Women's Home Activities

The crops from the garden have steadily been coming in and from now until the time they are depleted my kitchen has been geared up for the home canning part of the season. I’ve shared with you all in my previous post Canning and Freezing Food at Home that my two favorite means of preserving fresh food is by using either the freezing method or the water bath approach. What I realized was that I have neglected to tell you about the Water Bath Canning Procedures. My apologies for that, but let me make it up to you by explaining the process now.

Water Bath Canning Equipment

In order to get started with your home canning activities there is some basic canning equipment that you will need to purchase if you don’t already have the items on hand. I have written about this also in another post that conveniently has a list of the items that can be used for most of your canning projects.

Where to Look for Canning and Preserving Utensils-Part 2 contains the canning equipment that I most frequently use with my own canning and preserving endeavors. I felt it important to include this link so that you may also take a look at the different kinds of canning utensils that you will need for your own ventures in preserving fresh food. Two of the most important canning equipment items to have are the canning utensil set and the water bath canner with rack. You will understand why these pieces of canning equipment are so crucial for your canning project in a moment.

It is also very important to remember that glass canning jars (mason jars) are the only containers recommended for safe home canning especially with the water bath canning method. Please do not be tempted to use any other type of glass container.

Inspect each jar and don’t use any jar with chips or cracks, or rings that appear to be damaged. You will also need to use new lids for the jars after they have been processed or the after the seal has broken. These lids are not re-useable for canning again. The glass jars and rings are recyclable so don’t throw those out when you have finished polishing off your yummy treats; keep them for next year’s canning project.

Basic Steps to Water Bath Canning

The reason I choose water bath canning has a lot to do with the type of fruits and vegetables that we grow in our garden. This type of canning method works well for some of the vegetables like the tomatoes and cucumbers we grow that are soon turned in to sauces, salsas, stewed tomatoes and a variety of pickles. We also have a few different kinds of fruits such as peaches, pears, apples and grapes that we like to make jellies and preserves out of and water bath canning is a great way to process these high acidic foods.

Follow these basic steps to prepare your jars for water bath canning:

Preparing the canning jars -

• Clean the jars, lids and ring bands in hot soapy water. You do not have to dry them, but they do need to be well rinsed. I tend to run them through the dishwasher myself.

• Prepare the recipe of what you plan on canning. I follow package directions or use my home canning book for these wholesome recipes.

• Heat the canning jars. Make sure you put the rack in the bottom of your water bath canner before you put your jars in. Add water to the canner around the jars. For half-pint jars fill the canner with water until it reaches the top of the jars. For pints and quart jars fill each jar about 2/3 full of water. Let the jars simmer over medium heat to about 180 degrees F; boiling is not necessary. Just make sure the jars stay hot until your recipe is prepared.

• Prepare the lids and bands. Set the clean ring bands aside; they do not need to be heated. Put the flat round lids in a small sauce pan covered with water and simmer on stovetop at the same temperature and directions as with the jars.

Filling the canning jars-

• Take the hot jar out of the canner with your canning lifter. Only work with one jar at a time. Pour the hot water back into the canner.

• Put the hot jar on a heat protected surface.

• Place your canning funnel in the jar.

• Ladle your prepared recipe into the hot jar allowing for the headspace specified in the recipe.

• Use a flat plastic/rubber spatula between the food and the inside of the jar to release air bubbles. Adjust headspace if necessary.

• Wipe the rim, threads and outside of the jar with a damp cloth or paper towel. Use your magnetic lid lifter from the hot water and place a lid on the center of the filled jar.

• Place the band ring on the jar and screw the band down until resistance is met then continue to finger tightness. Do not over tighten.

• Return the jar to the hot water bath canner. Repeat steps until all the jars are filled.

Processing the filled canning jars –

• Heat-process the filled jars. When all of the jars are filled with the prepared recipe adjust the water level in the water canner so that the jars are covered by one inch. Put the water bath canner lid on and bring the water inside the canner to a full running boil. Once the water is boiling hard and continuously you must start the processing time specified on the particular canning recipe. I always set a timer for this to help me remember.

• Cool the jars. When the timer goes off, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid. Let the canner sit and cool for 5 minutes. (Again I use a timer)

• After timer ends remove the jars one by one using your canning jar lifter. Do not tilt the jars.

