Wednesday, December 30, 2009

The New Goat House!

So we have decided to build a new goat house. You can't call it a pen as it's BIG. Since it looks like our dream house has been sold, we have basically decided we are happy staying here and maybe expanding our house. More on that down the road. We are still in debate mode.


But since we are here the goats need a new pen, but this thing is BIG. It's 8x10 to stay within code so we don't have to get permits. You can see the second photo we cleared the area on Tuesday, We found all the wood from around our property and cut it down to size, very surprised we have nearly all the wood we needed. We need maybe 2-3 more pieces and that is it? Shocking.


See we collect wood, all summer long I respond to any wood posting on freecycle and craigslist and my poor hubby runs up and gets it. Well this is why we do this. To get to this point in the goat house it has not costs us a cent. We think we can finish this for less then 20 bucks. So we are trying to head out daily to do something towards this house. Yesterday we cleared the area, and found and cut all the wood in the freezing cold might I add?

Today we built the sub floor until it started to rain so bad we had to come in. Tomorrow we are looking to put in supports in the sub floor. And hubby wants to outline the roof. If we can we will start the floor, but we may wait until we can do the floor and back wall in one day as we have a jumper in the group and we are afraid he will be more then happy to climb on the wall and right over to the neighbors they are fully fenced but still. I don't want to go and chase a goat. Stay posted. I will try and update as we go. Ms. Sierra was so helping us today, I'm surprised she's not in the shot?


OH when we get done building this house, we are tearing down two of the older pens and then making room for another goat house that should be built this summer, ready for next fall and winter. Too much to do out there and never enough time!




Thursday, December 10, 2009

Yes, Really Goat Coats


So here is Sierra and Bridget modeling the new coats I slaved over all night long to make them.

Well yesterday was a day. That night it was sooooo cold we are talking 6 degrees cold. The dogs were inside and we let the dogs out in the morning. Our Hannah likes to sneak into the goats pen and play with the goats. Usually we catch this and yell at her to come and leave the goats alone and normally she does for the rest of the day. Well I didn't catch this and neither did hubby.

I went to drop of a few kids and went to the office. After picking up kid 2 I had a feeling I needed to head home so half way home I get a call from hubby. Hannah had snuck out with the goats and got the girls. It seems it was too cold for the girls to play and sat as sitting targets.

I got home a few minutes later and hubby carried them into the wash room (Goat Hospital) and we cleaned up the ears, but they were so cold. I wrapped them in towels and blankets and we let them nap.

I left to pick up kid 1 and I came back and they were feeling good. They were awake sitting on top of the blankets, eating away.

So they stayed in the wash room all night as it was to be a whopping 12 degrees last night. Way too cold for my girls.

I had this idea it was time for a goat coat. Something I had been waiting to do but my other goats have nice big winter furs that they are outside doing just fine. So I measured and cut and sewed out of old towels and batting.

Got them done this morning before putting the girls back outside for the day. Sierra is doing great and getting into trouble. Bridget has been on her feet and eating hey, but not fully herself yet. Hopefully as it warms up here in a day or two she will be bouncing around like her sissy?

They are in their own pen right now as they get back on their feet. Probably tomorrow put them out with the rest of the goats.

And Ms. Hannah is on a dog runner right now. She will have no more access to the goats what so ever!

Next up Rain Coats. And yes I'm serious.

Monday, December 7, 2009

How Cool Are These?

So I went to a bazaar on Saturday and found a magnet. This little 2x2 magnet and looking at it and looking at it, thought I could do that! So with my cricut, (gotta love my cricut) I cut out some shapes and today I ran to Home Depot and for 5 bucks got 36 pieces of tile. Now a lot cheaper then I thought. Last time I saw these they were 10 bucks a sheet. I ran to Fred Meyer and got magnets and tonight in a few seconds I had 24 magnets. How cool are these?

I am donating these to Ethan's school, Ethan's class runs a store to raise money for their up coming field trip.

So after doing these the boys are SO excited and saying we can do these for this person and that person. So every family member and neighbor watch out.

Total cost is .39 cents for each magnet. I have rolls and rolls of vinyl I was given to me so I only had to buy tile and magnets.

So easy and so super cheap! And you know I love cheap!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Christmas Card Photos

Well it was time for me to take the Christmas card photos. I have been dragging my feet on this. It's only the 6th right? So in turn this is really early for me. So no idea which I will choose but here are a few from the photo shoot. Dang I have cute kids!






















