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Pressure Canner From Outer Space

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Our first rows of beans/peas we planted (pintos, dragon tongues, and crowder peas) we picked and dried. This worked, but the drying process takes a while and I had cookie sheets with beans and peas all over the place.

I had already wanted to get a pressure canner, but originally thought I’d wait until next year. This was our first year having a garden. I didn’t need a pressure cooker just yet, did I? But as our first round of beans were winding down, we decided to pull them up and plant a couple of rows of bush green beans.

The days following planting them we started talking about how we needed a canner of some sort, preferably a pressure canner for the green beans. Although we may cook some fresh out of the garden, we would need to either freeze or can the rest as they are not preferred dried.

Even though I had not canned anything since I was about 19 years old I had decided I wanted to go ahead and start looking for a pressure canner. I looked at Walmart, Kmart, Amazon, and Lehman’s. Pressure canners come in all sizes, quality, features (pressure gauge or not). Both of which impact the price of course.

The more I looked the more my heart got set on Lehman’s High Quality Pressure Canner. The quality was impeccable and the reviews were as well. I must have this canner! Then I had to decide what size did I need as it came in 5 different capacities from 10-1/2 Quart up to 41-1/2 Quart.

10-1/2 Quart: Jar Capacity: 7 pt or 4 qt.
Dimensions: 7-3/4″H x 10-1/2″ID (11-1/2″H with lid), 12 lb.
15-1/2 Quart: Jar Capacity: 10 pt or 7 qt.
Dimensions: 7-1/2″H x 12-3/4″ID (12-1/2″H with lid), 17 lb.
21-1/2 Quart: Jar Capacity: 19 pt or 7 qt
Dimensions: 10-3/8″H x 12-3/4″ID (15-3/4″H with lid), 18 lb.
30 Quart: Jar Capacity: 19 pt or 14 qt
Dimensions: 14″H x 12-3/8″ID (19″H with lid), 21 lb
41-1/2 Quart:Jar Capacity: 32 pt or 19 qt
Dimensions: 14″H x 15-1/4″ID (19″H with lid), 33 lb

I decided not to get the 41-1/2 Quart canner. It was $419! That seemed excessive to me and I doubt I would need to can that much at one time. Then, I thought about how I would eventually want to be able to can half gallon jars for juice and thought I will definitely need a tall one. I would not want to be limited. Obviously, I must have the 30 Quart capacity for $279! I love me some Lehman’s too by the way.

Wow, that is a lot of money, but it is an investment in our family’s future and I’ll never need to buy another one. So, I rearranged the ole financial budget and found some room for this little gem of a purchase. I would be able to get it mid August just in time for our green bean harvest! I will have to can a lot of green beans to pay for this thing, but it was worth it. I was so proud of myself.

So just in time, this Gi-Normous box was delivered to the house. Yay, my canner has arrived. Wow, this thing was heavy. I proceeded to open the box and what I found inside looked like a pressure cooker from outer space! At a minimum, this thing should be in laboratory or something! I had never seen such a pressure cooker in all my life! I thought my Mama’s was huge, but it was nothing compared to this thing.

It is gorgeous and pristine, but I think I may have been a little over zealous.

Bring on the beans!

Beans!

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This year we planted dragon tongue beans, pinto beans, and top-pick crowder peas. The seed packet for the dragon tongue beans said they could be picked early (green) and the shells are similar to a green bean or left to dry and pick after the bean is fully mature similar to the pinto bean. We opted to let them mature and dry and pick them like pintos.

This is what we got. It is just about enough for one good mess of beans. I am grateful as we did not even know if we would get any harvest. The shells have purplish striping. Some shells are darker than others. We were curious to see how they taste.

Dragon Tongue Beans

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Zucchini, Laserdiscs, and Meat On Sale!

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The kids may riot soon if we force them to eat any more zucchini! To be quite honest Jon and I are getting a bit tired of it too and I love fried zucchini! It blows my mind how much produce can come from 8 plants. So, now we are going to take a little break from the eating of the fresh zucchini and just freeze it.

Which brings us to our next dilemma. Where to put all of this frozen bounty? We decided that we needed a pantry, but where?
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Gigantor!

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Now, that’s a zucchini! It was so big that we named it Gigantor!

Gigantor is so big intentionally. We were trying to let it grow enormous so that we could get some good size seeds out of it to use for next year. When I cut it, the seeds were noticeably bigger, but amazingly still nowhere near the size we had expected. They were quite a bit smaller than the seeds we had purchased and planted. So, we just decided to slice ole Gigantor up and freeze him. He even got his name on the freezer bag!
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Off to a Good Start…Mostly

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Our first garden seems to be off to a good start. The corn is a little sparse and our carrots and onions were planted too late, but the beans, lettuce, and zucchini are looking good. We’re still not sure about the broccoli. It may have been planted too late as well.

Those 3 little flower pots in the corner are where we planted our pepper seeds. Yeah, I see why our oldest shook his head and all but laughed at us. They started to grow just a little (very little), but they have all mostly disappeared. I think bugs ate them or something.

You can see how all the grass is trying to grow back up through the garden as we didn’t get it tilled good enough, but all in all we may actually have some sort of crop from this!

Apple and Peach Sticks Finally Arrive

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Finally, our other order of trees and raspberry vines came! We ordered this list of trees and raspberry vines below on April 25th.

Belle of Georgia Peach Trees – Dwarf avail. (Tree Height: Dwarf 2-3ft (grows 40% normal size))
Elberta Peach Trees – Dwarf avail. (Tree Height: Dwarf 2-3ft (grows 40% normal size))
McIntosh Apple Trees – Dwarf avail. (Tree Height: Dwarf 2-3ft (grows 40% normal size))
Granny Smith Apple Trees – Dwarf avail. (Tree Height: Dwarf 2-3ft (grows 40% normal size))
Yellow Delicious Apple Trees – Dwarf avail. (Tree Height: Dwarf 2-3ft (grows 40% normal size))
Gala Apple Trees – Dwarf avail. (Tree Height: Dwarf 2-3ft (grows 40% normal size))
Heritage Everbearing Raspberry
Latham Red Raspberry

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Running the Well Dry

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When we arrived home from our weekend trip to Chimney Rock, NC you know the first thing I do is head straight to the bathroom. It is only a few hours drive, but still my bladder can barely hold…LOL! But when I go to wash my hands there is no water. Oh my!

Then of course I realize that the toilet has flushed, but it is not refilling. Of course I go check the kitchen sink and yup….no water there either. So, I tell Jon, and we start checking the breaker box. All good there. Then it dawns on us! We asked our son to water the garden in our absence.

So, we go check the outside water spigot and sure enough it is still on. I quickly turn off the breaker to the water pump so the motor doesn’t burn up (if it hasn’t already).
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How I Got My Garden…Finally

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My wife had for some time, been telling me that I could not have a garden. She would say “not as long as you are working 55 hours a week and taking online classes, cuz I ain’t gonna be the one doing all the work. So, we began discussing growing herbs in pots, or maybe a raised bed. We talked about this for most of the winter.

Then spring came. She decided that having a row of fruit bearing bushes would be nice. We decided to put them along the edge of where the garden would be, when I was allowed to put one in. So, she ordered a couple blueberry bushes and grape vines. We picked up two blackberry bushes at Lowes the day before the other bushes were set to arrive.

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