Thursday, October 22, 2009
Happy Halloween Season
Oh! what a great time of the year. Pheasent season started a week ago and goose season started last week and duck season will be starting or has started already. but the biggie, it's only three weeks till deer season. Now what is so great about all of that? F O O D ! ! ! Every year right after harvest it is butchering time. Not that I am a great advocut of all that work, but I have never minded taking the time to honor the game (or fish) that I get by taking the time to properly prepare it so that it will provide good meals for those who partake, and it is not wasted.
It is strange but we have never purchased much meat and I have no clue as to how much money we have saved because of it, but out side of chicken there is not much else to buy. Also when we buy chickens we wait and get hens that quit laying for about .50 to .75 cents apiece, buy a couple of dozen of them, cut off some of the legs, thighs and breasts to fry and then we pressure cook and can the rest. Hmmmmm It looks great on the shelves with our veggies and tastes scrumptious. A wall of canned vegies and at least one shelf of canned venison and chicken make one feel pretty comfortable as winter sets in. We have also put up quart jars of Pin Cherry juice concentrate this year. A delicious drink, you can have it warm or cold as you prefer.
Now if I could just figure out a good use for the 12 to 14 huge leaf bags of cottonwood leaves that come off the neighbors tree every fall, I would be in good shape. I have already raked the leaves twice this year and that is my leaves, the neighbor's cottonwoods haven't begin to fall yet. But I feel great with the knowledge that in this time of economic turmoil when jobs are precarious and life is uncertain , we will survive the winter in pretty good shape. Heavenly Father is good to us.
It is strange but we have never purchased much meat and I have no clue as to how much money we have saved because of it, but out side of chicken there is not much else to buy. Also when we buy chickens we wait and get hens that quit laying for about .50 to .75 cents apiece, buy a couple of dozen of them, cut off some of the legs, thighs and breasts to fry and then we pressure cook and can the rest. Hmmmmm It looks great on the shelves with our veggies and tastes scrumptious. A wall of canned vegies and at least one shelf of canned venison and chicken make one feel pretty comfortable as winter sets in. We have also put up quart jars of Pin Cherry juice concentrate this year. A delicious drink, you can have it warm or cold as you prefer.
Now if I could just figure out a good use for the 12 to 14 huge leaf bags of cottonwood leaves that come off the neighbors tree every fall, I would be in good shape. I have already raked the leaves twice this year and that is my leaves, the neighbor's cottonwoods haven't begin to fall yet. But I feel great with the knowledge that in this time of economic turmoil when jobs are precarious and life is uncertain , we will survive the winter in pretty good shape. Heavenly Father is good to us.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
More Harvest Time
We took harvest time seriously. It has been raining for a week now and it is dark and damp out so we spent Friday and the weekend between conference session canning tomatoes. We got a total of 20 quarts and 12 pints. Sure makes the food storage shelves look better. I grew up in a small town that was dominated by 40 acre truck farms and a large canning facility. Tomatoes were brought to the plant by horse and wagon and the wagon drivers would throw tomatoes at the kids trying to swipe them off the back of the wagons. Some times we would catch the one that were thrown, sometime we didn't. Somtimes it got messy and then we got it from Mom when we came home. As I got older I picked tomatoes for ten cents a hamper. For those of you who do hot know about hampers, they were about 3/4 of a bushel. You do remember a bushel basket don't you? But harvest was fun. We still have potatoes and carrots to do, hopefully. Canning is a good bonding time, that is what makes it enjoyable.
I remember that the canning factory (as we called it) used to can with one company label and when they got so many they would switch and go to another company label for the cans. They canned for half dozen different companies. The only thing I remember was that Van Camps had a special size requirement and all the tomatoes had to be the same size. You got a better price for them too. I remember they had individual receipes for the catsup they bottled except for some of the lessor brands, they just changed the labels.
The weather has been terribly damp for a week and I have a slight chest cold (normal) but Sherry came down this AM with a sore throat. Hope we can nip it in the bud before it gets serious. Have a good week.
I remember that the canning factory (as we called it) used to can with one company label and when they got so many they would switch and go to another company label for the cans. They canned for half dozen different companies. The only thing I remember was that Van Camps had a special size requirement and all the tomatoes had to be the same size. You got a better price for them too. I remember they had individual receipes for the catsup they bottled except for some of the lessor brands, they just changed the labels.
The weather has been terribly damp for a week and I have a slight chest cold (normal) but Sherry came down this AM with a sore throat. Hope we can nip it in the bud before it gets serious. Have a good week.
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