• Don’t worry if there is water on top of the jar lids, some of it will evaporate.

• You do not want to touch the top of the lids at this point anyway because this is the time that the seal is being formed.

• Put the jars on a towel in an upright position and leave them undisturbed for at least 24 hours. If there is a draft in this area place another dish towel loosely on top of the cooling jars so that the draft doesn’t interfere with the cooling and sealing process.

• In just a few hours after the jars start to cool you may hear a pop or ping sound. Don’t worry this is a good thing; it means the canning jars are beginning to seal.

After Processing your filled canning jars –

• Checking the vacuum seal. The next day (24 hrs.) you should check the jar lids to see if they have sealed.

• Remove the ring bands and press down on the center of the jar lid. Sealed lids will be concaved (an indention downward) and will not move when pressed.

• If you are not sure that the canning jar is sealed, grasp the edges of the lid with one hand while holding the bottom of the jar in the other. A cooled, sealed lid will stay firmly attached to the jar.

• Jars that have not sealed properly should be refrigerated immediately. It would be a good idea to use this product up within a few days.

Storing your Home Canned Foods –

• Your sealed canned goods need to be cleaned and labeled before storing.

• Take a damp cloth and thoroughly wipe lids, jar threads and surfaces to remove any water residue or food particles.

• Label the newly canned fresh food with the month and year as well as the type of canning recipe. (Ex. – 7/10 Sweet Pickles) You may either use a stick on label to the lid or just write on the lid with a permanent marker. I tend to place the labels on the lids because these will be discarded after the canned goods are gone and then I don’t have to soak off the label on the jar before next year.

• Store home canned food in a cool, dark place such as a pantry or cupboard. Basements are ideal but we are not all blessed to have one, so do the best you can.

• It is recommended to use the home canned goods within a year. Not that the food goes bad after that, it is just that the quality will be reduced after that time. (Just an aside from that recommendation – I have found that jams and jellies for sure are just fine past the year date. Mostly they don’t last that long in my family though, we like our jelly biscuits in this household!)

Viola! There you have it the Water Bath Canning Procedures for your viewing and attempting pleasure. I bet you are wondering where I got all this helpful information, right? Well I have friends and family that have been home canning for decades. I learn a lot from them and I feel very blessed to have them share their secrets with me.

As a reference point though I do love another source of canning and preserving that not only was the basis of this post with all these helpful steps and tips but also includes tons of recipes for you to try out yourself. I’m talking about the Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving. Check out this link and see if you agree with me. It is very well written and breaks things down so that even a canning novice can understand the steps. Believe you me this canning book has helped me immensely with my canning projects.

Well that’s all for now folks. Leave me a message and let me know what you think or if you have any questions. Until next time, Happy Home Canning y’all!

Have you decided to try your hand at homemade grape jelly? The first step in Making Grape Jelly is Get the Juice. I had a busy time this weekend in my kitchen because that is exactly what I was doing. I was getting the juice from some luscious Concorde grapes donated by a friend of ours. (I’ll fill you in on more of that later)

Extracting the juice from grapes is not really a difficult part of making grape jelly. I will tell you though that you need to know it is somewhat of a time consuming task. Just be prepared to spare a few hours from your busy schedule before you take on this canning project.

I am breaking down this post on making grape jelly in two parts so that you will see that the process of jelly making doesn’t have to take place all in one setting. This first post covers how to get the juice from the grapes so that it will be all set to go when you are ready for the next step and post on making grape jelly: How to Can and Process Grape Jelly.

The method I used to get the juice from the grapes came from a couple of sources. Our daughter gave me a wonderful canning book for my birthday this year. She knows that we enjoy our garden and how much we have been trying to learn canning and preserving so this was a most appreciative gift from her.

I have really come to treasure this resource, the Ball Complete Book Of Home Preserving because it has such wonderful recipes, easy instructions and it follows many of the traditional methods of home canning that I have come to love so much. This book on home canning also gives you up to date approaches so that you aren’t fearful of the measures used and your fresh food will be preserved safely. The other source of methods for canning that I use comes from the sweet lady who gave us the grapes for this canning activity which I will tell you about a little later.

