Spring, Canning, Organizing.....

This is our usual Spring/April weather here

on the High Desert........

This is exactly why gardening in the spring can

be very challenging here. But...know what?!?!?

My garden is surviving!! Yay!

But in the meantime, while we wait for warm

weather I keep doing some canning for my stockpile.

Bought a 25 pound bag of Navy Beans to can Navy Bean

Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Pork and Beans and

anything else I think of with Navy Beans.....

I found the recipes in the Ball Blue Book. The Pork

and Bean recipe uses tomatoe juice boiled with

onions and spices.....mmmmmm.....
That recipe only had you boil the beans for about

3 minutes, boil the juice and pour over beans

in jars and process.

The Boston Baked Beans had to cook 3 1/2 hours,

so I had those cooking in my roaster pan in the back

room while I canned the others. Then when they

were done, I processed them.

A pretty full day, but don't you just love the results

at the end of the day when you can sit back

and enjoy the fruits of your labor.....

Soooo, all this canning lead me to organize my

canning pantry which is outside in a shed. Something

that I probably should have done first. :D

So, how about a bit of sillyness....

Designer Buckets!! LOL.

Yep! Someone gave me some old wallpaper

books....I keep forgetting to use up any

of the wallpaper....

So, how about this, it only took minutes!
You need a small bucket, this is my dishwasher soap

bucket from Costco. (Once I have used up all this

store-bought stuff, I plan on making my own:)

I chose the wallpaper strips that are trims.......

how about apples for canning??
Cut it to fit around the bucket then slit it
up 3/4 of the way as the bucket is not
straight.......

and Voila!!
Designer Buckets!!

I put them in the bottom of my canning

pantry to keep my jar rings in......

What a great feeling to get an area organized. :D