It's better to barter

Sorry about my recent absence, but it is August in Iowa so I am up to my elbows in produce. I know, you miss the animal posts, me too, and I will be getting back to the critters soon, but for now harvesting, freezing, canning are my life...and baking..and weeding....and mowing....and...notice that I made no mention of cleaning the house...I digress.

I have 'outed ' myself many times on this blog as a bartering/salvaging/repurposing  fool. I think perhaps this obsession stems from when I was a small child. I remember whenever we stayed at my Grandmother's cottage (back in the olden days) there was no garbage collection so we had to gather up any unwanted items and haul them to the town dump. We are a strange family so this was always kind of an adventure for us. Back then you could drop off your discarded items at the dump and you were allowed to wander about in search of treasure...granted there was not a whole lot of treasure to be found but there was a whole lot of really disgusting stuff, and huge, swirling flocks of seagulls searching through the mountains of debris . But I liked the concept- you drop off junk-you bring home junk, it all made sense to me.....as I am typing this it just occurred to me what an odd practice this was, and how strange it must sound, but if you've been reading my blog for any length of time you have probably grown immune to my oddities, plus it gives you a little insight into my twisted childhood.....once again, I digress.

ANYWAY, I love to trade things, especially at this time of year when there is the mad dash to 'put up' food for the long winter months. So, when my neighbor Don called to tell me that another neighbor had finished picking his field of sweetcorn and gave Don permission to take whatever he needed and bring some to me if I wanted any, well, I just got all tingly! I gladly accepted the offer, and in return, when the corn was delivered, I gave Don some of the Summer Squash that I accidentally grew...and loathe (his family likes it), and a bucket of pears. See how that works? I got rid of squash I didn't want, pears that I didn't have time to get to (I already made 4 cases of Caramel Pear jam and have another pear tree that will be ripe soon) and Don got stuff his family needs-I got some free corn. Now all I have to do is take a basket of cookies, nut rolls and jam to the neighbor who grew the corn....nobody expects anything in return, but that is part of the fun. The corn was delivered on Tuesday, which is a day that I have Farmers' market, so I wasn't going to be able to process it until the next day. That evening, at market, a friend traded me more corn for some baked goods. So, I had a whole lot of corn..almost like chicken math. 

I have always frozen sweetcorn by blanching it before I freeze it, but my market buddy informed me that I don't need to do that, he gave me an old time recipe for freezing corn that sounded too good to be true....maybe it is....he swears by it though. I tried his method, but won't know how it worked out until I actually thaw some and taste it... I probably should thaw some before I freeze another batch so that I don't waste a whole bunch of time, corn and freezer bags if it was a disastrous endeavor. Anyway, I am going to drag you all down with me and give you the recipe so that we can all improperly freeze corn together.
15 cups of corn cut off the cob-raw. I think I used about a bushel of corn to get 15 cups.
5 cups of ice water
1/2 cup of sugar
2 Tablespoons of salt
So basically all you are doing is cutting the corn off the cob, well, after you husk it of course. Dumping 15 cups of it into some sort of large vessel, vat, bowl, pot, cauldron, what-have-you. Add the sugar and salt-throw it in freezer bags-liquid included. I dunno, he says it works.
OK, when I looked at this picture I, like you, thought, "boy, that looks disturbing" but the dark spots are just ice cubes.

Now that you have it all tucked neatly away in freezer bags, all you will have to do is get rid of your big bucket of corn leavings...maybe you could take it to the dump.

I put mine in my compost pile and my roosters promptly took them back out of the compost pile to pick the cobs clean. See? Dump-picking is fun for everyone.

What cha gonna do, what cha gonna do with all that rhu..barb?

It's a rhubarb jungle out there! At least it is in my yard. I have a lot of rhubarb plants. During rhubarb season I sometimes question my wisdom-or lack thereof for planting so many. In my defense, many of the plants were here when we moved in.......but then I stupidly decided that I needed to add a few more-like 20....nobody needs that much rhubarb.

We love rhubarb, don't get me wrong, but thinking of new and exciting uses for rhubarb has gotten to be a challenge over the years. I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to make Blueberry-rhubarb, or 'Blubarb' jam, which, by the way, turned out fabulously delicious. I have been trying for some time to find a recipe for plain old rhubarb jam..a real recipe...not a rhubarb mixed with Jello recipe. I am sorry if I have offended anyone that goes the Jello route, but to me that is, well, fruit and Jello, not jam. After scouring the Internet and only coming up with said Jello recipes, I finally turned to my little booklet from Stringtown grocery (my favorite, OK, the only Amish grocery store within an hours drive) and found a very simple recipe for plain old rhubarb jam....using pectin...not Jello. After saying that I am wondering if my dear friend, Miss Effie, is scoffing at me for using pectin just as I am picking on the Jello people. Miss Effie goes old-school and makes real jam by just cooking her jam to perfection-no cheating with pectin for her....Miss Eff is a hard-core canner and even teaches classes on the subject.......of course Miss Effie also does something called "nearly naked canning" so sometimes we wonder about Miss Eff....she doesn't teach classes in that though. I digress.

