You're rolling your eyes, 'cause that was so lame. But I bet Dad's smiling 'cause he only knows lame jokes.)



Oops. Should have removed the Coopers can before I took the picture. It's for Paul's 'canning' project, later this week. ;o)

All In A Day's...Or Three's...Work

It's been a busy few days. When I picked up the kids from daycare on Tuesday, Julie asked if they could come Thursday to hang out with a couple of friends that they rarely see. I'm on vacation for a couple of weeks but I wasn't about to turn down the invitation. Strawberries were calling me. So, Thursday morning, the kids and I headed out, passing the Berry Patch on the way. Hmmm. The gates were closed but there were a few people picking. Must be the pre-pickers. I dropped the kids off and decided to head back the way I came just in case the situation had changed in fifteen minutes and the gates had been opened. Drat. They were closed. And it was raining a bit. What to do? Go home? The strawberries were still calling. I drove down to Johnston's.

Once there, I pulled in alongside the market hut and asked if the pick-your-own was open. Not for another hour so that the road could dry a bit. Drat. But, if I wanted I could walk up to the patch and pick to my heart's content. Gee, what to do? I ran at top speed...okay, not really. I walked up and picked and picked and picked some more. Every now and then I took a wee break to stretch my back and check out the view of Rice Lake. (I was waving, Marian. Did you see me?!) In a matter of a couple of hours, I had five 4-litre baskets full of sweet, ripe berries. I paid up and left.

At home, I dug out the canner and some canning jars, lids and recipes. Thursday's batch of jam was made according to the instructions in a box of Certo. First time I've used pectin. (Well, other than the time I used it in the dandelion jelly...but we're not going to talk about that. Okay?) We all had a taste of the newly made jam and agreed it was pretty tasty. Even Cammy. Now, this is big. This may lead to v.a.r.i.e.t.y in his school lunches. The twenty jars of raspberry jam that I made last year didn't get us through grade 1 and I've been feeling the pressure.

Thursday night, I sliced up nine trays-worth of berries and dried them over night.

Friday morning, the berries were scraped off the screens and dropped into jars. And I made another batch of jam with pectin. Next, I went back to my tried and true recipe, described as a classic Canadian jam. (I'm a sucker for the words 'classic Canadian' - so I had to try it.) We lovingly refer to this one as 'drippy jam'. (Thus the reason for trying pectin.) It's great on pancakes or ice cream.

And Friday night, I sliced up another nine trays-worth of berries and dried them over night. If I never see another...um, I mean, the kids adore these and I'm so happy to be able to provide them. Today I scraped the damn screens and dumped the berries into jars.

There's still a few berries in the fridge. I have no intention of slicing them. :-)

The Hand-Off

Today was a day of great anticipation. Today the maslin pan went home. In celebration, Dorito and I went to Smitty's. Then, after a good breakfast and lots of coffee, we went to the craft store to get some yarn for SCUM-baagg's stylish new hat. She's gonna be a beaut! Just have to get the hang of using tulle and I'll be on my way.

~Liz