Getting the Juice for Making Grape Jelly

The steps for getting the juice for jellies is found on page 106 of the canning book I mentioned before and can be used for a variety of berry fruits such as blueberry, elderberry, strawberry, red/black currants, cherry, raspberry, blackberry, grapes and a few others.

You will need at least 3-4 cups of fruit to yield a cup of juice. There are variations for certain fruits which you will find on the page but the basic steps are as followed:

• Use tender, ripe grapes

• Gently wash the fruit in cool water and drain

• Remove caps and stems

• Handle carefully to avoid juice loss

Next you will need to place grapes in a large stainless steel saucepan and just cover the fruit with water. I actually used my stainless steel stock pot because it has a strainer that fits inside the pot. This really helped with the straining process that follows.

Bring the grapes to a boil over medium high heat, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat, cover loosely to avoid the grapes from boiling over for about 5-10 minutes. Every now and then stir and begin crushing the grapes with a hand held potato masher so that more juice starts coming out. The grapes should be softened enough by this time and can be taken off the stove.

I mashed the grapes while they were still in the strainer of my stock pot so that the juice would fall in the pot. I tilted the strainer to its side so that more of the juice would drip down. The strainer worked great because it captured the skins, did not allow the gushy part of the grape to mix with the juice and it also kept most of the seeds out.

I then set out a bowl and put a fine meshed strainer on top of the bowl. The canning book recommends using cheesecloth to help with the straining process and so would I. Unfortunately my cheesecloth had been used by a project my husband started and was not readily available for this canning activity so I will tell you what I used instead.

I have decided that coffee filters are one of my new favorite friends to help with canning. I had heard that these filters could be used for lots of things and they are right. They make great juice strainers too. So if you don’t happen to have cheesecloth on hand, coffee filters make an excellent replacement.

I placed a dampened coffee filter over the fine meshed strainer and poured the hot juice in so that the pulp and leftover seeds would be left out of the juice falling into the waiting bowl. This juice was then transferred to a larger bowl while I strained another bowl of juice with a new filter each time. I followed this procedure until the large bowl was full. I then strained the juice one more time to make sure that the juice was even clearer and pulp free.

I let the juice then cool to room temperature and started bagging it up. I measured enough juice for each freezer bag for one batch of grape jelly which is 5 cups of grape juice. This way I would know how much juice I would need to continue with the processing part of making grape jelly. I closed the bags and got out as much air as possible. I allowed the juice to completely cool and then placed the bags in the deep freezer.

That day I yielded enough grape juice to make six batches of grape jelly. 30 cups of juice came out of those beautiful grapes. Now all I have to do is set aside another day for the next part of making grape jelly; canning and processing. The frozen grape juice can be easily thawed and won’t loose any flavor before you start the next part of the process of making homemade grape jelly.

I try and only wait a few days in between the time to complete my jelly making mainly because I can hardly wait to sample the yummy outcome. You’ll have to follow the link to the post to read more about how we turn the grape juice into grape jelly. Just think about how good your hot biscuits or toast will taste when you put on your own homemade grape jelly. I get excited just picturing it in my mind. Hope to see you in the next post.

P.S. I know I promised to tell you more about the lady who gave us the grapes but this post was already quite long so I have decided to include that in another related post coming soon.

All of us at one time or another has received an email that has been forwarded to us that strikes a chord. Well my mother-in-law sent me one just the other day that really hit home for me. Now I don’t usually do this sort of thing, in fact I’ve never done this on this blog but today I’d like to share that email with you for this week’s Thankful Thursday post.

You may have seen this one before or even recently received it in your email but still I thought it was worth sharing again. I don’t know who the author is or I would give them credit. I am just grateful for having read this one and thankful for her sending it to me.  So bear with me as I bring to you A Lesson in Life – The Law of the Garbage Truck because it does bring to us a good message. One that I’ve taken time to reflect on and maybe you will too. The author is right and I thank you for writing this whomever you are.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, ‘Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!’

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, ‘The Law of the Garbage Truck.’

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dump it on you.
Don’t take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don’t take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life’s too short to wake up in the morning with regrets.

So … Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don’t.

