What have you canned or preserved today?

[seedcrazy]

Congratulations Vfem, that is truly an accomplishment and I know you have to be thrilled. Here I have 3 dogs and I look out back the other night and there sat a cat at the edge of the garden and a BIG ole rabbit IN the garden. Dogs were banked up in bed. LOL I've still got tomatoes, peppers, a few beets left and my garden is over for 2012. So I may be a few more pints of salsa made up and if I go bum some pears may can a few of those up too or make some pear butter. I have been thinking of canning up some dried beans though to have easy access to for this winter.

 

[journey11]

Congratulations, V! :happy_flower They all sound so good.

I don't know how anyone could discern between 30 jars of applebutter...that's a lot of competition!

 

[Mickey328]

All the "gotta do it now" stuff is finally done for the season...yay! I still plan to do quite a lot of different sorts of beans, but those are dry and can wait til I have time. I've still got a ton of yard work and prep to do before the snow flies. I've hauled out the dehydrators and KitchenAid so I can mince and dry about 10 lbs of onions we scored for free. Just wish there was room in the garage for 'em...the house is gonna smell awful onion-y for a couple days! LOL

 

[journey11]

Vacuum packed about 74 pounds of beef for the freezer today...40 in ground beef, the rest various steaks, a couple of roasts, liver, etc.

Still have soup bones to make into stock tomorrow and beef short ribs and stew meat I am going to can.

 

[thistlebloom]

Vacuum packed about 74 pounds of beef for the freezer today...40 in ground beef, the rest various steaks, a couple of roasts, liver, etc.

Still have soup bones to make into stock tomorrow and beef short ribs and stew meat I am going to can.

Wow Journey! Did you buy a share in a steer? That's a lot of meat!

 

[journey11]

Yeah, I went in with four of my neighbors for a 1/4 of one. I think I may have paid too much for it though. I was under the impression that the processing fee was part of the amount I'd pay to the farmer...$2.25/lb. I had to pay $87 to the slaughter house myself when I picked it up and then found out that the $2.25 was multiplied by my 1/4th of the hanging weight (but they still haven't gotten back to me with the final total, because I guess they haven't worked it all out--the man hasn't gotten his check from me yet, this was just what I was told.) The beef I bought last year off of my other neighbor was $2.20/lb. multiplied by the actual weight of beef I recieved. Now that was a deal. It was their first year doing it, so I figured they charged less anyway, and it was grassfed and a bull. This one was grained. So I basically paid twice as much for this one...I think I may have gotten swindled. My 76-yr-old neighbor friend handled the details, so I assumed she knew what was going on because she has bought beef before. This was only my second time. Anybody have any input on this, if this is a fair price or not? I know corn is sky-high...so I guess I won't be surprised if I do end up paying so much for it.

 

[catjac1975]

With the drought the price of meat will go way up. In the end you may have a bargain. Especially if was raised organically.

 

[thistlebloom]

I just saw an ad on CL for homegrown beef halves. Grass and grain fed, $3 per pound hanging weight and the butcher fees are included in that. Sounds pretty comparable...?

 

[journey11]

I wish it were organic or grassfed, but it is conventionally raised.

Well, putting in that light, it is still cheaper than most grocery store beef. It does come out to about $2.85/lb. hanging weight. Just seems so much steeper compared to last years nice deal I got. We still haven't finished all of that one off, so this will probably get us through nearly 2 years. Now I really feel like I should go buy a generator, just in case!

 

[ninnymary]

Journey, I know our prices are higher over here, but my daughter bought 1/4 at $5 lb. This included everything and was organic grass fed. Over here that is a very good price. She liked it so much that she plans on getting it next year and so do I. We will probably get 1/2 together because you get a couple of different cuts that way.

Mary