Whether you are a brand new canner or have been canning and preserving food for decades, tomatoes are one of the easiest vegetables to can. Gather a few tools, a box of tomatoes from your garden or your local farmers market and you are ready to enjoy the taste of summer all winter long. This…
The garden is keeping us busy with fresh produce, and if you’re anything like me, you’re up to your ears each evening deciding how to enjoy it all year long. Our garden surprised us this year and did pretty well for our first year on the farm, but we didn’t plant any corn or green…
It’s garden season here in Kentucky, and if you’re anything like me, your counters are starting to overflow with fresh produce. Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash—everything seems to ripen at once. But okra? Okra takes its time. Okra tends to come in waves. One day you’ll pick a handful, and by the end of the week, you’ll…
I’ve made a few pickles in the last few years and honestly, canning pickles is probably one of the easiest things to make with garden produce. There are really not a lot of places to go wrong so you get success every time. All you need are a few basic ingredients and some fresh cucumbers…
One of my favorite things to grow in the garden is okra. I love it fried, pickled, and cooked up in jambalaya or gumbo. It’s such an easy vegetable to grow and preserve. Here are some of my favorite ways to preserve okra for all-year enjoyment. This post includes affiliate links. It’s Okra Season The…
If you live on a farm or spend any amount of time outdoors in the summer, you know that bugs are just part of the deal. Out here, we deal with mosquitoes, ticks, flies—you name it. I’ve always kept the traditional bug sprays on hand, but lately I’ve added some new products to help fight…
I’ve wanted to add a water feature to my garden area for a long time but didn’t want to spend any money on it. I inherited a pump from my parents a few years ago but couldn’t quite get it to work right with the pots and buckets I have. But recently, I got it…
When I’m baking, I don’t just make one batch. I triple it. If I’m already getting out the ingredients and making a mess, I might as well make it count. That’s how I’ve ended up with jars of muffin mix, waffle mix, brownies and other mixes lined up in my cabinet—ready whenever we want something…
So you’ve decided that you want to learn about canning and you are interested in canning your first batch of something. Maybe you want to make homemade salsa, a batch of dill pickles or homemade spaghetti sauce. I first learned how to can tomatoes in 1999 and have learned a few things that worked and…