It's the canning season

So here we are at the end of the growing season. Yesterday I canned the last of my green tomatoes. I got 13 jars from a late harvest that would never ripen in time to eat. I enjoy canning and look forward to preserving what I can. I'm thinking of grabbing some more veggies from the grocer while the prices are low. I also may try my hand at dried meats and fish.

I wondered how my ATS friends were doing and if they too were canning for the winter. Have you all been thinking about this at all? I know that it isn't necessary to survive if things stay unchanged, but it is really fun to do and it is a great resource to have. I will also restock my dried legumes and rice supplies. My goal every year is to fill my basement pantry and see how far I can 'coast' during the winter months.

I tried to make 5 gallons of peach brandy one year, but alas, I bought the wrong yeast and also had a comtamination issue. I planned to barter it for some other goodies. I may go back to making beer or mead and share that. If shipping wasn't a cost issue, I'd recommend online bartering.

If any of you share in my idea, please post some of your plans here for us all to read. We really do have a tremendous amount of shared knowledge here. I find that kind of wealth immeasurable.

Yep, the late harvest was a real boon. Mother does all the canning and it has been a banner year. I tend to save the brewing for the Winter but always keep 20 or so gallons (beer) on hand.

It sounds like you are a step ahead of the game there, Shadow Watcher.

I live in an apartment and I really would like to relocate to a commune or somekind of shared community living in these times I think it is becoming necessary to draw on all of our personal resources and to even combine them with others with like mind and have a plan to take care of ourselves because we may soon not having the opportunities to get what we need when we need it as easily and conveniently as we do now.

It is most definitely a good way to empower yourself by taking advantage of anything you can do now to be self reliant later.

The bartering idea is a good one, but road trips are probably better for this because of the shipping costs, although not always possible.

I have an All American pressure cooker and several dozen wide mouth ball jars and lids, but I am at a loss as how to get started. I grew some carrots this year, but ate them all. The termites ate my potatoes.

reply to post by groingrinder



Those must have been some good carrots, Bugs!

At least you have a place to start, you have a pressure cooker and some jars. Maybe you should buy from a neighbors harvest or a local farmer.

Hey maybe that is what I should do to instead of waiting to move to a commune!


[edit on 22-10-2007 by interestedalways]

cool idea i too can a lot of stuff learning how to make sausage and hams right now before my grandfather is gone..its becoming a lost art

I get proscuitto and sopprasata from this family farm (for lack of a better term) and it lasts me all winter. Thanks for reminding me to buy more. the trimmed fat creates quite a meal when cooked with my beans. mmm

It really is a dying art in the US, but there is still a few around who do it right. Whenever we buy pork loin (you know those long 6 pound slabs) I air-vac them into chops, roasters, and the remaining piece I ground with the trimmed fat into sausage. Casings are a pia, so I usually will make patties, unless requested otherwise.

Today after posting this thread, I asked around at work to see if anyone wanted to barter. I will have some butternut squash and some farm fresh eggs in exchange for my green tomato pickles.

InterestedAlways you should definitely look into the local growers to buy tons of veggies for pennies. You could easily can enough to last you all winter.

Farmboy41 here is a great site to get started. canning info

Let me know if you need any advice, although I'm sure you know more than enough already.


[edit on 22/10/07 by shadow watcher]

shadow watcher this may sound strange, but my grandfather said when they killed hogs in november, they would make the sausage, his mom would take it i mean like 60 lbs fry it about half way, take a clay crock, put a layer of meant in cover it with lard etc all the way to the yp andtake a top layer anc over it with lard this would keep all bugs out and he said they would have sausage till spring using that method i put up over 20 jars of tomatoes and veggies nothing like hommade chilli and soup in the winter is it...

Half cooked ehh? Was is cured in a salt brine?

Have you tried to can salsa? It never lasts long enough to know it's expiration date, so I cannot say, but I bet it would last a long time.

Thanks for the thread and links shadow watcher. It gave me the incentive to try and actually can something. I wish I could scare up some wild asparagus around here. In Montana we always had deer hams and sausage and jerky. I have resorted to making my jerky with hamburger and using a caulking gun and used empty tube of caulk to squeeze it out in long spirals on the dehydrator trays.

We've done a bit of canning this year.........pickles, dill and sweet, and a few tomatoes. I use a water bath canner for processing......( you do need a pressurized canner for some things, like green beans!)

This is about half of our stash, so far.....I still have to pickle some hot peppers!


We freeze most everything else, presently, but would like to get away from being so dependent on the electricity.

I have allowed some of our lima beans to dry on the vines this year, to see if that might be a practical way to save them. My Grandmother sun dried string beans and then 'strung' them on a thread to hang in the pantry till needed. She called them 'leather britches'.......she also pickled beans in a crock with salt and vinegar. (Both ways safer than poorly canned green beans that might grow botulism!)

Yum! Canned food. We had tons of apples, beans, tomatoes, peaches and pears growing up. Canning is a lot art. I need to teach my wife, so she knows. Food storage is important. Do it.

shadow watcher i do can salsa its will last 2 yrs i know of and i just hot water bath it after i cook the entire contents for 15 minutes...no meat and yes about the sausage it was fresh prok the kiilled and seasoned right there with salt sage and red pepper she cooked it about half way and layered it in a crock covered it with lard they just made and it sealed it