Canning Adventures

Belatedly, as this took place in early July...

Cucumbers shredded for relish

Onions cleaned, to be diced for relish

Dye for lime pickles

First round of cherries being washed.  36 lbs total

Various pitting tools...
We broke the spring-loaded pitter, and in the breaking decided how we would completely redesign it.
By the end, we were pretty efficient with knives.

No words...

My first canning casualty, it exploded promptly on being placed in the canner.
What a sticky mess!

End of the day...
Many, many jars of sweet cherries in light syrup
One batch of lime pickles
One batch of relish.

Onions were grown at Purgatory Ranch.  Pickles came from our in town garden or (mostly) from our good friends.

With gratitude to the friends who picked up the cherries, cut the onions, and pitted the lion's share of cherries (this includes James!), I declare we had a successful canning day, even for the two pregnant women involved.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Homemade Tortillas

Today, since it was chilly in the house, I made a double batch of flour tortillas.  Last time I made tortillas, the experience ended in a rush to minor emergency for a double ear infection.  This time, the day was quieter, the process smoother.

Making tortillas first joined my list of recipes to try because the local Aldi's stopped carrying the smaller flour tortillas, and when I looked at the salt and fat content, I knew I needed to try my own.  Many websites called for tortilla presses, but they are either expensive or poorly made, and I don't need another kitchen implement that has limited uses.  Besides, the girls LOVE rolling out tortillas.

The basic recipe:

4 c. flour (I used half whole wheat and half white)

2 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 T. lard

1 1/2 c. water

Mix together first three ingredients.  Add lard.  I cut it in with a pastry blender, then smooshed it around in my fingers, but you could go straight too smooshing it with your fingers.

Add water, stir in.  Because my home-ground whole wheat flour can be slow at absorbing water, I mixed in the water, then let the bowl sit while I mixed a second batch before dumping onto my counter and kneading.

Start heating your skillet(s) to med high heat now.

 Add flour to the counter, then knead into a smooth ball.  It won't be stretchy, but little excess flour should be on the counter.  If the ball is sticky, stop.

Cut it into pieces.  The original recipe (whose source I lost) called for 24 pieces, but I was afraid the pieces would be too small.  I opted for 16.

With a WELL-FLOURED rolling pin, roll out each chunk until it is as thin as you want.  Mine are not perfectly round, and some are thicker than others, but they will all taste great.

Drop into the skillet.  Cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook for another minute.  Because I forget to start my skillet early enough, my first tortillas took longer than one minute on each side.

I used two skillets to speed up the process and may try the grill some time when my husband is home.

Enjoy your tortillas.  They're quite yummy!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

The week in review

We visited the land on Sunday since our neighbor Uncle Bruce had called to say he found a solution to our uncapped well.

Who knew a rusted out chicken feeder would fit so perfectly?

Today, at the store for a few fresh essentials, I discovered canning lids in the CLEARANCE section!  At 60% off, almost 360 lids, which should safely take care of next fall's canning (unless Myle and I get REALLY adventurous)!

I seem to have trouble getting the Barn Hop picture (again).  See what other homesteads have accomplished this week.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Homemade Chili Powder

This year, I had plenty of chilis, so I made a double batch.  If you want a smaller amount, cut the ingredients in half!

2 c. dried chilis
We use any kind of dried pepper.  The hotter the peppers, the hotter the powder.
Last year, I made a pretty mild version, using plenty of bell peppers, but, since the the peppers are fresh instead of having sat on a grocery store shelf for a while, the taste is still much stronger than I was used to from my old chili powder!  Use at your own risk.

2 t. paprika
2 T. dried oregano
4 T. garlic powder

4 T. toasted cumin seeds
(toast over medium high heat, shaking frequently)

Throw in the blender until a fine powder is formed.
Please don't open it for a little bit, or all these fine particles will be in your eyes instead of
in the blender, and you don't want that!  (Neither do I!)

On the left, remnants of last year's batch.
I used more green peppers, so you can see it has a more greenish cast.

I'm looking forward to trying it!

I *think* this is based on an Alton Brown recipe I found last year, but since I didn't note it on my recipe card, I'm just not sure!  Check out other homestead blogs on the Barn Hop at Homestead Revival.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

No-Sew Handkerchiefs

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those T-shirts?  You know the ones I mean... you can't wear them anymore in public, but you don't really want to save them for a T-shirt quilt (one can only have so many T-shirt quilts, after all), but you hate to throw them away?

