Monday, June 22, 2009

Jars, Jars, everywhere...

It is canning time again. I think I have mentioned that already, but I mention it again because it has really started up now. Yesterday I canned blueberries. Today I am canning beans. Tomorrow I may can tomatoes. This is the time of year to stock up for the winter.

So far this month I have canned beef, chicken, beans, cherries, blueberries, and now beans. I hope to do a lot more beans, corn, peas, carrots, and whatever else I can find to put in a jar.

I have dried potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, strawberries, and made fruit leather and jerky. So far. I hope to do some more jerky and vegetables. I might dry some more fruit this year as well.

With the cost of food steadily rising, and no end in site, it can only be a good thing to be prepared. And I actually have fun putting everything away for a rainy day. We never know when the power will go out, or if my husband will lose his job. These are all things that having a supply of food in the house will help with. We won'd have to worry about having enough to eat. And since I am growing part of this myself, it is costing us only the seeds. That is a much better way to ensure you are eating healthy and not getting a bunch of preservatives in your food.

My biggest problem is where to store everything. If I try to can, dry, or freeze everything we will need for a year, I just won't have enough space, even using all of the closets, to put everything. A year's worth of food takes up a lot of room.

Since I try to find things when they are on sale and stock up, maybe I should look for another one of those diy cabinets with the doors on it. The one I have now, that I am using as a sewing storage/food pantry, is already full. And it is only mid June. By August, I will have jars, bags, and shelves overflowing.

But it is always better to be prepared than to be caught unaware.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Grandma's Attic...so to speak

We are back from the Ridge after getting my daughter's college orientation completed. It is an exciting time for her. She turned 18 last week and can now officially be considered an adult. I am just getting old. It will be hard to let her go, but she has her wings now and I have to let her fly.

We also spent some time with my mother helping her clean up in my grandmother's house. 50 years worth of accumulated "stuff" sitting, for the last 10 years, in an empty house. It is amazing just how much daily clutter sits in random cupboards and drawers. I think we found about 30 pairs of scissors.

It was actually very sad to be in her house. It seems so much smaller than when I was a child. And there wasn't the warm sunlight streaming in that I always loved when I was a kid. Maybe it was because it was just so...empty feeling. It wasn't like going to Grandma's House. It was like rummaging through some stranger's house, trying to find things of value. I just kept shaking my head, wondering why Grandma would keep some of the things she did. Just how many rolls of electrical tape did she need anyway?

We didn't have enough room to take everything that needed to be taken from the house. We will probably just need to rent a trailer and load it up to bring it home. There is going to have to be some serious work done on the house before it is habitable again. The ice storm in January really did a number on it. I am not really sure the structure is worth saving anymore. There is just so much damage to the roof, a piece of the ceiling collapsed in the living room, the add-on that housed the hot water heater is open to the elements now, and all of the outbuildings have either fallen in or are about to. Regardless, if there is anything in it that needs to be saved, it will have to be removed soon or it will be lost forever.

Needless to say, I had a difficult weekend.

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