Independence Day

Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th! 

As for me, I stayed in the holler to babysit the cows, and allowed the boys to go to town to be kids and enjoy the holiday.

They really enjoyed the Internet from what I have been told. Aw well. It gave them time to be kids without responsibilities. 

Before my story continues I have to obligatory warning; do this and you could die, sayth the FDA and USDA.

I canned 13 pints of green beans.

They are a bit larger than I like to pick, but right now I can only do things when I am able to get to them. These will be put in the way back shelf, give them time to soften up a bit more, to be used last or in stew. They still pop when snapped, I didn't keep any rubber ones.

Still without propane, I had to use an open fire to can.

It's difficult and super tedious to pressure can on a campfire. It requires you get it very hot, then back off on the heat and attempt to maintain a constant temptature. I might be talented, but not that talented. I chose to hot water bath them. 

Gasp!

It takes 90 mins to do, at a hard boil. 

While the first batch was going, I harvest and started drying more spinach.

 

Without an electric dehydrator (I have one packed somewhere) I use a window frame with screen, placed on four logs, then cover with hail screen. With the moisture here, it takes two to three days for them to completely dry.

I thought I might take a bath, but the cows kept drinking my bath water.

Soon my first batch of green beans were done, and I restoked the fire and started the second batch.

Sunday I will be able to can the younger, better tasting green beans. 

Green beans

Forgot to get a garden picture this morning. So a feast for your eyes. My first grean bean harvest!

Supper yummy. Rinse well, cook in a bit of white wine and halved peaches in foil over a campfire. A little salt and cracked pepper to season. My preferred method for fresh green beans. Goes well with lamb or pork. 

I am very stoked about having fresh veggies again. Canning starts this weekend. 

Canning green beans, hot water bath

I get a lot of queries, daily, about this subject.  I posted once about it in the way back day. But as I say, if one is interested, others are as well.

First, the disclaimer.

Pressure canning is the only safe way to can your meats, and vegetables. Using Boiling Water Canners for these foods puts you at risk for botulism and poisoning. Fruits are fine in the hot water bath.

How to water bath.

Hard boil your hot packed jars for at least 90 minutes. 

Even with this amount of time,Clostridium Botulinum bacteria can survive and grow in the sealed jars. If your jars are sealed properly, don't taste them before cooking its contents. Boil your food for 10 minutes, uncovered {do this even if there is no signs of spoilage}

How to freeze green beans. 

Blanch green beans in boiling water for five minutes, drain and pat dry. Lay them out in a single layer in your freezer, leave for at least an hour before placing them into a container.

The open Kettle method.

Pouring your hot foods into a jar, putting on a lid and not proccessing any further is called the Open Kettle method. Low acid foods canned in this manner have the same chances of growing Clostridium Botulinum as the hot water bath ones. Even your high acid foods might spoil because of poor vacuum sealing. Even when you have sterilized everything, there is still the chance of re-contamination.

Maybe Just Happy

Husband and I put 90 squash/pumpkin plants in the ground yesterday. He did a lot of work, attempting to make a natural water shed and irrigation.

I looked at all those squash, and informed my husband we are going to need a larger garden to hold every thing I have started. He already has plans for a separate bean patch. I do hope every one like squash. Luckily they are versatile, you can make both sweet and savory entrees and desserts with them.

I was asked how many tomato plants I would be using this year. I don't know, I haven't counted them yet. But I will tell you as I get them in the ground.

The hog panel trellis was also asked about. Our panel is to short to bend. Right now they are straight. The beans will grow up and then we will add panels to the tops to allow them to crawl over and keep our lettuce and such shaded. After 2 moths, my lettuce seeds are just now sprouting. I was about to give up on them, and plant something else, but here they come It is a little late, but I do hope that shading them will keep them from bolting too soon.

Last night I went to a seminar for activism. It was more like an eighth grade civics class. I was unable to stay for the entire 5 hours as I was falling a sleep and passing notes to my mother. Not something you want to do when you are at a lecture. My mother wasn't sure how to leave without offending anyone. I told mom I would be happy to say "I am now making a graceful exit." She wouldn't let me. She just told one of the instructors that we couldn't stay. I will write about it more on the Kansas Preppers Network. One cool thing was that I met the founder of the Wichita Chapter of the 912ers. I was tired and anxious and a sag, I tend to speak without thinking it through. But I merely embarrassed myself, or actually it should have embarrassed me. But since I am uncouth in public, it didn't faze me.

One of the cows figured out how to open the feed bin. I was unable to get Murrial into the stanchion last night, I think she was a little full of her treat.

I Know an Ol' Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

It was in my coffee, I don't know why. I guess I'll die. ( I got it out before it ended up in my mouth)

Speaking of food,

For those of you watching my sidebar carefully, you might have noticed that some more canning was done yesterday.

