Home Food Preservation

Recently, I got some crazy hairbrained idea to purchase 88 pounds of pears directly from the grower.  Sounds really crazy right.  Well, it was, but it was also one of the greatest things I've done for my family, and here's why.

It sounds like purchasing all those pears wouldn't really matter to my family, but it has more to do with the way I feed my family.  I purchased 88 pounds of pears strictly for the purpose of canning them at home, so we could have them to eat all winter, instead of purchasing the canned ones from the store.  It turns out that with the help of my mom and my oldest daughter, we managed to bottle 47 jars of pears.  That's a lot.

You see, for those of you out there that are like me, I don't like to give my kids a whole bunch of extra sugar, but when you run out of fresh fruit and your next shopping day isn't for another 3 or 4 days and the budget is tight, it's nice to be able to pull a can of fruit out of the pantry to balance out your meal.  But, along with a can of fruit from the store comes things that are not so great, like high-fructose corn syrup, preservatives and extra sodium (sodium, can you believe it?) and since I didn't make it myself, I don't even know what else.

So this year, I decided pears would be a good jumping off point.  I didn't want to load myself up too much my first year, but I'm thinking about preserving apples (homemade spiced chunky applesauce anyone?) and pears, and maybe doing some vegetables next year and possibly also some jam, now that I know how to do this kind of stuff and all.

I don't have some secret special recipe (except to say that I will share my applesauce recipe at a later date), but I did use the instructions in my Ball Blue Book (which came with my water bath canner btw).  It has all sorts of recipes for canning and freezing all sorts of different kinds of produce.  Oh, but be careful with the syrup for fruit.  You can cut the sugar in the light syrup down by at least half, if not more, and be just fine.  If you don't, you might find your syrup way too sugary.

I'm telling you, everyone should try this if they've got the time.  I am left with a sense of pride in myself for putting up my own fruit, the way all our ancestors used to do, and I'm feeling more self-sufficient as well.  Thirdly, I know my family will eat some seriously yummy canned fruit this winter (way better than the stuff from the store). 

My pears...yum-O!

I also know that bottling my own fruit is helping to protect the environment.  I can reuse my glass jars and my metal rings each year, and the only thing I need to purchase again are the seals (which are recyclable) and the fruit, of course.  But, think of all the packaging material I've saved, and the cost of trucking the fruit, cans and lables to the factory, and then trucking the fruit in the cans with the labels on them from the factory to my local store.  In the long run, self-suffiency is Eco-Friendly, health smart, and economically more sustainable for my family.

Oh, and one more thing.  The best store I've found around here for all the supplies I needed this first year was Wilco.  They have a huge display this time of year for all your canning and freezing needs.  I would imagine that most larger farm and ranch suppliers would carry similar products this time of year, due to the fact that many farmers and ranchers do this kind of stuff too, so if you don't have a Wilco near you, check out your nearest Farm and Ranch supply store, or head to the internet for your supplies.

Good luck!

Why???

Why must I find these things?  Now I want them!  Ugh.

These fabric organizers are ridiculous! (in the most awesome way)  Now that I have found them I feel that I cannot live without them.  Problem is, they really aren't cheap.  I mean, if I only needed 6 of them I would be all over it.  Needing 75 (more like 100+ but who is counting fabric) I just don't think I can convince Jeff that they are necessary.  Man, if you check out their gallery, you can see how beautiful a fabric stash can really be!  There is a before and after and I just wish mine looked that nice.  One day, one day...

A Challenge

I am doing this challenge.  It is my very first one, but I think it is just what I need to get back to sewing regularly (and get stuff done).

forgotten?

You might think I have forgotten about you (the readers, that is).  I have not.  Life has been busy.  Summer, heat, stuck inside, no husband around for 20 days straight, a wedding, a funeral, another wedding, a week with friends, holidays, school starting...  

Life is now returning to some semblance of normalcy.  I have a tutorial in the works.  I promise- I have not forgotten.

I actually did it!

I finished the shorts I mentioned in my previous post. They turned out quite well considering they are my first attempt at pants/shorts (other than the one pair of pants I made in junior high school a billion years ago). I got them all together and then decided I needed to take them in a little in the center back. I think next time I will add more ease (width) in the legs for sitting as well as making them come up higher on the waist in the back. It seems that all the pants I buy (and now make) are always really low in the back. They tend to fall down when you stand up after sitting down. I am very pleased, despite that. I actually have a pair of shorts that fit! I am not sure I can ever go back to buying pants (that don't fit anyway) in a store.

Pardon the picture, my 9 year old took it on my phone.