Sunday, November 22, 2009

THE GIRLS ARE HERE!!!

So we went out this morning and picked up two new girls. The girls are soooooo CUTE and love able. They did not want to leave mom, but I think they are doing OK here? Right from the start Buddy was all over them. Well he is male and these girls are cute. He is fixed, but going through that stage of exploring. After both girls kicked him, he stopped trying and they became fast friends and Buddy took them around the yard to show them around. Buddy is the same size as these two which is great to see.

And all the other goats are slowly getting to know each other. The girls know where their pen is and where the hay is and I've all ready feed the cob for today. The sun is out, the first time we have seen sun around here in a long time. I was out mucking today, the lovely chore of having goats. But it was the first time in a long time to get out there and clean up their area. Clean out all the old hay and such. So far every one has been getting along. So here are a few photos I went out and took of my now nine babies.

This one is Sierra (I hope)
This one is Bridget (I hope)

Sierra and Bridget on one of our wood piles. Max and Leo in the back there.

Bridget and Bella getting to know each other. This did end well.



Chip going what the Hell MOM!


The gang, Buddy is the dark one on the left.



This is Buddy up close.



Sierra and Leo getting to know each other. Bridget wanting nothing to do with him.









Thursday, November 12, 2009

End of The Season


So this was taken last month, end of the season crops. Hubby cleaned out the garden and this is everything he found that day. We now have more pumpkin in the freezer then we know what to do with. I don't think we grew that child through?

Thursday, October 8, 2009

GF Southern Biscuits


So it's 11pm on a Thursday night and I'm in the kitchen baking and I blame Alton Brown. I really do. I got the kids in bed early tonight and with nothing on TV I turn to the food network to find Alton Brown making Biscuits. As he is dumping each ingredient Oh I can change that to this and that to that. Oh I wonder if I can make it work? Not only work I can get out my cast iron biscuit pan I found this summer for like 2 bucks at a garage sale. I have been wanting to use that thing?

So here went nothing. And normally I do not taste my own baking I have never been one for sweets but I do like a good biscuit so I had to try this, so I smothered on the butter and went for it. I am amazed. I will be doing something different next time to see if that may work better, more below on that one.

Southern Biscuits
Recipe from Alton Brown
Made gfcfsf by myself
2 cups Mock Better Butter Flour Mix (Below)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter (I used earth balance that is cfsf)
2 tablespoons shortening (I used spectrum)
1 cup buttermilk chilled (I used one cup rice milk with added vinegar) (I mixed this first and set aside until I needed it)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Using your fingers, rub in butter and shortening into dry ingredients until mixture looks like crumbs. (The faster the better, you don't want the fats to melt.) Make a well in the center and pour in the chilled buttermilk. Stir just until dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky.

I then grabbed a handful and rolled into a ball and put it into my biscuit pan. I have not tried to roll it out like Alton says to do and to cut out with a 2 inch cutter. I will be trying it and updating this when I can.

Bake until biscuits are light golden on top 15-20 minutes.

I tried these as they came out of the oven and I normally do not eat my own baking. These are ones I will eat again. This will be a fun recipe to play with.

Mock Better Butter Flour Mix
2 Cups Brown Rice Flour
2 Cups White Rice Flour
1 Cup Tapioca Flour
1 Cup Potato Starch
1/4 cup Potato Flour
1/4 cup Guar Gum
1/8 cup Pectin
Mix well.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Helping Mommy

So we spent some time tonight finding hiding spots for our canned foods. So under Cole's bed Tucker went to hide Applesauce and Potatoes. Under this bed is packed. There can be no monkey's jumping on this bed! But we got all but 5 jars under the bed so we did pretty good. Now where to hide those darn carrots?

Tucker's Turn

Tucker's turn for Preschool today. He was so excited to finally be going to school. He was up and dressed early and all ready eating cereal. So we took brother up to school and then raced across town to drop Tucker off. We pull into the drive and had to stop so I unbuckled him, he jumped in the front seat and opened to door ready to jump out. I had to stop him as he needed to wait for a teacher to come and get him. Poor guy was so excited.