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

I would say the author has this one right. It’s time we each just take the garbage out of our lives and leave room for only the things to be treasured. I too hope each of you has a blessed day.

When you open the door to your garage is your first thought how do I organize my garage? Or how did my garage get in this big of a mess? Don’t feel alone Google reports 3600 searches on How to Organize Garage by people trying to solve the very same problem. A garage can become the catch all for all the items we don’t know where else to store them. In this post we will go through steps that will assist in de-cluttering and organizing your garage. This way you can Utilize Garage Space the way it was meant to be.

Organizing a Garage into Sections

1. Make a list of the items that you need to store in your garage. How many of these items can be organized in storage containers? How many items can be hung on some time of organizing utensils? Visualize your lawn tools, bikes or any other large item that can be hung on a wall.
2. Look over your list of items and see how many you haven’t used for a long time. Do you really need these items any more or are they just taking up space? One of the best ways to organize and de-clutter, is to get rid of items you no longer use.
3. Look over your garage’s wall space. Each wall in your garage can lend itself to the organization of your garage. Ask yourself which wall would be most convenient for the items you use the most. Picture in your mind what you would need to fit the items you have in mind. When you can visualize the out come it makes organizing a much easier job.

Items for Organizing your Garage

1. Shelves- Install multiple shelving. Garage Utility Shelving will increase the area of storage you have in your garage. By adding garage shelving you not only have the floor area but the wall height as well.
2. Containers- Placing items into containers will aid you in organizing like items together. The Storage Containers can now be placed on the shelving that you installed freeing up the floor space you used before.
3. Garage Organizing Systems- These complete garage organizing systems are great for your hand tools as well as for any power tools you may have. They can consist of a roll around tool chest, work benches, cabinets and storage lockers for items that need to be kept out of reach of children.

I hope this post has helped you see the ways to make organizing your garage less of a task than you may have thought. Following these tips and utilizing the organizing products available to you will make your garage function to meet your needs without the frustration that an unorganized garage can cause.

I’ve told you that from time to time I would include a post that was not written by myself; well, today is one of those occasions. I came across this article sent to me from a newsletter that I receive from Reading Horizons At Home. This entry was in the section called the Reading Corner titled: The Struggling Reader and Stress.

The article is not very long, but it drives home a point that I have been emphasizing when writing about children with dyslexia or other learning disabilities and struggling readers. They all are dealing with issues of anxiety and stress about their inability to read well. See for yourself just what I am talking about.

The Struggling Reader and Stress

Those who struggle with reading experience varying degrees of stress at school, doing their homework and with any activity that involves reading. It is hard for them to understand why they have such a difficult time with something that appears to come so easily for everyone else around them. The signs of stress in children are well known nowadays: embarrassment, anxiety, withdrawal, not wanting to go to school, tiredness, irritability, headaches or stomach aches, difficulty sleeping, lying, thumb sucking, fingernail biting, or loss of appetite.

When they are feeling anxious about something like reading or taking a test they could use these strategies to help them cope:

• Teach them to slow their breathing down. Count to four slowly for breathing in and breathing out. They will find that their body begins to relax and they can release some of the anxiety.

• Have them imagine what would happen if they did fail the test—would they get kicked out of school? Would they die? Of course not. Help them put their fear in perspective by rating it from 1-10: 1 being someone bugging you, a 10 being someone you care about getting hurt or dieing. Most issues fall around 2-4 in reality.

• Get them into a reading program that they can see quick gains and success so that they know they can improve and find real success in reading. The program should be researched based and should be systematic, explicit and sequential in its approach. See how the Discover Intensive Phonics Reading Method fits these requirements.

• Read with your child so they can have a positive experience with reading to draw from.

• Praise your child often. Notice and acknowledge all their amazing strengths.

I hope that you enjoyed this post and will take to heart the message it conveys. Struggling readers do deal with stress on a daily basis and need your support to help them through the rough times. Just knowing that a parent is involved in their struggles to become better readers alleviates quite a bit of anxiety that the child is facing.

Let your child know that together you can battle whatever obstacles you may face. With the right tools and strategies they can leap over the hurdles holding them back from achieving their goals. Think about this motto: Never give up, Never give in. Now put it in to practice.