Monday, June 20, 2022

And Every Jar Has Sealed



 I have had very little energy today and have not spent a great deal of time outside. I did sit on the porch with a ceiling fan and a floor fan on me and rebraided the garlic and hung it up. When I did the first braiding, it was too green and too heavy so I dried it on newspapers on the porch for a few weeks and now it's hanging on the wall as you can see. 

I took the trash and went to the post office where our new voter registration cards were waiting for us in our box. And of course, a new New Yorker magazine to add to the guilt pile. I just poked around the house until about 2:30 at which point I realized that I had planned to make dilly beans today so I began that process. 

For those of you who have never canned anything, I will briefly describe how it goes. 
I get the canning kettle out of the pantry and fill it partway with water, put my jars in it which have been washed in warm soapy water and rinsed. I put it on the stove and fill up to about two inches above the jars and turn that on. I put the lids and bands I will use in another pot and theoretically bring that to almost, but not quite, a boil. However, I always forget until they are steaming away and then I curse myself and turn them off. And sigh. 
Oh well.
While the jars are in the process of being sterilized, I begin to cut and trim my beans to size. I wash them first, of course, and I have a mark on my cutting board which indicates a jar height and I save the pieces I trim off which aren't big enough to go into the regular jars and those I can by themselves to use in salads. Why waste good bean-material? 
This takes a long damn time. Each bean has to have its stem-end removed and then trimmed and that's a lot of beans on a good day. I can only do seven pints in my canner so that's what I prepared today. I had beans left over and I will cook some of those for our dinner tonight. 
This is also when I make the brine for the beans. For dilly beans I use vinegar (both white and apple cider), salt, and water. I like mine to be a little sweet so some sugar goes in there too. That must be brought to a boil. By this time the jars have been sterilized and I set them out on a towel using a jar lifter. I then fill them with the beans and this, too, takes a while, trying to pack them in an orderly fashion so that I can fill the jars as much as possible. When that chore is over with, I peel garlic and add two cloves to each jar and then measure out dill seeds that also go into each jar and I add a sprinkle of crushed red pepper to each of my jars as well. Then each jar is filled almost, but not quite, to the brim with the hot brine. 
Then the over-boiled lids and bands get put on and they are set back into the canner, the water brought to a boil again, and are processed for ten minutes after that. 
Then they are lifted out and set on the counter and I wait to see if all of them will seal. 


Generally, most of them, at least, do. If a jar doesn't seal (and sealing is indicated by a sucking-in of the lid with an audible pop), I will stick it in the refrigerator to use first. After the beans have all cooled down, into the pantry they go. 
A bit labor intensive, yes? 
But so delicious and there is no way I would let such good produce go to waste so the only other alternative is to not plant beans or not plant as many but hell- where's the fun in that? The rattlesnake beans are by far the most reliable and dependable thing we plant and it would be a shame not to take advantage of that. 

It looks to me like Darla and Violet's children are getting to the size and age where they will soon be cut loose by their mothers. Dr. Pansaloony is absolutely three-quarters of the size of his/her mother now. I wonder if she/he will continue to sleep up on the rafter with Violet when he/she gains independence. I know that some of these birds are roosters but I'm not betting the ranch on any of them at this point. I have my thoughts on the matter. I see some of Darla's kids play-fighting in the way of roosters. They face each other with feathers fluffed, and bounce off each other's chests. Breasts? I have not paid enough attention to this phenomenon to know if it's only males who do this or if hens, too, join in. I know that adult hens definitely bow up with other chickens when the necessity arises. It is a rather comical sight to see the young'uns practicing these martial arts. They only do it for a minute or so and then they become great friends again. There seems to be no real malice involved. 

I texted with Jessie today. We miss each other. I told her that in pictures, it looks to me like Levon is growing so much. She said that they both are and eat all day long. I asked if she ever thought about just giving each of them a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter every morning and she said, "Hah! That's not a bad idea. Levon would require a bunch of bananas and a jar of peanut butter. That's literally mostly what he grows from."

Here's a picture she sent of the little family. 


They ARE both getting so big. I can't wait to see them. They are glorious to me. 

And that is the daily report from here. I will probably go to town tomorrow as Mr. Moon is going to be going back to the island, leaving on Wednesday, and I need to make some food for him and Chip to sustain them in their labors. 

Liberace is calling to the hens to gather them all and let them know that soon it will be time to meander towards the roost. I think they know that already but it is his job and he does it well. I have noticed that in this heat, he does not crow nearly as much. He is as enervated as the rest of us. 

Tomorrow is the longest day of the year and there will also be another hearing on the insurrection. I think I will try to get my shopping done early so that I can sit, knit, and be shocked and enraged. 
Oh, what fun. 

Love...Ms. Moon



29 comments:

  1. I can't follow the hearings in real time. Too upsetting. So I catch up later. What are you knitting? The beans are a lot of work, but I guess you have to like it I'd just freeze the lot. Lazy!

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    1. I don't even want to tell you what I'm knitting- a potholder! It's with some of that cotton yarn I got at the thrift store and honestly, it's not pleasing me to work with it the way I thought it would. But it's okay and something to do with my hands. It IS blue and yellow though.
      Frozen beans can't hold a candle to pickled beans! And I've never been happy with my frozen beans.

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  2. I admire the fact that you began tackling canning/pickling beans at 2:30 in the afternoon! I'm just about *done* by that time of day....so good for you! And lovely family pic of Jessie and Virgil and young ones..........I know how much you miss them but you will see them soon!
    Susan M

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    1. I hadn't done enough yesterday to be any where near exhausted at 2:30 so it wasn't bad at all.
      I am so looking forward to seeing those Mountain people!

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  3. I used to can pickled green beans when I had a big garden. They are so tasty. The pop of the sealing jars is so satisfying.