Here is the recipe:

So, first you are going to need some rhubarb. It should be easy to find...call me.

You will also need pectin. If you are not lucky enough to have an Amish grocery store nearby then you can buy the box of pectin.
Simple, simple, simple. Rhubarb Jam

4 cups thinly sliced rhubarb

1 box pectin

6 1/2 cups sugar.

1 cup water...cause rhubarb just isn't very juicy.

Pre-measure sugar and set aside.

Mix rhubarb, water, and pectin in large kettle. Bring mixture to a full boil. Quickly add sugar and bring back to a boil and boil for one minute. Skim off foam; pour into sterile jars with tight fitting lids. Process in hot water bath for 10 minutes. Done!

I was hoping for a prettier color than what it looks like in the jar.
But out of the jar it has a lovely pinkish color. My friends reading this are probably wondering how that white bread made it's way into my house.

OK, so...that used 4 cups of rhubarb......hmmmm. I needed to find something else to do with this stuff and as luck would have it, it looks like other people have faced this dilemma because I came across the holy grail website of rhubarb uses....someone had waaaay too much time, and rhubarb, on their hands!

Apple pie anyone?

If you are wondering where I have been, among other things, I have been up to my eyeballs in apples and pears! This morning there were 5-5 gallon buckets of apples in the kitchen just staring at me, taunting me-I could no longer avoid them...something had to be done. I have made several batches of jam in the last few weeks, but today I wanted to make a bigger dent in my apple stash.

The animals that reside here have been more than helpful in reducing the surplus-Rooster Cogburn and Charles Bronson have been happily nibbling away.
The only problem with the roosters is that they choose the very best windfalls, take a few pecks out of each one and leave the rest....apparently they have never heard one of my mother's favorite expressions...or threats...depending on your viewpoint, "take what you want, but eat what you take." She was raising 6 of us crumb-grabbers so wastefulness was not tolerated.

The dogs, however, would have gotten along just fine in my mother's household-they don't believe in wasting anything either and have been feasting on anything that hits the ground-as well as some that did not have a chance to hit the ground but instead were plucked, by said dogs, from the lowest branches of the trees heavy with fruit.

At least Bailie looks a little remorseful for her gluttonous ways.....

.... I can't say the same for the other two canines...

I digress.....

So, the order of the day, as I mentioned earlier, was to use up some apples in a more constructive way. I opted for canning apple pie filling.

If you do any canning, and do not have one of these handy-dandy gadgets, you really need to have one. These apple peeler/corer/slicer thingies are invaluable when you are trying to cut up a boat-load of apples. I refused to use one for several years......'cause, as you know by now, I like to do things the hard way. I finally saw the light a couple of years ago after cutting and coring two trees full of apples by hand, and afterward, could barely move my very pruney hands for quite some time. My sister saw my plight, took pity upon me and gave me one of these marvelous inventions and now I can't live (at least not during apple season) without one.

I just attach it to the side of the sink. A few turns of the crank and you have these nice little apple spirals that are ready to cut up and can. I still check for bad spots and cut those out, because, unlike the commercial produce packagers that allow a certain amount of bug parts per batch, I have ZERO allowable parts of anything that is not clearly identifiable as apple. Zero. Gross.

Yay! All ready for canning.
As an added bonus, there is a sink-full of lovely apple entrails for the chickens, horses and sheep...the dogs have had enough, thank-you.
And the finished product.
I guess I should give you the recipe, shouldn't I? I may have posted it last year, but I am too lazy to look through my archives, so here it is (again?).

The recipe that I have calls for corn starch as a thickener, but I prefer to use "Clear Jel" it is more stable in canned pie filling and doesn't start to separate over time like corn starch can. I have to buy mine from the Amish grocery store.....soooo if you don't live near an Amish community, I dunno, you may have to use corn starch....which is what the recipe called for in the first place, so you are fine.

3 1/2 cups of white sugar 10 cups water

1 cup of brown sugar 3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 cup Clear Jel (corn starch) 6 pounds apples

2 teaspoons cinnamon ( I use lots more)

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg ( again, I use more)

2 teaspoons salt

1) Sterilize quart size canning jars, lids and rings in a large pot of boiling water.

