What are you canning now?

[ducks4you]

6 1/2 more quarts, now 62 downstairs in the pantry

 

[ducks4you]

6 more quarts of tomatoes. Total is 67 in the pantry.

 

[ducks4you]

More tomatoes...75 quarts now stored in the pantry.

 

[ducks4you]

CANNING STORAGE BOXES
I have started this year to store more canned in jars produce in cardboard boxes with dividers. The very best, IMHO, are those used to ship wine bc they have lightweight cardboard dividers, and I like to get them from liquor stores, if possible.
We here in and around C-U, IL have a LOT of chain restaurants and a LOT of chain stores. "Binney's" is the newest, replaced a (chain) book store some 7-8 years ago, and they always seem to have such boxes for customers to use to carry away their booze.
THIS YEAR, they are now limiting one box per CUSTOMER, and won't give Anybody else not buying any of their boxes.
Really?!?
I KNOW that any extra boxes have to be broken down by your staff for recycling...or something else.
Another (small chain, I think,) liquor store, "Friar Tuck's", also has such boxes. When I asked for boxes around Easter, They told me that they limit boxes during holidays. Otherwise, c'mon in and we'll give you some.
If the box is too deep I have found that I can take a knife/scissors to another box and create a square of cardboard which can separate a quart jar from a pint jar, and thus fill the box of same.
I like to use a Sharpie and label them, too, if I get around to it. My pantry has same with same, so it isn't hard to find the right jar.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

Ducks has to get me motivated. I have loads of tomatoes out there, but its been raining every day and I'm lazy and I'm finishing up my second cold. Koff hack....

Anyway, I did get the remains of the Filipina pig crockpotted over five days. All the bones, skin and leftovers (after I picked off the large pieces of meat for us) were smooshed together and went into zip bags for the chickens for extra protein this winter. All but the teeth were used. Here are my five golden brown elixer of goodness. (I wasn't heavy handed on the water when crockpotting)

 

[ducks4you]

Do you have one of these?

I use mine for all sorts of things, and hauling in heavy tomatoes is one of them.
You are NOT lazy!! You are tired.
So...get coffee'd up and just harvest the good ones.

 

[flowerbug]

Do you have one of these?

no, but we have various sized plastic buckets from places that get their food delivered by truck or ones that are given to us by friends who know we'll use them. the smaller ones we know that they're made for being in contact with food so i don't mind using them as much as i would if i weren't sure of that.

the smaller plastic buckets hold about 20-22lbs of tomatoes of the kinds we normally grow so i don't even bother weighing things any more - they're 4.25 gallons and that is heavy enough for hauling from the garden to the house.

it is best when you can get a bunch of buckets that are all the same size that stack together so you don't have to worry about them wedging themselves. we have a mixed variety so it is good to keep the piles organized. ice-melt or other things can come in larger buckets. i keep some of those apart because i like to use them when i'm shredding a lot of paper scraps so i can empty the shredder into one of those without having extras bits to deal with - eventually those get used in the worm buckets or out in the gardens.

metal handles are nicer too as they'll last longer than the plastic handles. it's not a fun surprise when you have a plastic handle break when you're hauling something...

oh, and we also use the buckets for getting ashes from the friends who burn wood who will keep their ashes for us. i'm just getting more of those ashes used up so i can get the buckets back to the wood burners but normally i have them mostly done and used by now.

 

[LaurrieFromWAstate]

I just finished up 10 half-pints of Banana Jam today. Tomorrow or the next day, I'm onto making pepper jelly.

 

[Dahlia]

I just finished up 10 half-pints of Banana Jam today. Tomorrow or the next day, I'm onto making pepper jelly.

Hello Neighbor! Wow! I never heard of banana jam! How cool is that!?

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

ohhhhh - I made some banana ice cream topping and canned it years ago. I loved it!