2 pints of Green Beans
wash, snapped and processed at 10 pounds for 25 minutes.

1/2 pint of Dragon tongue
(same as the green beans)

and 5 pints of baby carrots.
peeled sliced and processed in a raw pack then in the pressure canner for 30 minutes.

I have also done some more research. I have been told for a long as I can remember that you can not have pigs in this county. With a little digging, I found that you can, only that the pigs have to be 500 feet from the neighbors house. In this county there are very few properties left that you have that much distance between homes, but we do. hmmm. . .

Pressure canning; Green beans

Warning farmer Phelan, warning! Oh maybe it was Doom on you, doom on you! That's what it felt like as I set forth yesterday morning to pressure can for the first time. The hot water bath method is very simple, but this. . . this was something I had heard horror stories about. Women getting there eyes gouged out, their faces shredded by shards of exploding glass. ok, that's me being dramatic, I have never heard, nor known anyone that has been seriously injured by canning, although between the older women in my life and these homesteading books, I get a distinct impression of potential danger.

There were a few things that the books didn't cover, and when I asked other's in the know, they informed me that it was something that you figured out on your own. How great is that? That would go back to my theory, that living the simple life can cause boredom, and one must amuse themselves by giving faulty or incomplete advice to newbies, just so you can get a laugh at their expense. I hope you got a good laugh ladies, I really do.

It wasn't all that bad. But I am sure my frantic phone calls and making them listen to the pressure cooker over the phone got a chuckle or two. Now let us begin.

The hardest part of the project was washing, sorting and cutting the ten pounds of greens beans I had acquired. {More accurately, grown} I spent a total of 4 hours doing this, it could have gone quicker if my children hadn't been so enthusiastic about helping, and if my husband would have been as generous as to help

While I was staining my finger green, and causing premature arthritis, I set my largest pot on the stove. The water heated would help sterilize my jars, jar lids, screw tops and any utensils that would be involved. It seems to take a good four hours to get this much water to boil. Once I decided it was boiling {It never looks like it is, but the sound could have fooled me} I turned the flame off and put my cans and others into the water.

Next step was to blanch the green beans. Ok, so far so good. I can do this stuff. There are some books that say to blanch, while other's don't mention this step. I would suggest that it would be up to you. But I think I might just skip this step next time.

I placed five 1 quart jars into the sterilizing water. I wasn't clear on how many I would need. Turns out for the first batch, I only needed four 1 quart jars. I feared I would need more than that.

Once the beans were cooled, I packed them tightly into the jars, pouring the hot water I had blanched them in over the tops. Leaving about 1 inch head space. Here's where I become injured, ok it was merely a good owie as I scalded myself. Nothing that I haven't done before.
I placed the lids on, poured about 3 inches of water into the pressure canner and set the jars on the rack. It took me about five minutes to figure out how to fit the canners lid on. It wasn't willing to work with me, My dad made a suggestion, used some psycho babble and reasoned with the canner. Apparently she liked him more than I did, and the lid was twisted and locked on easily.
Hopefully you can see that round knob at the top of the lid. That is the weight gauge. I don't have one with a dial, that's too high tech {and expensive} for me. The weight gauge is placed {at 10 lbs} on the steam valve after steam has escaped for a good ten minutes. The you must sit there and stare at it, listening to the hissing and wondering what you are suppose to be listening for. How can you tell there is enough pressure in the canner? Silly girl, the weight gauge rattles in a rhythm. Why thank you, that explains it clearly.

What is this rhythm? No one can describe it, or so it seems. "You'll know it when you hear it." I am tempted to explain to these people that I can be rather slow, dense would be a good word for it. So I waited, and waited, and still it only hissed. But suddenly, something happened. The weight gauge jumped then rocked and rattled. This is it! I made a phone call, "Listen to this." I help the phone up so that the person on the other end could hear what the canner was doing. I was informed that this was indeed the sound I was waiting for. The sound, what? You want me to describe it? Oh, you'll know it when you hear it.

It reminds me of a steam engine trying to increase its speed. You've heard it in old movies. If not, find a Humphry Bogart film and wait for the scene where he has to leave his best gal at the train station, and you'll get the idea. {allow it to rock continuously for 25 minutes for quarts, 20 minutes for pints}

Here is some more confusion, for me at least. What happens when there is more pressure than you need? No one told me. What happens when there is not enough? The rhythm slows down. I started the timer for twenty-five minutes, when the rocking stopped. So I turned the heat up. I was wrong, the pressure was too high. Apparently the weight ceases to rock when the pressure exceeds what you have the weight gauge set to. Who knew? I assume people with common sense would know this, I figured it would have bounced faster. Luckily, none of the jars shattered.

I successfully canned 4 quarts of green beans. Now only four more await me today, and untold amounts await in the garden.

This book helped;