I brought Mom home from rehab at the nursing home Friday. And we look on it as a major miracle. When she was in the hospital with a severe bladder infection, we were almost sure she wouldn’t be alive in a week; her kidneys started to fail and she slept nearly all the time. When she was awake, she barely knew us and was unable to speak a sentence. Luckily, with a good doctor and antibiotics I.V., she pulled through. And at 93, going on 94, that was something. Then she went to rehab, as she was still VERY weak and not eating well. But day by day, she improved!

Now she is back to the same old Mom, looking at her flower catalogs, planning on buying new plants for spring, and taking cuttings from her houseplants.

So NEVER give up! Even when the days look very dark ahead. Miracles DO happen from time to time.

Readers’ Questions:

Canning cheese sauce

Cheese in a can, for nacho etc. I can’t seem to find any smaller than a gallon in our area. Once opened it sours quickly even in refrigerator. Freezing doesn’t work well either, plus takes up a lot of space. Is there a way to “can” the excess in glass jars? I don’t have an adjustable pressure cooker. But I do have a pressure cooker, anyway to do canning even without a pressure cooker? I’m a 6000 feet plus.

Steve Launer
Cheyenne, Wyoming

Although canning cheese is still an “experimental” recipe (there are no “approved” methods by government experts), folks have been canning and re-canning #10 cans of cheese sauce successfully for years, me included. I open a #10 can of cheese sauce, then put it in my oven at the lowest setting until the cheese is hot (not cooked). Then I quickly fill hot jars, leaving 1/2″ of headspace, wipe the rims, place hot, previously simmered lids on the jars and screw down the ring firmly tight. I process pints and half pints in a boiling water bath canner for 60 minutes. For higher than 6,000 feet (6,000-8,000 feet) altitudes, you will be increasing your processing to 75 minutes.  I use this cheese sauce a lot and we sure love its versatility. — Jackie

Gardening and preserving while working full time

I am particularly interested in canning some of the meal in jar ideas and ground meat and poultry…
Currently, our circumstances seem to mean that I may be taking on a full time job soon — including a long drive. If I’m hired I’ll be gone 5 days a week for about 11 hours a day. I still want to do my garden and do more canning — I’m just sure that having things like taco meat mix ready in a jar will make working so much easier on me. I guess that means canning will be relegated to days off, and I’ll need to get Hubby’s help.

My question is — if you had just a few days a month you could spare to do food preserving– how much do you think you could accomplish? Have you ever been in that situation? Do you think its nuts to try to do that AND work away full time?

Mary Thompson
Catawba, South Carolina

No I don’t think you’re nuts! You can accomplish a whole lot in your “spare” time. I have never been in that exact situation; I’ve worked outside of the home in my younger years and gardened and canned successfully, too. The great thing is that gardening and canning are very relaxing and pretty undemanding, as well. You can do other things while canning: the laundry, washing dishes, making supper, reading a book, or whatever. JUST BE SURE YOU ARE RIGHT THERE when the pressure canner is up to pressure and processing. Sneaking away then is foolhardy and can cause bad things to happen: over-processed food, a blown safety valve, or even (when the safety valve is plugged) a blown canner lid!

Start out relatively simple — smaller garden, less canning — then increase as your confidence increases so you enjoy your food growing and canning instead of becoming stressed out by it. By doing a little here and a little there, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly your pantry will fill up.

It makes things much easier when you have help canning some of the more labor intensive foods. If your husband is willing, the two of you can accomplish much and enjoy it while you do! — Jackie

Organ meats

My husband and son just brought home elk. My son and his wife do not eat liver so I have a lot of liver and a couple of hearts in the fridge. We love liver and onions, but maybe not that much liver and onions. Do you do anything different with yours? How about the heart, got any good recipes for that?

