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    T Tuesday: canning, preserving and more edition

    Welcome to another installment of T Tuesday! 

    Life has been busy and I just haven’t taken the time to post anything. I find sitting at a computer pretty much the least desirable thing lately mostly because when I do, it hurts my back. But I’ll take one for the team today. I’m actually sitting on the floor at my coffee table in hopes that it will help my posture. 

    Lately I’ve been doing more canning and preserving. A neighbor ended up with an excess of fresh food items from an event of some sort and shared hard boiled eggs, potatoes and apples with us.

    I decided to try pickling eggs again since I had a gallon sized bag to get through. I don’t have a picture but you’ll have to believe me when I tell you they turned out wonderful. I even made egg salad with the pickled eggs. So yummy!

    Canning potatoes is something I’ve always wanted to try and now that I have a pressure canner I am able to can low acid foods.

    My first round of canning potatoes turned out great. And more to the point…tasted great!

    I have been using my new outdoor propane camp stove for my latest canning projects. I’m so pleased with it. I have an electric stovetop in the house and hadn’t realized how much I like cooking with gas!!

    Over the weekend I did back to back canning projects in the garage. (Yes I had proper ventilation in case anyone was concerned).

    I canned 6 quarts of turkey broth and 7 quarts of potatoes. Unfortunately one of the quarts of potatoes failed to seal so I put it in the fridge and we had it with dinner tonight…so yummy!

    Getting our pantry/storage room stocked and organized has been on my mind lately. Especially the organizing part because you don’t know what you have unless its organized in some fashion.

    Slowly but surely I’m getting better on the organization end of things. My brain seems to work in a creative chaos most of the time but I am learning the value in everything having a place and everything in its place. At least in some areas of life. Don’t even talk to me about my desk…or craft desk…

    Rewinding a bit to November…I had the chance to go on a couple of field trips with a handful of my 6th graders. The first was an outdoor environmental learning experience…unfortunately it was a terrible rainy day. We made the best of it and I think the kids got something out of the experience. The following day we headed to the MN Science Museum.

    What’s a science museum without a bunch of dinosaur fossils?!?

    This piece of art intrigued me and I wish I had had more time to check it out but duty calls.

    I did snap this quick photo about the piece to check out later. I found it very interesting! I love that the artist used pieces salvaged from the Mississippi River.

    As far as everything else in life… I’ve done a tiny bit of crafting when inspiration hits. I’ve also been listing things on eBay again with 50/50 results.

    We hosted Thanksgiving here as usual and I was very happy that Mini-me was able to come home.  J came over as well as Mr. G’s side of our immediate family. It was a nice way to spend the day!

    Marvin enjoys his “only child” status immensely.

    Since it wouldn’t be a proper T stands for Tuesday with a beverage…

    here is one I sampled with the neighbors one Saturday afternoon while watching some college football.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Kitchen

    T Tuesday: preserving the harvest edition

    Despite the lingering snow, late season canning and preserving is still happening around here.

    In addition to our garden, we purchased a farm share or CSA again this season. However, it was through a different farm than we had used in the past. Unfortunately the CSA we used wasn’t the best. Even though it was disappointing, I was able to do quite a bit of canning. One of the main reasons was lack of variety. The standard family cannot eat a dozen jalapeno peppers in a week. But a large amount is good for canning as well as jams and sauces.  So thankfully it wasn’t a complete waste of money.

    I’m also drying some herbs right in the kitchen. In the past I hung them in the storage room but that area is honestly a little chaotic right now. I just used some bread twist ties to attached to the hanging fruit basket…ta-da. Once the herbs are good and dry, I’ll remove them from the stems and store in jars.

    I thought I’d share this book I finally purchased from my Amazon wish list. It’s been on the list for a couple years. I’m thrilled with all the recipes and ideas its gives me for items I had never even thought about. 