I actually surprised myself on this one. I usually get frustrated and give up. This time, I stuck with it and, as Tim Gunn would say I decided to "make it work!" Because, of course, I made these last night while watching Project Runway.

teach your children

While shopping for muslin at JoAnn's yesterday, I decided it would be a great time to teach my children the fine art of embroidery.  This can be as simple as you want it to be.  We headed over to the needlepoint section of the store and picked up a few embroidery hoops, needles and some embroidery floss.  I let the girls pick four colors each.  For less than $10 we were ready to go!  I have a stash of muslin (bleached and unbleached) at home so we didn't need to buy fabric.   For our first design, I put the fabric in the hoop and then drew a heart in the middle.  I started each of them with a heart. 

They picked the which floss color to use.  I threaded their needles, tied one end, and showed them in a few stitches how it goes.  Ashley took off and finished with no problems.  Alona had a hard time keeping the thread in the needle but finished quite well.  Natalie had trouble but got the idea.  She almost finished half her heart before she wanted me to take over.  I tied the floss when they finished.  They were all so very proud of their accomplishments.

We are just doing a running stitch to begin.  If you aren't familiar with embroidery stitches, you can find them easily by googling it.  I liked how Needle 'N Thread has so many free resources.  This is the page with the basic stitches.  They also have how tos for more stitches than just the basics.  They also have some free patterns.  They thoroughly enjoyed learning to "stitch" and asked to do more today.  I asked each of the girls what they would like to "stitch."  Ashley wanted a flower (she wanted a tulip but didn't tell me until after I started drawing on her fabric and I don't know how to draw a tulip).  Alona wanted a giant star.  Natalie chose a triangle.  I threaded their needles again and tied the end of the floss.  None of them needed any help with the stitching this time.  Ashley didn't get to finish hers as she is using 3 different colors and I didn't get a chance to thread the last one for her.  I think she is probably about ready to add another stitch to her repertoire.  I am thinking the back stitch.

I used about a size 4 needle with 3 of the six strands of floss that are in DMC embroidery floss.  This size needle had no problem going through the fabric (too bid a needle and it can be hard for children to pull the eye through).  The kids haven't mastered threading a needle yet, so I do that for them.  Tying the knot in the floss can be difficult as well, so I am doing that for now as well.  Keeping the designs simple is essential for young children.  Ashley is ready for more detailed designs.  I am not sure about Alona yet- I will let her set her own pace.  Natalie is content with basic shapes.  The key (with my kids, at least) is to do it when they are ready, let them choose the colors and designs, and make it as fun as possible!  This is a great way to keep them entertained during the HOT summer, since we are stuck inside all the time and they love TV and computers a little too much.

sewing for an adult

When I was a teen, I would often sew for myself.  It was nice because my mother was there to help me with anything I wasn't comfortable doing.  Of course, when you are young and thin things also fit so much better.  Since I've reached adulthood, I don't really sew for myself.  I've made two Halloween costumes and tried to make a skirt.  The first costume was back in my single- and much thinner- days.  I was the snow queen from the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale.  I made a white dress with an organza overdress.  The other one was a poodle skirt done in probably 30 minutes- very last minute and done carelessly.  The skirt turned out fine, but it wasn't in a particularly great fabric.  I have pretty much stuck to sewing for children.  You don't have to fit it to them and, in my girls' cases, they are pretty skinny.  I moved on to home decor- slipcovers, pillows, and some quilts for the girls.  Then I discovered all of the fun handbag patterns out there.  Just recently, I decided it was time to conquer knits as well.  I am really breaking out of my comfort zone lately!
This summer, I have discovered several blogs where people post pictures of clothes they have made.  They look GREAT!  Their clothes fit them perfectly and look professional.  Looking at the pictures, I find myself thinking, "why can't I sew that well?"  Then I realized it.  I CAN SEW THAT WELL.  I just have to put forth the effort.  Adjusting and fitting the pattern to my body is the real issue.  I have never really done that.  It is not something my mother taught me, but what I need the most to improve my craft.
So far this summer I have made myself a shirt (a knit shirt at that!) and a denim skirt.  I need to work on the front waistline of the skirt still to get it to fit perfectly, but I think it is a cute skirt and it is long enough for church.  I am currently working a pair of shorts.  I am using McCall pattern 5391 view E and I think it is going to be great.  If the shorts turn out well enough, I will make several pair in different colors. 
I started by making the pattern up in muslin.  I adjusted it to fit better.  It took quite a bit of adjusting, but I took that muslin and used it to make a second muslin.  The second one didn't take as much adjusting to get right.  Once I get the fit just right, I can use the muslin to help get any pant pattern to fit properly.  Making a pattern up in muslin several times might seem like a waste of time and fabric, but so would making a pair of pants that don't fit and therefore never get worn.  I researched fitting for hours on the internet before and during the muslin process.  I feel like I am really beginning to understand it all now.  I will post pictures once the shorts are done!