Shirley Wikstrom
Stevenson, Washington

I’d can up some of that liver and onions! Just slice the liver into pieces about an inch thick, in pieces that will fit into a wide mouth jar. Pre-cook a bit to lightly brown the liver, then add your sliced onions. Pack into jars, leaving an inch of headspace. Make a broth out of your pan drippings and pour that boiling, over your liver, leaving 1″ of headspace. Process at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes (pints) or 90 minutes (quarts). If you live at an altitude over 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on increasing your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary.

I’m not a big heart fan; I usually just peel and grind the heart with my other venison and make burger from it. — Jackie

Wrapping trees with screen

You indicated that you cut screens to put around young trees. Do you put the screens tight around the trees or do you leave a little space and how do you secure the screening?

Rhona and Brad Barrie
Strong, Maine

I try to put the screen fairly tight around the trees, wrapping it so there are a few layers. I secure it with used hay twine; I wouldn’t use wire as it could possibly damage the trunk of young trees. Protecting the trunks of young trees, even those with a diameter of 1-3″, with wire is totally necessary as voles, mice, and rabbits WILL eventually girdle and kill your beautiful trees without it. Mom thought her 2″ trunk on her favorite crabapple was plenty big enough to resist the critters. Wrong. In the spring, it was girdled white three inches high and dead. That’s such a sad discovery! — Jackie

Canning soup

I made some beef vegetable soup with barley which was very good and would like to make more to can. I am using 1 cup barley in 8 quarts of soup. How long should I cook it before canning it? Also, how tightly do you pack your meat in jars? Would you mind showing a picture? I am starting to can more meat as I only have to pay for the electricity once and don’t have to wait for it to thaw.

Julia Crow
Gardnerville, Nevada

I would just make your soup and can it after the barley is barely tender; it doesn’t get mushy. I pack meats differently, depending on what they are. For instance, lightly browned ground meat is gently settled with a wood spoon; you don’t want it all mushed together or it will get like meatloaf. Diced meat can be more firmly packed, as are larger chunks. Just be sure to leave 1″ of headspace. Check out the picture on the blog of my canned smoked pork shoulder. Bear in mind that it shrank on processing, as the fat cooked out of it. To start with, it filled all but about half an inch all around it in the jars. (It was pre-roasted and hot broth was poured over it in the jars.) I LOVE my canned meats! — Jackie

Bitter bell pepper

I live in deep south Louisiana. Still have bell peppers growing in the garden and on the last picking they are bitter. What causes this?

Anne Martin
DeQuincy, Louisiana

The most common cause of bitter bell peppers is not enough watering. Try watering more, if this is the case, and you’ll quickly see an improvement in the taste. — Jackie

Deterring critters from the garden

I just read where you said to put wire fencing on the ground to deter critters from eating your garden. I was wondering if it might not work as well to just border your garden with it since the animals are apparently afraid to walk on it. Also, do you think it might deter fox and coyotes from going after my chickens if I border a large area with it where they range?

Lori
Southwest Ohio

No, I didn’t say to put wire fencing on the ground; that has never worked for me. My wire fencing is on 8′ posts, 6′ high, around my garden, orchard, and berry patch. I’ve had deer walk on wire, crawl under my deck, find open narrow gates, and, of course, hop over 5′ fencing to get in. I wouldn’t count on wire laying on the ground from getting your chickens, either. After all, they will dig under it, and even chew through light wire so walking on it wouldn’t be much of a challenge. Critters are a lot smarter than some people think! — Jackie

Making jerky, bologna, and how to prepare rhubarb for the winter

I know you are terribly busy, and may not have time to answer any or all of my questions. Do you have a recipe for deer jerky and deer bologna? Also I have first year rhubarb, what needs done to it before winter sets in here? We have had one hard freeze, hopefully it is OK. Take care, hope everyone is feeling better, my family had it too. Pretty bad stuff. Enjoy all your articles, only wish I had one-half of your knowledge.

Mary Ann Nelson
Franklin, West Virginia

Here are the recipes you wanted. With the jerky, you can substitute any spices and seasonings you wish, to suit your family’s taste. I make a dozen different jerkys and we like ‘em all!