    My mom had always canned quarts of whole tomatoes when I was a kid…so of course when I started gardening I did the same. Turns out my family doesn’t care for the recipes in which she used those canned tomatoes. So for years I’d mainly used our garden for fresh, eat it now veggies and hadn’t given much thought to preservation.  Over the past 5 or so years my thoughts and interest has changed on gardening. It’s not just a fresh veggie patch, its food and seasonings for the coming year. Back to those “old-timey” skills. 

    My school life continues to consume most of my energy. The weekends are spent catching up on household chores. Perhaps as winter settles in and the outdoor chores are at a minimum, I will regain some creative momentum.

    I keep making lists of things I want to try, ideas for projects, etc. I just need the time and energy to align.

    What are you doing today?
  • Around home - Blog - Crafts - Creativity - Kitchen - Outdoors

    T Tuesday: another two weeks edition

    It appears that this is how things may be for a while…slow to update…such is life these days. Time keeps ticking away and I’m finding less and less time to be creative. So many fall projects to tackle before its too late.

    I’m scrounging for canning lids as I keep getting more green beans. What do you think of my carrots? LOL  I had to pull them up because the squirrels were trying to do it for me.

    I also have a couple other canning projects I’d like to try but I either need more regular lids or more wide mouth jars…neither of which I can find anywhere.

    I did can some bloody Mary mix and somewhat appropriate sized containers.  It is a homemade, never be able to reproduce since I didn’t measure anything, type of mix. Hopefully its not the best ever. (Please excuse the poor photography and chaotic pantry.)

    School is going well. We all seem to be finding a rhythm…although I really should not have said that since I’m likely jinxing myself.

    One crafty thing that I actually completed during the past week was this paper garland. Our resource room is tiny…white cinder block walls with 6 doors but no windows…I can’t even make that up. It was originally a storage space of band instruments almost half a century ago.

    I really want to dress it up a bit without spending money since we certainly don’t have a budget. I’m hoping that between the 4 of us that current use the space throughout the day, we can make it a like happier. Brighter. A place the kids actually want to come for extra help without being distracted or over-stimulated.

    Last week, (I think…it’s a blur) we had some really interesting sunrise and sunsets. A high veil of smoke gave the sky a sort of post-apocalyptic look.

    I’ve been suffering with a sore hip or sciatica this past week. Its so frustrating! Hurts to do anything for any length of time. Whether its sitting, standing, walking or laying…it all hurts. I’m sure it came about from my abrupt change in activity when I returned to work. I’d been used to walking 2-3 miles most mornings then puttering around the house and garden. Being barefoot on soft surfaces. Nothing like life now. More sitting, hard floors, shoes, standing, leaning over. When I spell it all out like that, it makes complete sense but it doesn’t make the pain any less.

    I did get out for a walk Sunday morning. The trees are so beautiful. There was a slight crisp in the air. I love this time of year. Jeans and hoodies…my perfect outfit.

    I’ve made a few more masks as well. I decided when this is all over I’m going to cut apart all the masks I’ve made and make a COVID quilt.

    I have done a bit of art journaling as well….this is a current WIP. Of course this was what I should have been doing…but since I cleaned up my space it just had to be done.

    As many of you know my art space is in the laundry/utility room. My crafty chaos tends to overflow my actual space and I end up putting things on the washer and drier.

    But look…they are clean. Unfortunately there is a really lame reason for my sudden cleanup. The rubber gasket that keeps the water from leaking out the door of my front load washer ripped. Mr. G ordered a new gasket but the washing machine has to be taken half apart of replace the it. While waiting for that part Mr. G came across a video showing a potential hack to “rebuild the gasket with roofing sealant. We are giving it a go since…if it fails…we are right back where we started. I’ll update you next week as it takes a couple days of cure time.

    I’m so thankful that he is able to tackle these projects. In the meantime, I had to clean and make a trip to the laundromat.

    It’s certainly not perfect but trust me…much better. I tend to end up creating in a one foot square space. So dumb but I can’t seem to break myself of the habit.

    This is also madness. All of the scrap papers I had laying about. Ok truth be told…half of this was in the bin to start but seriously. I have a problem.

    What are you doing today?