So I went to pick him up and talking non stop about his day. He then got to spend a few hours with me at my office just goofing off playing with toys. What a crazy day for him. He goes back Friday....Wish Mom Luck.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Ed

Ed will be missed. A very eventful weekend as Ed fell ill early Saturday morning and near death we brought him in and somehow he recovered. He was doing so good that we put him outside to get some fresh air on Sunday morning. I would check on him off and on and the last time I checked on him he looked at me, he cried, and he layed down and that was it. When the vet was here Saturday he said Ed had a 50/50 shot but I thought Ed was on the mend. It was a combo of probably bad hay and over drinking of water, bloating.

My little buddy will be missed!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Ethan's First Day Of School

So today was Ethan's first day of school. The photos came out cheesy to say the least. But he had fun.

This morning we got up and I checked my email something I was not going to do but did and good thing I did as they called for all kids to be there at 8:40am. So we race to get the kids out the door in the now 5 minutes we had and made it there on time.

I took him to his classroom shortly after 9am and he did not want me to go but I went. When I came back to get him he did not want to leave and asked why can't he go all day? Hard to explain we just can't afford all day class right now. But soon. Bear with us.

So we came home and he dived right into the homework and got that done. I got the biggest hug and he is just over the moon with being happy. What a great day he had. He can not wait until school starts tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

The Room Is DONE!!!

THE ROOM IS DONE!!!! So remember a wee back my son wanted a new room and wanted it as Mickey. Well we got the red and blues done and then late last week Mr. Ethan had this idea that he and brother would sleep on baby's floor in sleeping bags so Mommy could work in the room. Well OK then, but I did need to get the room done so I took advantage of the time. I got in there and painted. Well tonight on the fourth night I am proud to say we are 95% done and the boys can see their room tomorrow. See we have not let them see anything mommy did in that room. So right now they have no idea of what is on the wall besides the blues and reds.


We still have a few tiny touch ups and need to hang the curtains. But come morning I will be showing two boys their new room. We have moved things around to give Ethan an art desk and room for a book case for his paper and such. Photos are below, one is too dark, sorry's.


















It looks so much better in person!




Monday, August 3, 2009

Peaches

So what does one do with over 20 pounds of peaches? They can them. Num, Num. I can not tell you how good my kitchen smelled tonight. OMG.

First up we did a batch of Peach Butter. I added cinnamon and a touch of vanilla. Oh the smell. Heavenly.

Next up I did Zesty Peach Barbecue's Sauce. I ended up doing two double batches. Separately of course. Two different pans. I can't wait to cook this up with some of my canned chicken. The smell was amazing.

Both recipes came from this book. A book I picked up this year and have used it many times so far. I will be picking up tomatoes on Sunday and doing some more Barbecue sauces next week. Things like this will be wonderful when I have about 20 minutes to cook dinner.

Go and get this wonderful book! I highly recommend it.


Saturday, August 1, 2009

A Sad Day In My World

So about a month before my son's birthday my older son, he came to me and said Mom I don't want any gifts. Good thing I was sitting for that? Mom instead can we paint my room? So on the verge of tears I asked how he wanted his room painted? He showed me a photo of a Mickey Mouse room. Oh how sad. But I gave it and said sure but not until after your birthday.

Well here it is after his birthday and he still wants his room painted. We have bought half the paint so looks like we are doing this.

The sad thing is when I was 5 months along with him I painted his current room. I did this all by hand. Well with my projector, but every paint stroke was by hand. And now I must say goodbye to this room. The room that took a few months to work on as I had the time. He says he has outgrown it. What can a mom to do?











Stay tuned for the new Mickey Room....




Thursday, July 30, 2009

Got ZUCCHINI?

It's zucchini time. We have just been hit with a heat wave topping out at 104. We do not do heat well here. No one has a/c so we melted. Everyone cranky, HOT, and plan tired. But our veggies love it. We picked 8 zucchinis today we have another 5-10 more coming tomorrow and two we picked earlier. We gave one to the neighbor and some are in the dryer. We are bringing out the big guns tomorrow. Our 7 feet dryer. Where I will shread all of these and dry them.

And I just got the heads up on a Blueberry patch. I'm so there. Keep you posted there!




Saturday, July 18, 2009

Updated Garden Photos

Well these are actually about two weeks ago and the garden looks nothing like this as everything has doubled in size by now.

These are strawberry's and garbanzo beans. I now have beans starting to pop. Strawberry's are done for the season.


This is pumpkins, and corn. This bed now you can not see any dirt. Totally has tripled in size.
My lovely house there. Showing a few of our beds.


Peas are ready for picking!


The onions and garlic.


More to come these are all I had uploaded.