BASIC JERKY

3 lbs lean venison or beef
3/4 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke

Remove all fat from meat and cut it into 1/2″ strips or rounds (I do this when I jerk backstrap or tenderloin). For more tender jerky, cut across the grain of the meat; for traditional jerky, cut with the grain for more chewy jerky. (For us old folks, I grind the meat without fat and make strips of that for even easier chewing; I use a “jerky shooter”…kind of a cookie press for meat available at most stores that carry canning/hunting supplies.

In a large crock or glass dish, combine the ingredients, except for meat, stirring well. Add meat, cover, and refrigerate. It helps to “slosh” the marinade over the meat a time or two during marinating time. In the morning, drain the meat and lay in your dehydrator, set at 145-150 degrees. Dehydrate until quite hard but still a bit pliable. Pliable jerky will NOT keep at room temperature for lengthy periods of time. Old-fashioned jerky was dried stick hard and would keep indefinitely. Store your jerky in airtight containers in the fridge or freezer if you plan on keeping it for a lengthy period of time. Ours never lasts more than a week!

HOMEMADE BOLOGNA

25 lbs. of ground venison burger (mixed with beef fat for the fat content in the burger)
3/4 lb. Tender Quick
1 qt. warm water

Mix and let stand, covered, overnight in refrigerator

The next morning, add:

1 Tbsp. black pepper
1/2 cup seasoned salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. garlic
1 tsp. liquid smoke
1 qt. warm water

Mix very well and pack into hot, wide mouth jars, leaving 1″ of headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars clean and place jars in a large roasting pan with warm water coming up to the shoulders of the jars. Insert a meat thermometer in the center of the meat in the center jar and turn on the oven to 200 degrees. Heat jars of meat until temperature in the center of the center jar reaches 170 degrees. Immediately place on hot, previously simmered lids and screw down rings firmly tight. Process at 10 pounds pressure for 75 minutes (pints) or 90 minutes (quarts). If you live at an altitude above 1,000 feet, consult your canning book for directions on adjusting your pressure to suit your altitude, if necessary. DO NOT USE THIS METHOD AND SKIP THE PRE-HEATING OF YOUR MEAT; IT IS NOT SAFE BECAUSE THE MEAT IS SO DENSE.

Your rhubarb will be just fine. It won’t hurt to cover the plants with a nice mulch, just to be sure. But rhubarb is a very, very tough plant! That’s one reason I love it so much. — Jackie

Today I finished up the last minute harvest in our garden. It was windy, wintery, and raw, but I pulled two five-gallon buckets of rutabagas and another one of carrots. That’s it. I’m done. All but putting the garden to bed for winter. If it gets done, this year…

I’m busily cutting old screens I saved from the dump to make protective sleeves for all our fruit trees so the sneaky voles don’t tunnel under the snow this winter and girdle them. It’s pretty disheartening to have the snow go away, only to find chewed, white bare circles around the bark of your treasured fruit trees and knowing that they are dead. And as we have more than 35 fruit trees now, that’s a lot of cutting and tying! I finished the orchard trees and now have to do the dozen plum and cherry trees on the edge of our big garden. Whew! But it’s a good feeling to know that they are safe.

We had a few kohlrabi that didn’t get pulled this summer and they got HUGE. I left them, as I had other things to do. Today I noticed that the huge bulbs had little bumps on the sides; new little kohlrabis! How weird. Leaves and all! We’re going to have them for dinner tomorrow night and I’ll let you know how they tasted.

The pantry looks great with all those potatoes, onions, carrots, and rutabagas, along with all the other great canned food. How comforting!

Readers’ Questions:

Using grey water to water vegetables

If you use the wash water from washing clothes to water turnips, carrots, and spinach, will it make them have a soapy taste?

