Preserving the Harvest

This year I have started canning. I have slowly been accumulating canning supplies for the last 5+ years. I decided that it was about time that I do something with them. I started out canning some pinto beans. They didn't cost me much in time or money so I wouldn't have been that disappointed if they didn't turn out. They actually turned out great though, and I have been using them in Mexican dishes.

After I gained a bit of confidence with my beans, I pulled out the ham and turkey broth from the freezer that I was saving for soup. I also canned that and was pleased with the results.

Finally, I felt like I was ready to move on to bigger and better things, which was good because my tomatoes were becoming ripe. Unfortunately, our garden is placed in the only spot in our yard that gets any sun (1/2 of the day) and is surround by walnut trees (poison to gardens!), but I have gotten enough whole tomatoes canned to last me a year, I hope.

Now that my whole tomatoes have been stockpiled, I have been canning spaghetti sauce. Ethan seems to like it, which is good, but I still don't think I have tweaked the recipe enough to make me put it in my recipe box. Luckily, I still have lots of tomatoes in the garden to ripen so I can keep playing a bit.

Here is a picture of the tomatoes I "squished" tonight. (Caleb asked what I was doing, and I informed him that I was squishing tomatoes.) The pint jars are some of my spaghetti sauce, and the quart jars are some of my whole tomatoes.