I kind of learned how to can several years ago. I pretty much self taught how to waterbath, we canned a few things and did well. The following year I did a little more canning.
The past few years we haven’t done much. The food we grow or purchase is consumed rather quickly and we didn’t have much for an extra food storage budget and it was more cost effective at the time to just purchase grocery food.
Last few summers we had a decent garden but it was only big enough for garden to table. This year we are planning two gardens, a garden to table garden and a food storage garden. We have poor soil here due to clay and roots so we are looking into some different options for a layout.
As we plan our garden we also have to plan for canning. This means finding all of the supplies to can. And for a large family, that is a lot. A typical family may use one or two quarts of sauce for dinner, we use 6. Spaghetti once a week for a year is 312 quarts. Most new quart jars are around $1. ( with tops and bands) I can buy a jar of sauce on sale for $1. Of course next year reusing the jars makes them far more affordable, but initially its quite an investment.
I am beginning to look online for used jars. And we will need a pressure cooker. I hope to have all the supplies collected by mid summer when its time to start canning. We will also have a root cellar. We haven’t had much luck with potatoes and cabbage but we will keep trying.
It will be nice to have some of our own canned foods, Iran one of our main homestead goals.
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Marcus Kienholz
Our Little Safe Haven here in Kansas City. We just got done canning 28 quarts of turkey / ham / chicken bone broth. Yum!
Amanda McMahon
Make sure you use a pressure CANNER and not a pressure COOKER. There’s a difference and using the wrong device will be disastrous and dangerous. But don’t let that discourage you! Keep an eye out at flea markets for jars. The bands can be reused and lids are relatively cheap
Ben
I wish that your guys ambition would excite more people, especially the younger able-bodied group. Growing a garden and preserving the harvest used to be a way of life.
April
Ditto what Mary said… Facebook Marketplace may be another option. Is Freecycle still a thing? I will FB messenger you some links that I like. You may also want to think about dehydrating. It takes up less space. Love you guys!
Mary Kellogg
Be sure to look on craigslist and also http://www.shopgoodwill.com. When I was canning, I found boatloads of jars on craigslist. People get into canning and then pucker out. I purchased a new All American canner. I canned all sorts of meats, created jars of ready-to-eat stew, canned fish, etc. Just me and husband now so I sold all MY stuff on craigslist. A good canner is priceless. Get the biggest you can find so you can do lots of jars at a time.
Cathy
I remember helping your Grandma can every year. ?
Diana Alexander
I am impressed by your ambition to can for a large family in such a small space. When I was young my mom and her sisters would can over an open fire using a horse trough as a canner. I wish that I had paid more attention to how they did all that canning because my memories of that time is so few. Hundreds of quart jars of green beans, pickles and tomatoes were turned out in a day. Jams and fruits were smaller productions with only 1 or 2 aunts in on the canning.
My memories are mostly made up of cousin time and playing ages 3-10. Even at those ages we were expected to harvest the vegetables, peel or break or clean the fruits or veggies.
You have brought me such sweet memories with your posts and pictures. Much of your lifestyle was also mine growing up. We were free range children. Allowed to get dirty, climb trees, play in the creek and responsible for chores and caring for each other.
Thank you for sharing these bits of your life.