Becky Mangum
Ethridge, Tennessee

It could. Instead, use grey water to water such crops as tomatoes, peppers, corn, squash, or others that you don’t directly eat from the root. You could eat spinach if it’s not directly watered so the grey water gets on the leaves. You not only have to think about the soapy taste, but possible bacterial contamination. It’s been found that grey water often has traces of E. coli in it and you could become sick from eating salad greens sprayed with your own grey water. — Jackie

Outdoor stove for canning

I am interested in purchasing an outdoor propane stove for canning or possibly cooking in case of an electrical outage. I read with great interest the article in BHM on how to organize an outdoor canning party. However, even after consulting the experts at Penn State recommended in that article, I cannot determine the best outdoor stove to purchase. In the guidelines to the Presto pressure canner, they recommended no more than a 13,000 btu stove, yet other articles suggested nothing short of 35,000 btu’s to get such a large pot boiling and keep it going at the correct temperature. Some articles even say large pots should be positioned between two burners. Though you did not write the article, could you give me some guidelines that I could use when purchasing a propane cooker for outside cooking and pressure canning?

Ann Stoner
Port Matilda, Pennsylvania

Several catalogs carry a very simple L.P. stovetop that is very inexpensive. Among them are Northern Tool and Harbor Freight. Both of these work very well for canning. You don’t have to position the pot over two burners; one is very adequate and they turn up or down just like your kitchen range, making pressure canning very easy. They hook to a larger propane tank, such as a 20#-100# tank so you get by much cheaper and get more uses before you need a refill.

The one thing I don’t like about canning outdoors is that if there is a stiff breeze, it can crack hot canning jars, right out of the canner. I even close my kitchen window near my kitchen table while removing jars from the canner as long ago I lost four quarts to breeze-related cracks while they were just out of the canner. In the old days, we had summer kitchens outside. These were screened shelters with a kitchen range in them, large tables, and sometimes even a sink. We could get together and process lots of food in a short time without heating up the house. But the windows were able to be closed against a breeze from one side or the other so the jars did not crack.

Now, jars will not crack MOST of the time when you are canning outside, but believe me they can. So watch those breezes! Maybe you could set up in the shelter of the side of your garage or house. I’d hate to see anyone lose precious food! — Jackie

Underground root cellar

I want to build an underground root cellar. The only thing that I can find on the subject is having one in your basement. I don’t have one. Do you know of where (or who) can tell me how to make a root cellar. I know that BHM is selling a book on root cellaring but I am not sure that is what I am needing. I am looking forward to my birthday so I can get your new book. I know that I am going to LOVE it!

Alissa Ray
Morganfield, Kentucky

Yes! Buy the book by the Bubels on root cellaring. It’s really good and gives plenty of alternatives to having a root cellar in your basement. It’s a total coverage on the subject and you’ll get plenty of help there. I hope you like the new book. Happy Birthday! — Jackie

Basic canning video

Totally enjoyed the latest video, Jackie! You know maybe in your spare time (hahaha) a video of some basic canning for the newbies to canning! Enjoy your books, have ‘em all!

Ginger Cornell
Sweet Home, Oregon

That sounds like a great idea, Ginger. The trouble right now is that in my spare time, I sleep. Maybe on down the line we’ll figure something out if Dave and Annie think it’s a good idea. — Jackie

Waterbath canning

Have read your new book cover-to-cover twice and absolutely love it. In a lot of your canning recipes with high acid foods, you use the water bath method. Exactly what does the water bath canning do? I have canned tomato juice, pickled beets, salsa, peaches, pears among other things very successfully without using the water bath method–just fill the jars with the hot food and let them cool. I make sure the jars and the food are very hot, but I have canned this way for 30 years with complete success, all jars seal, and no spoilage. Of course, I use the pressure canner for green beans, canning whole tomatoes, and a host of other low acid foods. Am I missing something?

