Every Thursday we like to post a picture of something we've found online that inspires us to do something similar at the farm. Sort of our own blog bulletin board so that we can eventually look back and someday, hopefully anyway, recreate it...enjoy!
Lately, I've been getting the canning urge again. A couple of seasons back, I canned a bunch of jam. We've eaten almost all of it over the last two years. Amazing to have our own food that we made and saved for all this time. Just pull some out and use it when we run out.
Recently, 2nd Man said "you need to make more".
So, I've been dipping my foot back into the canning world (hence the reason I posted yesterday about seeing the smooth sided jars in the store, I was in the canning section, ha). Anyway, while looking online I find all sorts of interesting pictures. This is one of them. We could only imagine having this much stuff saved up. Not sure we could eat it all before it would be expired, but it sure would be nice to try.
Be inspired!
Beautiful display of canned goods.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a young child growing up on a farm my mom always had a Big garden and done A lot of canning. Picture reminds me of our basement with all the canned goods sitting on shelves.
Very seldom did we ever have to go into town to buy groceries as we ate what we canned, butchered our own beef and pork, rabbit, ducks, chicken and had fresh milk & eggs every day and mom made bread every day so there really wasn't much need to go the grocery store for food. We lived off what we raised and grew on the farm.
About the only time we did go into town was to buy shoes / clothing and maybe dad had to get some sort of machinery parts of some sort.
My grandmother had a smaller version of this in the storm cellar in their backyard. That's awesome that you all were so self sufficient. Of course, I don't think we could do the butchering part, ha. We'd just have to do eggs and vegetables LOL!
DeleteEven though it's just the two of you, believe me when I say this, you can eat up that whole room of canned goods inside of two years. We have a closet inside our laundry room that I call our pantry. David, my husband put up shelves and now it is serving it's purpose. Actually any closet in your house would make a perfect pantry, except in the bedroom.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good idea! Thanks for that. And you're right, it might look like a lot but when you think about what you buy at the store weekly and if you put it all on shelves for two years it would be that much I bet. I like the idea of a closet just for canned goods.
Deletethat reminds me of our canning room when i was little. we canned a lot of stuff that we grew back then and made jams too. my dad used to make homemade root beer and we always had shelves stocked with it too.
ReplyDeleteA canning room? COOL! And homemade root beer? OMG I can't even imagine!
DeleteIf you think about the amount of food consumed in one year, that pantry would not be excessive. If we had the garden space I would love to have a canning pantry like that. Maybe when/if we make a permanent move to the lake.
ReplyDeleteFilling out the fruits & veggies in that pantry with some meat, dairy & bread, it would last 2-3 years for 2 people. Depending on how hungry you are of course, lol. Canned foods last a long time provided they are kept cool and in the dark. Fruits will go off first, I like to eat mine within a year. Just recently I made a meal with jars of food that were 12 and 8 years old. They were perfectly wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThat display is so beautiful! I grew up in canning households. My mom and grandma won multiple ribbons at the county fair for their canned goods. We all had gardens which naturally led me to have my own garden. It is so satisfying and rewarding to grow your own vegetables and fruits and/or buy them at markets and then can them for your family and friends. I have wonderful memories of my grandmas and parents going to their shelves of canned goods to get a jar of pickles or green beans or peaches for our meals. So now I’m continuing that tradition.
ReplyDeleteI’m so glad you’re getting the canning bug again!
I think if our storage looked like that, I'd never leave the house, ha.
ReplyDeleteYou two could eat that much food in a year. Canned food does not expire. Heat and light will diminish the vitamin content. Minerals and fiber remain. I always liked to have 60 quarts of tomatoes canned. People were horrified with the high amount. But two quarts of tomatoes a week for a pot of soup would only last 30 weeks, about 7 months over the fall and winter. I can eat a pot of soup or stew every week. Of course, I often have help. Two quarts of fruit each week for baked desserts or fruit eaten in a bowl. The two of you can sit down and figure what you would eat over one year and set a goal for each category. Whatever you eat would be on your list.
ReplyDeleteOnce you have your needs listed for fruits and vegetables and extras like pickles, you can start on a list for meats. I have never canned meat, but have plans to do so. People can hamburger patties, sausage patties, crumbles from both, chicken, and more. Add a means of canning outdoors. Get a dehydrator for some things.
You can do it.
I've never canned anything, but my mother was a canning whiz. Corn, tomato juice, fruit, pickles--I can't remember everything she canned. My dad, who grew up on a farm, loved her canned goods.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
That is just flat out beautiful, isn't it? What a huge amount of work, but what rewards. Personally I don't see enough pickles and relish.
ReplyDeleteI have done some canning in the past, but I do more dehydrating and freezing these days. That's a bit less reliable should we have a long-term power shortage or a freezer in an outbuilding which isn't opened but once a week or so dies. We lost about 1/4 of a steer worth of beef that way a few years back.
I'm NOT a hot weather person, so I tend to freeze most things - fruit for jams and tomatoes (can never have enough tomatoes and prepared sauce!), chili and stew mostly, and then I can them in cooler weather. Except my freezer and dill pickles. those don't freeze so it's a use it or lose it, and that would be tragic. My cukes and tomatoes are going CRAZY this year! I just had tomatoes and cukes for breakfast. Even so, it's a hot job. we don't have a dishwasher so we wash, then boil our jars, then keep them in the oven to keep them sterilized. So a pot of boiling water for prepping jars and lids, a pot or two of fruit which must be constantly stirred, plus the oven going - and no Air Conditioning - makes the kitchen crazy warm.
We live in Northern Michigan close to Lake Huron which has a significant cooling effect so temps in the upper 80's are not that common, and it usually cools off after dark. I can't imagine canning during the summer in TX!
I just ran across something that made me think of you. There are several cool "food hacks" - though why they call them hacks is beyond me - Tips!
ReplyDeletehttps://www.pinterest.com/pin/747245763155242590/