Peaches, Pears, Grapes, Chickens—Oh My!!!

Well, I did it again, I have let the canning stuff stack up on me. At least now it isn’t so hot, so it actually feels good to have the canner going in the kitchen. It really is nicer to not have to stay up until after midnight to finish the last canner load. 

A couple of weeks ago I did a survey of the pantry and realized that although I have a lot of applesauce, pears, cherries, plums, and things like tomatoes, canned beans, etc., I was pretty low on peaches. So when I saw the Aagard Utah fruit ladies post on Facebook I ordered a couple of boxes of peaches and a half a box of pears. The pears will be for eating and maybe some jam. The peaches should produce about 24 quarts or so to add to what is already back there. 

The problem came when I unloaded them. I figured they would have to sit a while to get fully ripe, so I was figuring probably doing the canning on Thursday or Friday. Alas, they are fully ripe, so will need to be put in jars post-haste. And that isn’t the worst. A friend offered me a “bucket” of grapes. Well, I am unable to turn down anything that can be put in jars, so I accepted, picked them up on Saturday. They were also dead ripe. So Sunday afternoon was spent stemming grapes and running them through the steam juicer. Today, Monday, was spent canning the juice and straightening the kitchen up and tomorrow will be spent putting peaches in jars. 

And why are the chickens in the title? 

Because the stinking things refuse to lay their eggs in the coop unless I leave them shut in! When they started laying the number climbed and I was tickled. But then all of a sudden the numbers started dropping. And guess what? It coincided with the time I started letting them out of the coop early in the morning so they could eat grasshoppers. 

On Saturday night I got five eggs from 13 young hens that I know have been laying regularly. I have also noticed that when I let them out in the morning they make a beeline for the area around our old camper and the accumulation of stuff that has grown up around it. I am sure that is where my eggs are ending up. So Sunday I left them shut up until about 4 p.m. When I gathered eggs that evening there was 12 in the nests. So from now on they will have to be shut up until about late afternoon. But that is okay, because the grasshoppers are about done. 

And what is next on the canning agenda? Tomatoes. Well actually, tomato vegetable juice. We go through about 60 quarts a year. Of course, there will be salsa and possibly some spaghetti sauce too. And later some chicken, I have 9 old hens and two roosters that need to go bye-bye. 

Iowa Corn on the Cob

An Iowa woman says. “Most good cooks in our neighborhood rush the corn from the garden, use a dry vegetable brush to handle the stubborn silk, and drop the ears into boiling water to cover. They cook it 8 minutes_ never more than 10. But I get more praise from folks around the table when I cover the corn with cold water; bring it to a boil- then drain the steaming ears and serve them at once. No smart cook adds salt to the corn cooking water. It toughens the kernels.”

From the Farm Journal’s Timesaving Country Cookbook. Copyright 1961