Ladyhawk comes home

Well, today our friend and neighbor, Jerry Yourczeck, drove his truck and trailer down to my son, Bill’s place with me, to pick up the Friesian filly I’ve been paying on all winter.  I was excited; it was the first time I’ve bought a horse in over 18 years.  And Ladyhawk was kind of "you’ve survived cancer" treat to myself.
 
Her breeder and her husband drove her up from Gays Mills, Wisconsin and we met at Bill and Kelly’s so neither of us had to drive overly far.
 
It was love at first sight.  Her pictures weren’t lying.  She’s gorgeous!  And on her lower legs were the start of the fine wavy feathering that is the trademark of the Friesian horse.
 
She was calm and cooperative, hauled well and we got her home in fine shape.  You should have seen our donkeys, Moose and Beauty!  They wondered what the heck I’d brought home.  They were afraid of her, even though she’s smaller than they are.  But in a few days they’ll all be buddies.
 
I even got to visit my newest grandson, Mason, while I was there.  He’s growing so fast and is oh too cute!  What a smile! I had a great day, even though it was over too fast.
 
Now I’ve got a new baby in our barn to play with.  Not as cute as Mason, but gorgeous nevertheless!!

Readers’ questions:

Finding  bush berries

You have mentioned in your writings about bush cherries. I am having a hard time finding a
source to buy them .Can you reccomend one?

Kendy Lucas
West Plains, Missouri

Several mail order nurseries carry Hansen’s bush cherries and Nanking cherries.  Jungs has the Hansen’s bush cherries.  These are very good for jams and jellies and not too bad to eat out of hand, but they are stretching it when they say "good for pies".  I’m sure not going to pit all those small cherries!!!!  The bushes are very beautiful in full bloom in the spring, so they also make a great edible landscaping shrub. — Jackie

Starting with food storage

I have been digging through the Emergency Preparedness and Survival Guide, and it is the
best, realistic book on this topic that I have found. The sections on food preparation are excellent, and it is apparent that as you are preparing for an emergency, you are also eating better, healthier food! Where is the best place to start with food storage? Should I try canning first, or food dehydrating? Any thoughts on the best place to start? I hope that within the next year I can do some of both!

Taylor Mack
Ruston, Louisiana

The best place to start is anywhere, anything.  The best time?  NOW!  Pick up foods that are good storage candidates, when they come on sale every time you grocery shop.  Just a few extras every time, and you’ll soon be on your way to a fat pantry.  Then, as you get the time, begin canning and dehydrating the "easy" foods, fruits, green beans, etc.  Once you find out how easy and fun it is….not to mention how good the foods are….you’ll get hooked.  It happens to most everyone who tries it!  I often can AND dehydrate the same foods I’m processing.  I’ll do up a big batch of green beans, for instance, canning what will fit into my canner, then dehydrate the rest.  That way I have lots of each.  I promise you’ll love it and the secure feeling it gives you! — Jackie

Dill pickles

I’ve spent several days looking through your blog and Canning 101. I love the articles you write for BHM! I’m excited about canning some of the dry beans I have from this past issue. The question I have is dill pickles. I love them, but mine are terrible! Mushy and yucky. All the canning books say that you have to boiling water bath them, that seems ridiculous since they sit in vinegar. Are yours processed this way? Any suggestions?

Harvard Rexburg
Idaho

Yes, I water bath my dill pickles.  BUT I do it for only 10 minutes, usually, and DO NOT boil them before I pack them into the jars.  The more you boil a cucumber, the softer it gets.  DUH!  With my sliced pickles, I only bring them TO a boil, then quickly pack them and water bath them for 10 minutes, working very quickly so they don’t sit in hot juice or a hot water bath for overly long.
 
And when you do your pickles, always use very fresh cucumbers and soak them in a very cold salt brine to crisp them up before you pickle them.
 
If you don’t water bath process pickles, you’ll end up with part of the pickle sticking up above the brine, which will then spoil and mold.  Yucky stuff! — Jackie

Canning spaghetti

My wife wants to pressure can spagetti meat sauce and pasta (together) for the kids to use on camping trips. Can this be done safely?One of your recent articles cautions against this. However store processed products exist so there must be a way. I am cautious about home canning as the potential for botulism is terrifying to me. Especially to think I could be lax or ignorant in food preparation and harm my children. Any info would be appreciated as my wife and I are divided over this issue.

Allen Brown
Ponce de Leon, Florida

You CAN add pasta to your spaghetti/meat sauce.  Just don’t over-do it so that the end product is very thick.  This can cause the very center of the food in the jar to remain too cool to process safely.  What I do is to make up my sauce, then add the spaghetti, and just barely get it limp enough to fit into the jars easily.  Remember that spaghetti, like all pasta, swells quite a bit during canning, so allow for that, not packing too much into the jar.  Simply process for the time required for the spaghetti with meat sauce.
 
Don’t worry so much about the botulism thing; it’s really quite rare, more of a "possibility", rather than a common occurrence. — Jackie