Michigan

[1muttsfan]

You can still get high-acid canning tomatoes. However, it is much safer to just add the lemon juice. I think if our forebearers that canned had access to lemon juice, they would have happily used it to lower the risk of botulism. Just about everyone back then knew someone that had sickened or died on home-canned foods.

Use tested recipes. And stick to them. That is the safest way to can.

 

[sarah92480]

Oh Sarah, my dear, you flatter me. But don't stop.

Anytime, sweets

Of those plants, only one is considered a "weed". The lilac.

Is that really true, it's considered a weed? That is very interesting.


Quote:

I have a fool proof method of tear-free onion chopping: I make The Man do it. Hahaha!

running the cold water over your hands before and a litte during the cutting of the onions will also stop the funky smell from sticking to your hands. It's the only thing i know of that will, i love (cooked) onions, the smell that seems to last for days, notsomuch.

If you have a stainless steel sink, rub your hands along it for a minute or so after you cut onions or handle fish. There's something in or on the stainless that helps neutralize these odors. It works so well that in fact, you can usually buy from specialty home stores like Pampered Chef or Williams-Sonoma (maybe even Bed Bath & Beyond) a thing that looks like a bar of soap but it is actually stainless steel. You use it as if you are washing your hands with it to get rid of or lessen these odors:
http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howthingswork/f/blstainlessodor.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Blomus-63113-Stainless-Steel-Soap/dp/B00008W6A5


Quote:

Why do they call it canning when the stuff goes in jars?
Shouldn't it be called "jarring"?

So true. lol

Opa - Don't underestimate my ability at achieving the near impossible. If I can explode eggs, or corningwear, or glass bowls in my kitchen. Don't think I don't have the ability to explode a pressure cooker. BTW...do you know that boiled eggs turn into BOMBS if you let the water run out while their cooking? It's quite fascinating. Not so much fun cleaning egg off your ceiling but hey...if you wanted to scare the crap out of someone...thats one way to do it.

That is too funny, but yea I dont envy cleaning that mess up!!

Yippee! I'd like to can tomato's (plain and sauces) and pickles specifically. Hopefully my tomatoes decide to ripen this year. I had LOADS on the plants last year....all still green by October :/
I'll post a picture of this pressure cooker my MIL sent over when I get home.

I had that same problem too, I planted tomatoes and I had to pick most of them while still green to ripen on the counter because it was freezing at nights in the fall. My garden area doesn't have good soil for tomatoes so I'm gonna plant some regular size tomatoes in a pot and I have my cherry tomatoes growing in another pot; we'll see what happens.

Welcome to any new people I missed!

Does anyone know how to make a twitch go away or stop?? My thumb has been twitching crazily all day and it is driving me nuts!!

I am definitely ready for gardening season...that week of awesome weather has spoiled me and now I'm annoyed again about the cold. When will it be 70 outside?? Gahh!

I have my 2nd interview tomorrow afternoon for that new job, and oh I HOPE she wants to employ me. I sooo need to get away from my current job before I run out in front of a bus!

So anyway how has everyone's day been? Mine has been so long. But in 2 hours it'll be over and I can go home to relax for a minute. I love all this talk about canning and harvesting and such! We should totally exchange some recipes some time! I have some events I have to cook for this summer, I'd love to try some new things.

 

[NovaAman]

I am not sure if I will be giving the FFH here in Holland my business anymore. I may like the variety they have, but I do not like the irresponsible people who work in there.

I took my boys to see the chicks and the ducks. They have some 3 wk old ducks yesterday and offered me them for a dollar a peice. I almost got them. Some one did. We looked at the black sex links, and there were 5 chicks that were obviously older than the ones they were in with. They were not as active as the ones they were in with. They had no food, filthy water, in fact some of the bins had no water, and just about all the bins had no food. WELL these five chicks were being eaten. Literally eaten. Some of them had no tail feathers left, and bloody bottoms. Some were missing all the feathers from the backs, and were scabbing. I went up and asked for the manager, and told her. Told her they didn't have food and water and several of the chicks were pecked badly. She tells me all snotty like, "We feed them in the morning and clean them out at night. We are in the process of that right now." I told her, well there are chicks that are pecked bloody. I asked to buy those chicks and she said she couldn't sell them to me, but that they would take care of them. Yeah, culled and discarded. I was so angry. Beyond angry because their is no reason for this to happen in that store. The store is dead. It is not busy like TSC is. And they are just so lazy. The young man who was supposed to be cleaning and checking them, he was just strolling along at a leisurely pace. It was a load of BS.

Now, I feel bad for who ever buys those cannibal chicks. Cuz if those 2 day old chicks are already eating at other chicks to survive... Well that is just disturbing. I wish their were some one else I could complain to. TSC keeps their chicks better than that. Who supplies FFH? Does anyone know?

 

[Olive Hill]

Babygirl -- The tomatoes not ripening last year was due to the weather. Most people got their gardens in late and the weather didn't cooperate for most of the season. Get them in on time and hopefully we'll have a conducive growing season.

Nova -- The same people that supply TSC also supply FF&H and no, they don't care. I mean, feel free to contact them, but you have to understand they're just a hatchery. They send out thousands of chicks to unknown conditions -- many far worse than FF&H -- every day. Pecking happens, happens even to backyard keepers, take a quick jaunt through the forums and you'll find countless threads on it. The chicks who are pecking are not going to be permanently negatively effected, no need to feel sorry for their eventual owner. As for the "culled and discarded", it's part of the business. Have you ever bought pullets? People on here do it all the time. And every time someone orders pullets an equal number of roosters is "culled and discarded". Are those people horrible, horrible people? Look, I don't like to see them in poor conditions anymore than anyone else, but you really cannot know what their work load is like in that store or what they're dealing with, with those specific chicks. Have you brooded hundreds of chicks? I have. It's an entirely different ball game than brooding a handful. Do you know if they were short handed today? If they received a shipment in the back that needed to be sorted? If they were dealing with audits? A visit from a regional manager? None are good excuses for chicks to be in squalor, but a temporarily empty feeder and some chip-filled water isn't squalor in and of itself. Pecking happens, food dishes run out, chips get kicked into water dishes. None of it makes a store the very spawn of Satan. A little benefit of the doubt can go a long way. JMO.