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  4. From the time I was 4 to when I went away to college, there was a stack of New Yorkers about 2-3 feet high in the corner of my parents' bedroom; they hadn't been "finished" yet. I don't even know if the contents of the stack ever changed, but there was always a new one every week. It was everything I knew about the world outside Butte, Montana, basically. I read a lot of stuff I didn't know I was reading, like J.D. Salinger, Basin and Range...
    Now at age 80 I look forward to the New Yorker in my mailbox every weekend... I find it hard to throw them away even when I know I've read everything I wanted to.

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    1. How I wish my mother had gotten the New Yorker when I was a child instead of Good Housekeeping and Reader's Digest. I would have read each issue straight through. What a good education for a kid. Sure there would be things they don't understand but that's okay. That is how you learn!

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  5. That is a whole new Levon face as well as a new smile. He's becoming conscious of his existence.

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    1. You are so right, Joanne. You are wise and you are aware.

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  6. we do have a dark joke about botulism beans - A wife's revenge...Seems that beans are the most likely canned veg to develop botulism , curious use of it it to freeze vain folks faces- beans are magical.
    Back to the island, the man has stamina!
    WOW the boys are looking very grown up. Oh dear...somebody , quick , a have another baby!!

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    1. I think that if you pickle the beans rather than just can them, they're okay. I would not think of canning them without a pressure canner just plain. I've thought about getting one but so far, I have not.
      Glen has incredible stamina. I really have no idea how he does it.
      I am going through baby withdrawal like the mother of a three year old. Some things never change.

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  7. I can see the growth in those mountain boys too! I will be watching the hearings and being outraged and shocked with you tomorrow. Double the number of republicans polled now think trump committed criminal acts. Of course double the number is still only 20 percent. Big whoop as the kids used to say.

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    1. Lady Ruby set me off today. She AND her daughter. What right does fuckhead 45 have to slander those women? Can they sue him? He may not go to prison but he's definitely going to hell.

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  8. So nice that you were able to can some green beans today. When you wrote about how time consuming it is to trim and then cut to size, I was wondering if you ever thought about trimming, using a scissors, and then cut to length with a knife? Just a thought. I trim my green beans that way while preparing to stir fry them in garlic oil. It makes quick work of a task that I did not enjoy. Ranee (MN)

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    1. I think I'm probably as fast with a knife as I would be with scissors. I don't even trim the bottom end, just the stem end. The main problem is how many of them there are!

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  9. Beans - now that you have walked us through the process, I think I could do it! Tedious and time consuming for sure, but not complicated if you have all your tools at hand. Now, if only I had some beans . . . .


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    1. Yes! You need to have your stuff. The pickling salt, the spices, the canning kettle, the jars, the bands, the vinegar, the jar lifter and the jar funnel. I find those are the basics. And yes, of course the beans!

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  10. I remember my mother canning and bottling stuff and told myself I would never do that much work. Trimming, blanching and freezing is my method. Mum used to makes jams and pickles, neighbours for miles around wanted her green tomato pickles and she'd make tomato sauce too. I remember seeing jars and jars of sliced peaches and pears, we'd eat them for dessert in winter with warm vanilla custard.

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    1. Yum. Yes. Women really used to put a great deal of time and energy into growing and preserving their own food. No one is really willing to do all of that these days. Well, I guess some people are but it's definitely more of a hobby for me than a way of life.

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  11. Thanks for explaining your canning process. It is a lot of work but you seem to really enjoy the work and the results so it is worth it!
    Grandkids grow up so quickly so it is good that you enjoy the happy times you have with them now.

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    1. I do enjoy it, Ellen. There's something so satisfying about seeing those jars multiply in the pantry, knowing you grew the food in them.
      You are so right about the grandkids.

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  12. I got that New Yorker too and thought the same thing -- ARGH!

    I am so impressed with all the work you put into canning. I just can't imagine doing anything like that myself.

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    1. Well, think of it as a hobby, Steve. Gardening, too. Right? You put in endless hours in your garden just for the joy of it. Same with me and my food garden and preserving.

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  13. When you mentioned braiding the garlic it reminded me that I have started on the braided rug for Jack's room. The braiding is pretty much all done, now I have to figure out how to get my machine to sew it together. It doesn't seem to want to. I've changed to a denim needle but the thread keeps breaking and the machine just stops. Too thick? It's a newish machine, it should have to power to make it through the braids, they're not that thick. Any ideas?

    Canning is too much work. There, I said it:) I know you like your veg though. I made a homemade cheesecake with bumbleberry coulis this week for my father in law. Bumbleberry is strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and raspberries all boiled together with a little sugar and then pushed through a sieve. It takes like a summer day. My father in law loved it.

    Stay cool and don't push yourself too much. I sound like a mother now:)

    Take care Mary.

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    1. Gosh. I have no ideas on the rug. I've never in my life made a rug of any kind. And my sewing machine is a sixty-seven year old Singer so it either sews something or it doesn't!
      Okay. Now I need bumbleberry coulis. Desperately. That sounds so good. And a cheesecake to go with it.
      You can sound like a mother anytime you want. I love it!

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  14. Can I please move in with you for a week and watch you canning? Pretty please? I am so scared about poisoning someone with my canning attempts I really need someone to hold my hand!

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    1. Well, I've been doing it for over forty-years now and I've never poisoned anyone yet. And like I said- if you pickle things, if they have vinegar and salt in them, the odds are that they won't grow bacteria after the water bath canning. I'm sure there are a ton of YouTubes about the process.

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  15. I learned how to can in my early 20s but it's just too much work and to my mind those long baths just cook all the nutrients out. I freeze what little stuff I put up. Of course, if the electricity goes out there goes all my food.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.