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I FINISHED THE BEANS!!! I was able to pressure can the last three loads of green beans yesterday. I have 2 12qt. canners, which hold about 7 qt jars a piece. A couple of years ago I was looking at getting a new canner and almost bought one of the large double rack ones. On thinking more about it, though, I decided to just get another one the same size and use the two for a double batch. The main reason for this was that I have a hard time lifting the one I have now, and I'm only getting older. I was afraid that the bigger one would be too much for me to handle. The system works fairly well. I load one canner and get it processing. When it has 15-20 minutes left on the timer, I load the second canner so that it is ready to begin as soon as the first one comes off. By the time the second canner is almost ready to come off, the first is ready to open and be unloaded. When I have nothing else going on I can get a lot canned in a day. I don't usually have nothing else going on, so sometimes there is more lag time between batches than the ideal would suggest.
We were also able to get the corn given to us shucked and silked. Because this corn was somewhat wormy, I decided to can it off the cob. So we cut it off and canned it in pint jars. This corn will be used mainly in soups and recipes. I got one batch of 10 canned and will finish it up this morning. Ray is planning on purchasing some corn from a friend of his and trying to resell it at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Whatever doesn't get sold, we'll put up.
While everything was canning, I was able to try out a new pattern for a crocheted washcloth. Boy, was that a lot easier and much quicker. I completed the cloth in less than an hour. I'm much slower at knitting and can only get one cloth done in a day. This will make a nice alternative during the hectic summer days. I'm trying to get 3 done for Saturday's market.
I ended up with 22 pints of berries. Boy, it sure looks like more in the bucket. Ray had 12 presold and then we partially filled an order for another 36 pints. I have everything I can pick on Friday sold as well.
We just started to put our tomatoes on the market and they are going fairly well. We were a little concerned about shifting our focus to selling from the house as a man just recently opened a produce stand a little over a mile from us. But evidently he is charging exorbitant prices and is not known for his honesty in dealing. I think, also, that people prefer to buy from the actual farm where things are grown so that they can see it. It makes them feel more involved.
Well, it's time to get busy. There's the canning to do, we are visiting with another family today so that the dogs can train in flyball afterwhich we are picnicing at the local battlefield, and finally, Michaela wants to try to visit a neighboring counties animal shelter and rescue a dog about to be put down. With the 4th coming up, there's plenty to do.
May Yahweh bless you in this new day!
Laurie
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