a day in the life--sorta.

so yesterday i went and exchanged my saucemaker at rural king because the spring that leveraged the spiral to feed food through kept popping through the little metal contraption that is supposed to keep tension on the spring.  WELL.  i go to use it today and there isn't even a shaft and spiral in the new one!  wtf.

so i guess i'm not doing that until i get another one, because i am not using my chinois on tomatoes.  it was hell making applesauce in!

i really just want to sew, but i'll post pictures of what i've been doing instead.

please ignore the messy stovetop in the first shot, i've been busy okay?!

the doubledecker pressure canner i'm currently borrowing, the seal on mine is shot.

the "pantry cabinet" above the 'fridge.  lookin' good, right?

all the other cans stashed in the basement, along with winter squash.

oh yeah.  i've become a canning master.  i started last year but didn't do much because frankly, i just wasn't that into it.  i made a few jars of salsa verde, burnt the hell out of a large batch of spaghetti sauce (and used it anyway), and i think that was about it.  keith and his aunt canned some pickles, but they were soft and i didn't like them much.  oh, i made pickled beets last year, they went over hugely with keith.  he ravaged them before i even got to try them. 

this year, i've made some hundred-fifty-odd cans (i think?  at last count anyway) of a ton of different stuff.  lots of jams.  amanda and i went to some orchards and got some fruits, and i made a lot of jams and syrups from them.  and then a ton of applesauce.  and a bunch of greenbeans.  just a lot of food, you know?  sweet stuffs, savory stuffs, stuff for soups, stuff for everything.  and i bet keith wipes it out the first snowfall.

this gaillardia makes me so happy.  it's so bright and perky.

this is actually still blooming, but it's an old picture.  isn't it just gorgeous?

heirlooms ftw!

these are some gorgeous heirloom tomatoes that i made a few batches of tomato sauce out of.  aren't they beautiful?  i swear i didn't mess with the colours in photoshop or anything.  the window caught a bunch of flash though--and please ignore my messy storage containers.  and my note to remember to take the bay leaves out of the tomato sauce, even though i forgot to anyway.

but anyway, today i canned four quarts of green beans that really needed to be canned a few days ago, but i popped them in cold water and they snapped right back into shape.   the miracle of cold water on tired vegetables, y'know?

i feel like ther--

oh yeah.

i have some neat crafts for the next few days, if i ever get done canning to get around to them.  keep your eyes peeled, internets.  whomever you are.  i hope you aren't some crazy stalker, seriously, because i just can't handle that sort of attention.  especially if you're from decatur.  you creep.

but okay, i really think that's all for now.  so.  bye?

xoxo - sierra.