Homemaker? | Pad Patter 8.18.16

[scrapsandsass]

Since we've covered instant pot/slow cookers... it got me thinking about other kitchen activities. How many of you 'can' vegetables or fruit? Make your own pickles or jams/jellies? Grow your own fruit/veggies and preserve them in some way? Create fruit leather or other handy things?

I just helped my grandma pick about 100 pounds of plums, and she insisted I take home about 25 pounds of them, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with them. We have a dehydrator somewhere in storage that I'm going to dig out because my hubby will eat them that way, but I'm trying to figure out if I should make some jam or put them in with some other fruit and do something else? We also have over 100 pounds of pears from our tree this year (the first year we've really had a crop like this). So I'm going to can some of those, make some pear sauce, and make some juice to can as well.

We also have grapes, cucumbers like crazy (not the pickling kind), lots of green beans, and now the tomatoes are starting to come. The irony is that it is too hot to cook/can anything at the moment because we're in the middle of a heat/weather advisory. LOL.

What about you?

 

[Chippi]

My daughter loves to grow veggies, and we had a few yummy things growing. Tomatoes, cucumber, beans, peas, carrots and, of course, strawberries! We have always been renters though and usually very small yards, so it was always in pots and never more than a fun "look what we grew", not even enough for two meals (except the tomatoes, there were lots!).

Usually any fruit/veggies that we have go straight into our bellies, lol. But my Mum and my Nan love preserving things. My Aunt was coming to see my Nan and on the way they stopped in and picked about 100 pounds of peaches. They brought them to my Nan's house and they made a huge sticky mess preserving them all... it was crazy!

I don't particularly like preserves, but I LOVE jams and fruit leathers. I just have to find the time to do it one day. Fruit vs scrapping (in my spare time).. Scrapping wins by leaps and bounds.

 

[Chippi]

Oh funny story. When my daughter was about 3, we grew a some peas. When they were ready for us to pick, I went out to get them and almost all of the pea pods were empty! I didn't know what to think. Melody came up to me and announced that she had eaten them. ALL! She had sat there, opened the pea pods, stolen the peas, and closed them back up so they didn't look suspicious! Sneaky thief!

 

[klee73010]

I don't do any of that, but my aunt has sent home "dilly beans" (pickled green beans) and pickles that she has canned. She has sent home jam with me before as well, and has offered to teach me to do it, but.... I really don't choose to spend my time in that manner.

Homemaker-y, I am baking cupcakes as I type so that my daughter has some safe ones for her class party tomorrow. Which is where I thought this post was headed. Lol!

 

[IntenseMagic]

We've grown a few vegetables here and there...mostly jalapenos, banana peppers, and a few tomatoes. I don't really have any good place to have a garden. I do have some hanging strawberry plants and LOTS of wild black raspberries. Other than the raspberries, we've never really had enough of anything to can or preserve, just enough to eat right away. My mom and grandparents were always canning things and I have lots of friends who do. I think I am going to add that to my list of things to do when I retire . I have made preserves with the raspberries, but I usually make some cobbler and eat the rest . The only thing I have ever really canned is deer meat. It is oh so yummy that way, and the only way I will eat it. But that was when I was married to my first husband who was a hunter. The current one is not!

 

[BevG]

I grew up as the oldest of 6 kids and we all helped with a big garden, freezing and canning things. My husband and I used to garden when we lived other places, but we don't any more. The deer are a real problem in our area.

I do deliver produce for a local farm, so we do have fresh local produce for half of the year. I mostly make jams and jellies when I do make things to save.

I love home canned and frozen food, I just don't make it priority to have it. Plus I would need a big freezer.

 

[carilyne]

Nope I don't can or freeze or grow. Got burnt out on that with my mom who had to do everything it seems. Plus she would do it with a friend so it took forever (for a child). Plus canning made the house so hot I can't work in that (especially this year).
I'm a scrapper that's my homemaking skill this year.

 

[jenn mccabe]

besides the growing part ... I have never done any of those things. I think I'm safer just sticking to the cooking and baking!

we did have an abundance of squash at the end of the growing season last year and I chopped it up and froze it, but it did not taste right when I would go to use it. no time for a garden this year, but If I do one next year, I think I will just donate the surplus to friends and the Food Pantry.

