My first canning party!!! 64 jars + 200 ears of corn

My oh my oh my!!! If you follow my blog you may recall me talking about forming a canning club. If not, you can read about it here.

So today was our innagural meeting. We are still trying to think of a name.... Anyways today it was just me and my friend E.

We started out with pickles. Bread and butter, dill, kosher dill and spicy dill.
We did spears, coins and whole small pickles.

I got my daughters involved.

It's great to be able to teach them skills and know how. Here is my oldest helping to pack the jars before we pour the liquid on it.

Totals:
Bread and Butter: 9
Dill: 10
Kosher Dill:9
Spicy Dill:8

Then we did some jars of pickled jalepenos. These are great as we use them on EVERYTHING. Lots of mexican inspired dishes, and even on salads and in omelettes.
Jalepenos: 10

Then on to the Blueberry jam...Yum. Thats all I can say about that.
Blueberry Jam: 10

Then we did Pepper jelly. This is very thick and  almost a chutney and is great to use on cream cheese as an appetizer type dish, or on beans, or even just on plain toast. Delicious.

Look at how beautiful they are. Great for gift giving also. These puppies are spicy!!
Pepper Jelly: 8

Then if that weren't enough, we each put up 100 ears of corn. That means we shucked and silked 200 ears this morning....

Corn: 200 ears

I must say that I'm exhausted. I mean really tired. It is so worth it though. Great company and knowing that I'll have great food for my family in upcoming days.

Total for our first canning party 64 jars and 200 ears of corn. Not too shabby I would think for our first meeting:)

Until next time, Happy Homesteading!!

Linked up to The Morris Tribe, Homesteading Barn Hop,Carnival of Home Preserving,Preparedness Challenge

How I Fry my Okra

Like most gardens in the South we have an abundance of Okra. I plan on pickling some, but honestly it is just so delicious right from the vine, into the pan , onto my plate. I fry it. I'm a good Southener..... I do use olive oil though, so that helps....

Start out with your okra, and cut up into "coins". I like to put mine into a colander, as it helps with the washing later on. I also like to cut up a garlic clove or two and tonight I put a few cayenne peppers from the garden in it for spice. Yum-me.

When everything is cut up I start to get the frying pan HOT. I pour in olive oil ( you can use other kinds of oil too, like vegetable if you want).

Then I wash the okra and kind of shake it to get the excess water off. Then I dump all of the newly wet okra into my mixture I made of yellow corn meal with a little salt and pepper.

I than shake off the excess corn meal mixture and put into the frying pan. And I wait. And I smell the delicious aroma, and I wait some more. And I stir. You want to reduce heat and kind of let simmer after the initial "shock" of the hot oil.

Add a few baby roma's fresh from the garden and another cayenne, and you have a delicious, frugal, delicious, ( did I say that already???) meal.

And a close up just to make you jealous...

Until next time, Happy Homesteading...


Linked up to What's Cooking Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Ways, It's a Keeper Thursday

Book Review- Farm Anatomy- The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life

I recently read this book. Farm Anatomy: The Curious Parts and Pieces of Country Life. It's writen by Julia Rothman and is easily found on Amazon, or local Libraries I'm sure. This was a fun little book. I have to say that I really appreciated the cute illustrations. There was illustrations from everything from soil profiles and makeups to different breeds of chickens. There were step by step directions to building projects and how to plan certain things in your garden. Overall I think this was a very fun, light read. It wasn't as "intense" or fact heavy as many farm-y books I've read lately. It was fun, light, lots of fun colorful picture and my two small kids liked looking at the pictures also.

There were recipes included in the book also that were very good. Some great bread recipes.

I think this would make a good gift also for someone. I love to gift people books, and this would be great for the beginner or the experienced. Just an overall joyful read.

Half Off of Ranger Rick Magazine for Kids

I saw this deal on Eversave and thought that some of my readers might enjoy it. I got a subscription to the Ranger Rick for my 6 year old daughter who
1) LOVES animals and outdoors and
2) LOVES getting mail. So I thought this was a great way to get her even more interested in reading. There are 3 different subscriptions you can buy
Animal Baby: for toddlers
Big Backyard: for preschoolers
Ranger Rick: for school aged kiddos

I remember getting this as a child and loved running to the mailbox to check to see if I got anyhing and then pouring over each and every word and picture when I got my magazine. Oh fun times!

Hopefully someone finds this useful!