This evening I'm just going to talk sort of randomly about various different topics.
I have beets in a pressure canner...numbers 110 - 116 of my canned vegetables this year. I'm very proud. The canning for the long winter is very symbolic, and amazingly cheap. I was pretty impressed with myself until a friend of mine told me she hated canning and would never do it again. Apparently her family canned over a thousand cans of vegetables every year since she was a little girl. She was put to work, elbows deep in tomato mush since the age of 8. I can see how that would end an interest in preservation.
The trick with pressure canning is to trust in science. Or so I imagine. This is my second shot at it...so I can swagger a little out of pride and ignorance.
Trust what the USDA/University of Georgia National Center for Home Food Preservation has to say. Trust the gov'ment's socialist canning instructions.
The canning is all part of the collection of experiences one needs in case the end of the world is nigh...except.......except I'd probably need to stock up on canning lids. In my nightmarish Max Max, post apocalyptic peak oil world, the Ball jar company in Muncie, Indiana / Bloomfield, Colorado still manufactures lids and distributes them at my friendly neighborhood supermarket.
Or as I call it, the trading post.
But...whatever. Details.
Details.
...interestingly...it's gotten difficult to find certain sizes of jars and canning lids in Muskegon. Pint jars are a rare find. Early in the year, the stores had massive towers of them, with boxes upon boxes of lids.
Now they're gone.
I can only imagine a lot of other accidental "urban settlers" like myself -- mostly male I can only imagine because working with your Ball jars is as manly as it gets -- have discovered the fact that veggies and fruits can be snapped up at the Farmer's Market for 1/4 the cost of the canned stuff from the store, and then canned at home.
Some random periodical in Maryland has this headline...
"Home Canning's Appeal Widens"
And this Penn State article said...
Home canning on the rise again, but do it safely, expert warns
Folks are canning more, apparently. And you know what?
That's good.
Okay...so there's a small increase in botulism, but a large increase in buying massive amounts of cabbage and wax beans at the local farmer's market. And that's a win if you're of the locavore mindset. Local food. Local economy. Local farmers.
Economic implosion isn't ALL bad.
It's just really damn time consuming. I spent two frickin' hours preparing and canning my beets.
I can only imagine it's going to be worth it in the end when all I have to do is wander down and pluck a can of tomatoes and peaches from the shelf in the middle of February and not have to make a trip to the "trading post."
The Farmer's market is wonderfully packed with foods these days. Half bushels of locally grown beets, tomatoes, plums, pears, peaches, apples, jalapenos...some folks selling bell peppers by the half bushel...huge piles of squash and pumpkins and cabbage.
A new farmer's market has recently been gaining momentum near where I live, the Sweetwater Market, a year-round organic farmer's market.
I get my eggs there.
Or at least I do, now.
$3 per dozen seemed outrageous for a while. But when the point is made that it's store bought eggs plus the price of a 12 oz can of Mountain Dew...it starts to seem like more of a good deal. Plus, it's good to know I'm feeding my kids at least ONE protein source that isn't corn related.
I may look into pickling eggs.
I do like a good pickled egg.
And this is where we get to the epilogue... About how folks are looking for ways, ANY ways, to reduce overall costs while reaching for the comfort of the past for a sense of stability. I admit that, lately, when I feel stressed I find myself moved by an overwhelming desire to stockpile food. I went to a presentation on impending economic issues on Monday and afterward I found myself at the "trading post" eying the price of dried beans.
Frankly, I much prefer my brother in law's recent hobby of brewing and stockpiling his own beer.
That's something I intend to follow suit with under his wise guidance.
Mmmm....beer.
As the wise saying goes, all beer has food value, but not all food has beer value.
Dammit...i just went outside and stubbed my foot on a piece of wood and now have a bit of skin hanging off my bloody toe.
Did i mention I'm also calming myself by using wood for heat?
It's all very zen.
Except when i mutilate my toe.