 

[scrapsandsass]

I made some pear/plum sauce with a few blueberries thrown in for good measure. I have another batch to make tomorrow, and then I'll do the canning. Tim dug out the dehydrator, so we're making prunes for him as well.

I'd love to can some peaches for Kennedy.

I'm probably going to make a batch of cold press pickles this weekend. I like them because I don't have to heat anything. LOL. And they are kind of spicy and yummy. We have an outdoor fridge where we keep them throughout the year.

no time for a garden this year, but If I do one next year, I think I will just donate the surplus to friends and the Food Pantry.

My grandma is doing that with the rest of the plums. She has a huge box in her trunk and is having her friends meet her at the Jack in the Box to get some. Then the rest she's taking to the food bank.

We've done that some years with our tomatoes. But usually just give stuff to my mom/sis/brother because they are always struggling and don't have a lot of food. :/

 

[Lynnette]

I do it some years, but I'm not consistent. I love having canned pears (so yummy with cottage cheese). I have a really yummy recipe for pear orange jam but I'm the only one in my family who likes it so I have stash that will last forever, lol. Some years I do grape juice and I have tried apricot nectar and tomatoes.

My mom did several kinds of jam every year (plum, pear, apricot, strawberry, grape jelly) and all kinds of fruit including pears, peaches, apricots, plums and cherries, and grape juice. When I was little we had home canned fruit everyday with lunch.

 

[Tree City]

I don't can or pickle or make jams but I don't do much in the kitchen as it is (in all fairness, I don't like pickles or jelly/jam. Or canned veggies, either, so I wouldn't make them even if I did enjoy cooking). If the definition of "homemaking" is "DIY kitchen stuff," then I'm not a homemaker but rather my husband's roommate who steals his food. DH did read an article in one of his food mags about peppers and easy pepper pickling... so of course last weekend he bought a dozen Ball jars but has yet to pickle any of our garden's peppers. *rolls eyes* His grandma used to can salmon that his grandpa (her DH) caught; the smell--and just the look--made me gag. After we married he'd eat it when I wasn't home lol. Anyway, she had this whole setup for canning, with a special pot (I'm sure it has a name, but as I'm kitchen illiterate, IDK what it is).

And for us, our garden is puny right now. We don't have a ton of stuff, and it was so hot this summer that we lost quite a bit of goodies. Hopefully next year we have more--both more variation in items and quantity. Perhaps DH and the kids can make some strawberry jam next year. It's nice that they enjoy the kitchen together cuz it means I get time to myself!

 

[Karen]

My mom used to can a bunch of stuff from our garden when I was growing up. The absolute best was the homemade grade juice she made. It was almost black from the grapes and was unbelievable delicious! I would LOVE to have a can of that stuff still! I didn't know how good I had it then!

I don't can anything now, but I do make freeze jam with fresh fruit from our local farmer's market. I just made peach jam a few days ago. A couple years ago my boys wanted to plant a garden at my Mom's house and we ended up with TONS of green beans, so I froze a bunch of those. Yum!

 

[Lindzee]

My folks always had a big garden, and I know my sister still does and cans and preserves everything. My HD and I got out of it with all the activities of the kids and busy jobs. We were hoping to do a garden this summer, but alas - not. Maybe next year. But I have a good story too @Chippi. One year we did have a pretty big garden, before the kids were born I think. Well every time we went to pick the ripe tomatos, they would be thrown on the ground or even still on the vine with one bite gone. For the longest time we thought it was the squirrels and set about trying to catch them in the act. One morning, my hubby comes in and takes me to the window: look at this he said - The toddler next door (in her overnight diaper and nothing else) was squeezing through a very narrow gap where the side fence met the back fence. She sauntered into the garden - clearly the bright red tomatoes were attractive to her, although she clearly didn't like the taste. She would pick or sometimes just reach with her mouth and take one bite - make a face and move one.
Mystery solved with a hearty laugh.

 

[jk703]

No canning or anything like that here. When I was a kid, my grandparents had a huge farm in the Catskills (it was 550 acres, so they rented out the land, it was more a vacation home for us). We did go blackberry and raspberry picking. Then we would make jam. It was fun, and always a way to get everyone out picking the berries together. Let me tell you... it was a MESS making jam, and it was EVERYWHERE!