Barbara Ford
Mount Washington, Kentucky

The method you use was common in years past. It can certainly work. BUT it has “holes” in it. The food is not heated long enough to kill certain molds, bacteria, and other “spoilers” that could not only spoil the food but make you sick. Just like canning green beans or other foods in a water bath canner, for long periods, can work, but it’s not safe, by far. For some foods, such as jams, jellies, or pickles, using the hot pack method that you use, is safer as there is either a very high acid content…like in the pickles or a high sugar/acid mix as in your jellies and jams. Usually these foods, if not properly sealed, will soften or mold, not make you sick. But for others, using the boiling water bath is much safer. If I didn’t feel it was necessary, I sure wouldn’t do it! — Jackie

Large canner

I’ve been researching and shopping (getting a headstart for Christmas!) for a second canner and I’ve all but decided on an All-American. I’m writing to ask your opinion though on if the All-American 930 that boasts it can hold 14 quarts would be the way to go or to stay with a smaller one that can hold only 7 quarts. I know that I want to have a canner tall enough to stack pints but I hadn’t thought about stacking the quarts. I knew you could lead me in the right direction. Thank you for all that you do!

Marlana Ward
Mountain City, Tennessee

I love my old, clunky, huge canner that holds 16 quarts or 22 pints, but it is terribly heavy, even empty. I use that when I’m canning large amounts and want to finish quickly. But I’m now using my smaller canner more often. I can double deck pints and half pints and I still get a lot done at one time — and the clean-up is easier on my back! It’s totally a personal choice; you spend less time doing a batch of canning, or have a lighter canner to handle that will do a decent batch at one setting. — Jackie

Great advice for self-reliance

Love your column and blog. Based on your advice and the instructions in my Ball Blue book, I started pressure canning and dehydrating this summer. Now as I walk into my kitchen, I see the following: home canned veggie-beef soup simmering on the stove, a loaf of homemade bread, a bar of homemade soup by the sink, a very active sourdough starter on the counter, and surplus apples my hubby brought home from Arkansas in the dehydrator. Thanks for being such an awesome mentor for all of us who hope to be as self-reliant as possible!

Marianne Williams
West Monroe, Louisiana

Such letters keep me writing! I’m so happy that you’re so actively becoming more self-reliant. Keep up the good work. — Jackie

Trimming rabbit teeth

I need your help. We are trying to raise rabbits (for pets), but we are running into trouble with their teeth. Right now our buck has teeth that are about 1 1/2 inches and the tops ones are curling back into his mouth, and the lower ones are just too long. He is having trouble eating and I have to help him get his water daily. What can I do? I’ve tried giving him wild plants to eat, but that didn’t help keep his teeth trimmed. Can we do anything ourselves, or do we need to take him to the vet?

Sheila Devane
Seffner, Florida

Unfortunately, this condition is often hereditary. While you can take him to your vet and have his teeth trimmed/filed, I would not use him for breeding because he will likely pass this genetic defect on to his babies. If you still want to keep this buck for a pet, have his teeth trimmed, then keep some wood in his cage for him to chew on. Rabbits like chewing on such wood as apple, pear, aspen, cottonwood, or young willow. Give him wood that is at least a couple inches in diameter, not little twigs or branches. You want him to wear down his teeth naturally, if possible. This may or may not keep this problem from recurring. — Jackie

Off flavor in boar meat

I was reading about domestic boar pigs and that sometimes their meat has an off flavor etc. How can someone have a breeding program and still use the meat from boars? Also for young male pigs, does castration prevent the off flavors in adult meat?

Todd Goodnight
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Yes. The meat from boar pigs often does have a bad flavor and smell when cooking. What I did when we raised many pigs was to use a young boar to breed my sows, then when they were safely bred, I would castrate him. After feeding him for a few more months, he would be butchered while still weighing about 250-275 pounds. There was never any off taste or odor and the meat was delicious. By using a young boar, he could be castrated when still light enough to be manageable, then butchered at a little above “ideal” weight. It worked well for me

And yes, again. Castrating young boar pigs while they are still on the sow or thereafter, prevents this off taste. — Jackie