 

[chicken grandma]

Nova,
We had some little chicks in Hawaii that were pecking each other bloody. I returned them to our feed store there. We assumed they were the little fighting chickens. Never had that before or after.

THANKS everyone for the canning advice. IS THERE ANYTHING RISKY ABOUT FREEZING TOMATOES,FRUITS, VEGETABLES OR SAUCES?

 

[RIRJen]

1st batch of eggs went into lockdown last night...I keep going over and watching the eggs for movement lol...I know...sad
2nd batch (from GA, not my birds) gets locked down tomorrow! So far we still have 17 of the original 30! I need to get moving on that coop so I can put the chicks out there when they're old enough!!

 

[sarah92480]

I have never been to that store and that sounds atrocious so I'm glad. There's a small chain feed store here in Lansing that I stopped in on my lunch hour for the fun of it a couple weeks ago, and it was nasty too. All the chicks had really gross water, not much food, and a bunch of them looked like they had pasty butts. I was so disgusted, and also happy that I didn't buy mine from there. I went to another branch of that same store and while their chicks looked healthy, the people working were idiots. I asked the guy "are these actually still all pullets or are they straight run?" (because they seem to change their signs around & i wanted to make sure). He said they were "straight run pullets". And I may not be a chicken expert, but that didn't make sense to me? I told the guy, "a pullet is a FEMALE young chicken, I wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any males, that's why I'm asking". He says "well I've gotten a bunch of pullets before and they were roosters." And the other girl working there appeared to know less than him. I had contemplated buying a couple because they were so dang cute but I thought either he was a complete moron or I was, so I just walked out after giving him a simultaneously increduluous and annoyed look. I'll stick to just buying dog food there.

 

[sarah92480]

Nova,
We had some little chicks in Hawaii that were pecking each other bloody. I returned them to our feed store there. We assumed they were the little fighting chickens. Never had that before or after.

THANKS everyone for the canning advice. IS THERE ANYTHING RISKY ABOUT FREEZING TOMATOES,FRUITS, VEGETABLES OR SAUCES?

You lived in Hawaii? I'M SO JEALOUS!!
I dont think there's anything risky about freezing as far as your health is concerned, but maybe for quality there might be; some stuff obviously doesn't freeze well or at all. Not 100% sure but that's what I'd think.

 

[NovaAman]

Babygirl -- The tomatoes not ripening last year was due to the weather. Most people got their gardens in late and the weather didn't cooperate for most of the season. Get them in on time and hopefully we'll have a conducive growing season.

Nova -- The same people that supply TSC also supply FF&H and no, they don't care. I mean, feel free to contact them, but you have to understand they're just a hatchery. They send out thousands of chicks to unknown conditions -- many far worse than FF&H -- every day. Pecking happens, happens even to backyard keepers, take a quick jaunt through the forums and you'll find countless threads on it. The chicks who are pecking are not going to be permanently negatively effected, no need to feel sorry for their eventual owner. As for the "culled and discarded", it's part of the business. Have you ever bought pullets? People on here do it all the time. And every time someone orders pullets an equal number of roosters is "culled and discarded". Are those people horrible, horrible people? Look, I don't like to see them in poor conditions anymore than anyone else, but you really cannot know what their work load is like in that store or what they're dealing with, with those specific chicks. Have you brooded hundreds of chicks? I have. It's an entirely different ball game than brooding a handful. Do you know if they were short handed today? If they received a shipment in the back that needed to be sorted? If they were dealing with audits? A visit from a regional manager? None are good excuses for chicks to be in squalor, but a temporarily empty feeder and some chip-filled water isn't squalor in and of itself. Pecking happens, food dishes run out, chips get kicked into water dishes. None of it makes a store the very spawn of Satan. A little benefit of the doubt can go a long way. JMO.

Olive... The store was empty. There were 2 other customers their. 3 employees up at the desk, chit chatting, and 1 employee learning how to do the floor scrubber machine, and then the kid that was taking his time getting to the chicks. I understand what you are saying. I do. BUT, their is no reason that they can not keep the chicks feed and watered. Feeding Once in the morning and then at night before closing... This is at 5:30 that we were in there. The place was dead. Its always dead there. I am sorry... Just really angry over it. I do not see a reason for it when 3 people are just standing around shooting the breeze. After I complained, 2 of those people joined the young man, and one of the ladies was like, Oh which chicks? Then she corrected me on what the chicks were, like that freaking mattered. They were in the Auracana bin. Period. They were bloody. Period. No food, no water. NOT ACCEPTABLE to me. Not when they are trying to sell. How does that make you want to buy? Seeing bloodied chicks who have no food or water?

 

[EeyoreD]

I think you're right Sarah, freezing is pretty safe but it mostly effects the texture (or "mouth feel" for you foodies). It really depends on what you want to do with it after. For instance I spread out gallons of my grape tomatoes on a cookie sheet and quick froze them then dumped them into ziplocs. I wouldn't eat them raw because they just would be mushy but they're awesome to toss a handful into a sauce or even roast up.

Blanching helps when freezing for color and texture but generally speaking I don't like stuff out of the freezer in anything but cooked or baked products. But in those they're awesome.