Wednesday, July 15, 2009

My Big Score For Today

I got a call from a lady this morning, she was ready for me to pick up jars. Now I had given up on this lady calling since this was a few weeks ago. But here is the load hubby came home with. Including canned food from 1921. Anyone want a spoon? Raisin Conserves. Num Num.

YES I'M JOKING!

The lady told us to bring boxes and so hubby took 5 and came home with 12 boxes as you can see a few are BIG boxes. I have not done a count yet.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Strawberry Lemonade

Does this look good? Did you know you can can Lemonade?

Here you go. I use a steam juicer (thanks free cycle). Once you have 3 quarts of strawberry juice you are ready to go. I have heard you can put the strawberry's in a Ziploc bag with some sugar for a few hours until you have juice? I use my steamer I am in love with it.

Once you have 3 quarts of strawberry juice in a large, I mean large stock pan you add the lemon juice and water. Finally add the sugar and put on the heat. Once the sugar is dissolved you pour into quart jars, seal and put into the bwb canner for 15 minutes. Honestly very easy. My husband has all ready taste tested three. Isn't that nice of him? These will not last long around here.

3 quarts strawberry juice
3 cups bottled lemon juice
6 cups sugar
4 quarts water

Recipe Heat together, stirring until sugar dissolves. Heat, but do not boil. Pour into hot jars leaving 1/2" head space, cap. BWB 15"Yields 9 quarts

Saturday, June 27, 2009

My Baby Is Six!

So how does this happen? How does my baby turn 6? I still remember the day six years ago, two day labor. Drugs that did not work so I felt every second of his labor. Being told at 9cm that his head is too big we have to do a c-section. THANK GOD. By the end of day two you are begging for Mercy. Luckily those drugs worked. And than bringing this 8lb 1ounce baby home to a heat wave. Where from day one he refused to where clothes. Do NOT put socks on this child, he could pull them off in seconds flat and toss them. Where at two weeks he rolled over because he was determined to sleep on his belly. What can you do after a few days of fighting it, I gave in, if he could roll over I had to let it be. I was tired and needed sleep!


Ethan hit every milestone on time, he sat at 5 months, walked before his first birthday. Where at his first birthday he told everyone that he would be a big brother. He was potty trained before age two and just doing so well. Growing like crazy and talking up a storm.


But then his second birthday came and so did his 2 year check up complete with shots. He received nine shots that day to catch up from 18 months where I happened to have delivered Tucker so he didn't make it to the doctor until age 2. Where we played catch up. Knowing he had fevers and being cranky after shots we gave Tylenol before the shots hoping for the best. Who know those shots would change our lives? Who know?

By the time we got home that day from the doctor, he was cranky, he was fussy. and he had a fever. This continued for days and weeks. I would call the doctor and he said it was fine. Give more Tylenol. 14 days after the shots and still never returning to my old boy, his fever spiked, it hit 104 and he went into seizure. 911 was called and we headed to the hospital. Where we were quickly sent home, he has a fever, he probably has an infection take him to his doctor in the morning? They gave us more Tylenol and more Motrin and sent us on our way. So we went to the doctor the next day where we talked about febrile seizures. Where gut said no, but he was the doctor he knows what he is talking about right? So after a couple of hellish days of none sleep and screaming for hours on end, he calmed down and we were hoping Ethan was snapping out of it. Exactly 30 days later at 4am I heard Ethan's brother Tucker fuss a bit. So I got up to take care of Tucker and I heard an odd sound from Ethan's room. I went in and something was not right. I said "Ethan" and he went right into a seizure. So at 4am I pulled him out of his crib well Russell called 911 again. And off we went to the hospital again. Where we were home by 6am. And back into the doctors office at 8:30am. What is going on, where we talked yet again about febrile seizures?


So why won't the fever ever really go away? Why is he so cranky all the time, the screaming? He is not looking at us? Not sleeping? Oh he is just sick give more Tylenol and Motrin. He just had another febrile seizure. UGH! OK he is the doctor right? So 30 days later you want to guess what happened? The day before Halloween I was up in Olympia and I took Tucker with me, because Ethan was still sick and cranky. Where I get a call that Ethan has had another seizure. OK so why call 911 right? I call the doctor's office and told them about the seizure and they said there is a children's emergency room to take him there. OK we can do that? So I race home and pick up Ethan and Russell and we head on down. The doctor comes in and takes one look at him and Say's he has an infection I say we know. He says what did your doctor give for it. I said nothing. I have been told by four doctors because they don't' know what kind of infection it is they will not treat it. Has there been any testing? No I say.