2) Peel, core and slice apples. Pack apples into hot canning jars leaving an inch of head space.

3)In a large pot mix; sugars, cornstarch (or clear gel), cinnamon and nutmeg. Add salt and water, mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.

4) Pour hot syrup over apples in jars, fill to one inch head space, gently remove air bubbles along the sides of jar with a spatula or knife. .
5) Fasten lids on and process jars in hot water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Happy canning!

If I could save time in a bottle...or even a freezer bag.

I don't know where the time goes. This time of year is rivaled only by spring lambing season for morning slipping away into dusk before the long list of chores has been completed. The garden is coming in full force, as are the weeds. It seems strange to say, after all the rain and flooding this spring, but we do really need some rain right now. With the dry August that we have had, the gardens have had to be watered almost daily, adding another 'must do' to the list. I thought that my green beans were done producing....until I figured out that my lovely pooches were up to their old tricks and were 'helping me' harvest beans...for their own selfish purposes. So, now that I have gently reminded my canines of proper gardening etiquette, I am once again reaping plentiful harvests of the delectable green pods. So much so, that I have found yet another passion. Canning! Yes, my friends, I have always canned...applesauce, jellies...all the usual more acidic fare that does not need to be canned with the use of a pressure canner. Then my friend, Miss Effie, convinced me to start canning those beans, and she would even let me borrow her pressure canner. Yes, one of those gigantic pots with the gauges and gadgets on top that sputter and hiss. The same ones that you heard your Aunt Martha talk about when she told the story about the old lady down the road with 50 cats that let the pressure canner get out of control and blew up her house, spewing cat hair into the next seven counties.

I apprehensively accepted the offer, and Miss Effie brought me the canner... thankfully, complete with the instructions. Mind you, I too have those horror stories floating around in the back of my mind, and I was wondering if this was really a good idea. I diligently (nervously) read the instructions...12 times...okay 30 times, and finally thought to myself, how hard could this be? I gathered my supplies, read the instructions again, and began the process. I started feeling more confident as things started coming together. Jars washed (check), beans washed, snapped, and loaded in jars (check), boiling water and salt added (check), lids sealed (check), canner filled with the appropriate amount of water (check), canner filled with the appropriate amount of water (I had to check again, sorry), canner cover on and sealed properly (check). Now all I had to do was turn the heat on, and wait for the little thingy at the top to jiggle (oh, yes, it was set to the correct amount of pounds of pressure, I checked). Pretty soon said thingy started to jiggle, so okay, now I have to turn the heat down a little. I am still a bit nervous at this point, so I am reaching across the stove, trying to reach the dial with my arm stretched out as far as it could possibly be and still be attached to my body, cautiously keeping the eye closest to the stove squinted closed... 'cause, oh, yeah, if that puppy blows it is going to help a lot if my eye is closed. I finally made purposeful contact with the control and was able to adjust the heat to the recommended number of jiggles per minute. Success! Processed for the required 20 minutes, waited for the pressure to go down and the sputtering to stop, wondering what would I find when I opened that contraption.

TA DA!

What? Did you think I was going to screw it up??

So now, oh, yeah, I've got this. I am canning everything I can get my hands on. I have become a 'produce hussy', trying to see what I can trade at the farmers' market for produce. "Please, just one more bushel of peaches? I'll give you some homemade salted nut rolls? Cookies? How about some yarn?". It's really sad. Sure, I could just buy some produce, but where is the glory in that? I am all about the barter system. There is some kind of thrill in knowing that you got a fabulous deal on something and were able to preserve it for all eternity...or at least through the winter. Then I have the added bonus of having a titillating tale of veggie procurement to tell every time we open a jar for supper.

Here is one experiment that I am not so sure about.

Sun Pickles. I was at the neighbor's house the other day (NOT Miss Effie's), and they wanted to show me how to make Sun Pickles. I thought, sure, why not? They had some made already and offered me one, they were pretty tasty. Basically, you throw a bunch of vinegar in a big jar with a bunch of cucumbers, salt, dill and stuff, then you add a piece of rye bread, what? Rye bread? That's where they lost me too. Anyway, we did mix up a batch, and I brought it home...did I mention that I now had to put this concoction in the sun for 5 days?? This is what it looked like after 5 days. Some kind of horrific science experiment gone bad. I guess that's what it is supposed to do......I did get to remove the bread after I took it out of the sun...it didn't help much....I dunno.... I hope we don't get botulism from my new obsession. Thanks Miss Effie.