Two winters ago, I was appalled at how many tissues we used in the winter, even when no one was sick.  Our house is approaching its 90 year mark, and with the original windows in place until a month ago, winters were cold, and that meant drippy noses.  Why buy tissues, I thought, when I could make them?

A pile of T-shirts had been aging nicely in my "someday" pile, the pile of things I will do "something" with, "someday."  In search of a good use for the soft fabric (and noticing my children preferring to wipe their noses on their clothes rather than stiff tissues), I decided to try a few no-sew handkerchiefs.

Two years in, I think they're great!  Because we have a shoe-box full, they don't have to be reused all day like traditional handkerchiefs.  I have to wash cloth diapers and make sure they're sanitary, so the cloth tissues can go in the same wash and be germ-free. (The tissue to the right is old and no longer a tissue... it was commandeered as a rag for an ink spill, and has only gotten more stained with time!)

Here are two old polo shirts that I cut recently.  One was too worn for my husband to wear to work, and the other had a large grease stain.  Neither matters for tissues!

I use a 6.5" quilting ruler and a rotary cutter, but you could cut a template to your preferred size out of cardboard, mark with a pencil or chalk, and cut with plain old scissors.

The important thing here, to avoid needing to sew the edges, is to cut on the bias, or a 45 degree angle from the straight edge of the fabric.  There is a little raveling the first few washes, if you use something like an old tea towel, but T-shirts don't ravel at all... as long as you cut on the bias.  Also, if you have a t-shirt with a large plastic logo on it, I would not use the plasticy part for a tissue.  Just cut around it.  Tea towers also work (that old, stained tissue is one of the originals, now ink-stained from some long ago spill...), or flannel receiving blankets that have one of those permanent stains on them.

You don't have to be too scientific about where to start cutting... I managed 9 new 6.5" squares from a medium polo, and 16 from an extra large! 25 new tissues from a few minutes work for something that I wouldn't give away and couldn't use anymore in it's original form.

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

Jam and Jelly

Peach, strawberry, mint, and blueberry.

The peaches are leftover from last year and have been biding their time in the freezer.  In order to use them up, we made a batch of jam.  I think next time we'll blend it more...

Two batches from strawberries we picked this summer.  These have also been waiting use in the freezer, pre-measured and pre-crushed.  It was just TOO HOT this summer to even think about canning.

Three batches of mint jelly that Myle picked and saved.  The mint is the ONLY canning today that didn't gel, and I suspect, in retrospect, that we used too much of the mint liquid.

One batch of blueberries we picked this summer.

It's amazing that we picked/harvested all the fruit included in these beautiful jars.  We filled 37 8-oz. jars and 2 pint jars (we ran out of jelly jars... we didn't realize we would fill so many!  Pint jars aren't recommended for canning jelly or jam, so we'll be popping these in the fridge and consuming them first).  Our goal each year will be to can at least a year's worth of jelly.

One realization we have had is just how much fruit we need to grow to be able to keep up with our kids... dozens of apple trees, gaggles of fruit bushes, hundreds of strawberries... WOAH.  I bought 80 pounds of apples a few weeks ago.  Where did it all go?  I think my kids ate 10 pounds.  Then there were a few pounds of peelings (our kids eat them dried), seeds, etc.  6 pints of apple pie filling.  3 quarts of apple juice.  1 quart of apple leather.  Only 11 quarts of apple sauce, which, when split between two families, is only a few weeks of apple sauce!

So far, the reusable Tattler lids are sealing properly.  Let's see how they work over the next year!

Until next time, remember, this is not paradise.  It's Purgatory Ranch.

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Canning Adventures

Last week, I picked up my order of 80 pounds of "juice quality" apples from the Azure Standard route.  I love apples for $.50/lb.  What to do with all these fresh goodness?

I prefer to can with Myle, but I wanted to cut down on the four crates of apples hogging the counter space in my kitchen, so...

8 pounds, still cutting

half done cutting!

 I made apple juice.  24 pounds of apples and a chunk of finger later, I have three beautiful quarts of juice.  Do you know what I REALLY want to know?  Why, even when I follow a canning recipe precisely, I have significantly less yield than expected.  This time, I should have had 6 quarts and only have 3.  What am I doing wrong?

Isn't it beautiful?  (Ignore the dirt... there's a pile of tomatoes from the the garden just out of sight!)

Apple leather in progress.

With 56 pounds in my basement, I see lots of applesauce in my future, and I might even branch out and try apple pie filling or some other tasty variation.