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Eating Local & Canning

ShannaNoel

ShannaNoel

ShannaNoel
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Messages
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Do any of you lovely ladies practice either one of these? I have been looking more and more into eating locally for 2010 and want to talk to others who do it as well. Also canning.... who does it? I am TOTALLY lost on the whole idea!!! HELP!:luvya
 
I too have investigated "going local"..I've been trying to convince DH to buy some meats from a local farm here, and we try to but local produce as much as possible. Never tried canning though. For some reason I'm intimidated by it, lol. Anyway I'll be interested to watch this thread too too. :)
 
Canning does not interest me at all...too much like hard work! As for eating local...we are in the suburbs so we can't actually buy from producers, but a lot of our smaller supermarkets sell local produce so I do try to buy that. It's often cheaper too!
 
oooh! I have heard a lot about that Food Inc. but I have not watched it. My MIL used to can a lot and so did my mom, but neither has passed the info onto me so I am no help. We do have local produce stands in the summer though that we like to buy from. :)
 
we are in the 'burbs too! But there is a company that will deliver fresh produce to your door weekly/bi weekly, and we also have a local co-op about 20-25 mins away I cant wait to check out!
 
I live in the mountains of northcentral Pennsylvania, so we eat locally cuz we have no choice :D and can everything, make jellies, jerky etc

if you'd like any specific information, just lemme know :)
 
I can :) My mom started teaching me when I was like 5.

I think Freezer canning is the easiest way to start. When canning you have to be meticulous in your methods. My aunt made a bad batch of green beans years ago and she, her son & husband almost died from Botulism.

Ball's website has a ton of great info on canning: http://www.freshpreserving.com.
 
I try to eat locally especially in the summer. Last summer we signed up for a CSA (community supported argiculture) and it was awesome. We paid x amount of dollars to a local farm and each week we got a box of goodies from there. You can see if there is one in your area by checking this site...

http://www.localharvest.org/

no clue how to can. seems to time consuming for me.
 
ok...i have to confess that when i first read the title i thought it was caning and not canning! LOL

I grew up always have a vegetable garden so we always put fruits and veggies up. I really miss it, too!
 
Over the past few years we've been gradually adding in more local fruits and veggies. I do a CSA with a local organic farm, I planted my own square foot garden in the backyard (hope to add another one this year), and we stock up on fresh apples from the local apple orchard every fall. I would really like to start buying local eggs this year too!

As for canning...I entertain the idea but haven't done it yet. I do a lot of freezing though.

My biggest struggle is finding recipes that the whole family will eat. I have such picky eaters and so many restrictions in the kitchen (one can't eat dairy or peanuts, one is a vegetarian, and my husband is a meat and potato guy)
 
wolfie said:
My biggest struggle is finding recipes that the whole family will eat. I have such picky eaters and so many restrictions in the kitchen (one can't eat dairy or peanuts, one is a vegetarian, and my husband is a meat and potato guy)
Click to expand...

OMG that would be difficult!
 
I grow a garden every year and can as much as I possibly can. We also make stews, sauces and stuff and freeze alot of it for days when we just don't feel like cooking. KWIM? My hubby does the jellies and jerkies as I am not good at those but I do can just about anything I can. Last year our tomatoes did horribly so we bought local if my MIL didn't have any in her garden. I think every year one or two veggies struggles and then that veggie thrives the next and the others struggle. Weird. My corn was very healthy this past year. I put my corn in bags in the freezer. We cut the corn from the cob and usually about a dozen ears will go into one bag. We (mil and 2 sils) bagged over 800 dozen ears last year! I was sick of corn after that!! But now I love it again! LOL!!
 
We eat out of our garden mainly all summer. My sisters and my mom and I all get together to do some canning in the fall. We usually do bottled grean beans and beets. Last year we did grape jelly which turned out to be a HUGE pain! We bag corn and peppers and freeze them because it's easier. We also do freezer jams which are my very fav! To be honest, if it wasn't a family activity, I'd probably do everything for the freezer instead of canning. It's easier and I think it's yummier too. :)
 
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