Now that the canning is done, we can turn our minds to the dry, yellowed beans we sorted out of the pile in the beginning.  They won’t go to waste.  If you were planning to grow beans to use for soup beans you would leave them on the plant until they, and the plant were…

Now it’s time to can!  You’ve already done your preparation so you know how to use your canner, have your jars ready, and know how long to process them.  You can hot or cold process green bean, but I like to hot process them personally.  More beans fit in a jar with hot process because…

We unfortunately did not get enough garden in for green beans this year.  Our focus was on tomatoes, hot peppers, and winter squash, so we were very grateful to be blessed with these beans from our neighbors.  These are goose beans, which are said to have got their name from early settlers who found the…

The first, and most essential step to enjoyable and effective canning, is planning and preparation.  I did not grow up canning, I grew up being told that home canned food would kill you, quickly, violently, and mysteriously.  This is absolutely true, poorly canned food can kill you.  Thankfully, canning isn’t an art, it’s a science. …

There has been a huge resurgence in canning lately.  Perhaps it is a desire to get closer to the land again, or to embrace our old fashioned values and culture, or maybe it is simply a greater desire for healthy, homegrown food.  Whatever the reason, more and more people want to learn how to can…

Poke, it’s the sure sign that winter is over and hope is beginning again.  It’s usually the first harvestable green of spring, which makes it especially appreciated at our house.  Phytolacca americana, (poke, poke sallet, poke salad, poke berry, poke root, or pokeweed) has been an American staple as long as people who wrote things…