Saturday, August 1, 2009

Hi, My Name is Mater...

...As in TOMATER ;o)

Finally seeing the end of 3 days dicing and juicing tomatoes to put up. Time to get more!

We did one kettle as juice then decided that diced was the way to go. Too many things all needing done besides just canning tomatoes. I didn't plan my time well. I shouldn't have had "too many things needing done" and bought tomatoes to tend to.

But, there are 28 quarts in the pantry so far, a batch jarred up and ready to go into the pot now, and another 30lbs to dice up still. Feels good to see the tomato space on the pantry shelf fill up. We'll pick up more, Lord Willing, again this week.

Peaches are all over, too. I'd love to get some done up, but the priority lies in practical veggies first, desserts later. I can stock the #10 cans of peaches easily enough if we don't do fresh.

We also trimmed hooves this morning while the middles diced tomatoes. Talk about a mess and time consuming! One of the ladies has a very soft hoof. Not sure why, but it was very soft. We cleaned her out good and scrubbed. With a bleach/soap/tea tree blend and we'll watch her more closely from here on out. Another lady seems to have a urine issue, at least we think she does. She squats way farther down than any of the others, and seems a bit 'scattered' with it all. I need to do some studying and see what it might be. I hope she doesn't need a shot -- I'm deathly afraid of giving shots to the goats. I've done it once, to a day old kid, and it died. That was enough connection between the two for me.

Back to the maters!

2 comments:

MyBulletinBoard said...

Whoa! How do you stand the heat!?

I'm going to try water bath canning next summer. Playing off this year to plan what to do next. We have to figure out how to trick the tomatoes into thinking the nights are warmer here. They look beautiful on the outside, but the insides are still a little under-developed. Not good slicers, but they'd be okay for sauce or maybe dehydrating and powdering. Hmmm, have to put the dehydrator on the list.

BTW, talked to the tech at the NutriMill place about the harder grains. He said I'd be able to do Kamut and Durum if I adjusted the coarse setting way to the right. What that does is open up the "shoot" on the inside much wider so the machine can mill faster and not get so hot. He said that you can ruin a machine if it has to work too hard. Popcorn is fine, but he said he wouldn't mill dent corn in it. Still dreaming of a hand mill. You know how those "I want" lists go!

Have a blessed weekend in Jesus.
Love and hugs, Liz

Dana said...

Congrats on getting the tomatoes done!!

I have never diced them to can them before, or heard of anyone doing that.

Do you do it that way so they cook up faster when you use them or do you just prefer it that way?

The way I do them, is to one the skins are slipped off and the core removed if they are small enough they go right into the jars, if they aren't then they are cut into half or more to get them to fit. I usually use the canned tomatoes in beef veg soup or chili and they break up fine in both dishes. I also have been known to just open a jar and eat them, especially at the begining of this pregnancy I couldn't get enough, I was eating a quart a day, before I found out I was preggers.

I just got done canning beans, I canned 61 qts of green beans and we have 35 left from last year so I think we are good on beans, I am now waiting on tomatoes, hopefully we will have tons since I ate so many in the spring. I guess when your eating a qt of tomatoes a day and can't seem to get your fill that should have been my first clue that a new one was on the way. lol

Just out of curiosity, how many qts of hm canned food does it take to maintain your family? I have never kept a count, I just kind of went by the old saying of " get all you can and can all you get", but I saw a blog they other day and the lady new exactly how much of each item she needed to sustain her family. I thought that was kind of neat but I have never thought to do it. There is only 4.5 of us right now so I do try to can alot but have never put any thought into what we need, sounds silly typing it out but like last year I canned hm applesauce, well when we ran out earlier than I thought we would I just made a mental note to this fall can tons more than I did last year, my boys really really tear that hm applesauce up at like every meal.

Anyway all that rambling to say congrats on getting your tomatoes canned, I hope your able to can as much as you want and thank you for your blog, I am learning lots!!

Dana, sahm to 2 boys ages 7&3 and a new baby due 1/3/2010

Jer.6:16

Jeremiah 6:16
Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.

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