The doctor gets pissed, he gives us some antibiotics and says you need to get to a neurologists asap. He said he would take care of it and sent us home. I guess he called our doctor that night and they had words. Because I got a call first thing in the morning from the neurologists office to come in the next day. I'm like boy that was the fastest referral we have ever had? They said they got the paperwork the night before from our doctor.


Well we put Ethan through all that testing and nothing. According to that doctor he has febrile seizures. And she discovered how much in medical bills we have and so she arranged for some drugs for us to stop seizures if they go longer than five minutes. And lucky for us she did not charge us and gave us our co-pay back.

So the antibiotics kicked in and the fevers finally went away. Ethan being sick was gone. But what we were left with was hell. Hell I would not wish on anyone!


Our Ethan would not sleep, he would scream for hours on end. He stopped eating, well unless if it was bread or milk. He would flap his arms and spin. He would run around the house for hours. Furniture jumping OMG. He would take off from the couch and aim for the wall, bounce off and do it again. It was the funniest thing ever.


Countless trips to the doctor asking for help. And being told it's adhd and we should put him on drugs. Me saying no and leaving with no help. Me going back because after all he is the doctor right? And me being told it's adhd and he needs drugs. Me saying no and leaving. Me BEGGING for help and me being told he really needs drugs are you ready for them? I would say no and leave.


It was a two year battle, two years of non sleep. It was two years of HELL. And somehow in the mix of this we had baby Cole. But you start to feel like a bad mom when Ethan takes up so much of your time. He had to go back into diapers. If he didn't have your full attention when he needed it, than watch out. For pooping we would have to sit in the bathroom for hours holding his hand. The reflux was so bad he would cough for hours on end at night. Have I mentioned the no sleep part? Doctor put him on reflux drugs and they were not working. A year later, I had a gut feeling I needed to look into the reflux drugs. And boy was I shocked! A child should not be on them for longer than a year. He was coming on one year and they have been no help. So I go back to the doctor and ask to take Ethan off of them. He said no but lets have him scooped. Sure why the heck not right? We go the GI doctor and she scopes him and sends us home saying all looks good, but to double the medicine. My gut said no, I left him on his old dose.


So two months after his scope we had a bad day. We had the worse day ever. I had all three boys, home alone. And any sanity I had was gone. I don't think I had one quiet moment. And than well Ethan was furniture jumping he fell and hit the floor, he hit is hard and I thought he broke his arm. And there I am trying to hold him and of course you can't touch him. I had not been able to hold him for two years why start now? I had had it, I was in tears, I wanted, no I needed answers and I was out to get them. I put all kids to bed at 7:30 knowing the bedtime fight would happen, but I needed computer time. That was it. And that was the night I got smart.


I first looked into adhd drugs. OMG I could not do that to my son. I typed in naturally adhd and Celiac disease came up. OMG everything mentioned was Ethan. I was in shock, he was eating two loaves of bread a day and nearly a gallon of milk and that would be it. OMG. He was dropping weight, he was not growing, he was the same size as his younger brother. OMG. But I kept researching and found going dairy free helps as well.


So I got up first thing in the morning and called the GI doctor and got the nurse who read me Ethan's chart. I asked for the samples to be tested for Celiac disease. She looked over his chart and finally read me the doctors private notes, She saw Celiac Disease. I was dumbfounded. I was shocked. I asked why didn't the doctor tell me? Um, because the lab report came back negative. Oh believe me I am still ticked. But yet I finally had answers. We started to take away gluten, I have to tell you three days after saying OOPs the store didn't have any bread today. He slept. I put him to bed at 8pm and by 8:05 he was out. That has not happened in two years. I was like now what do I do with my evening? I'm normally doing the bedtime battle. You all know that battle!


Within days he stopped needing help pooping. He was fully potty trained. With removing dairy, he started saying words. He started looking at us. I could touch him. It was not until we fully went soy free we got him back. The arm flapping stopped, the furniture jumping stopped, the screaming stopped. He was talking like crazy and would not shut up. We had eye contact. We were getting our boy back. After a ton of research I went and found a natural doctor. She helped with the diet, we got a heavy metal test, we got a yeast test, allergy testing. The works. She was a God Sent. Because after my research we all know Ethan had autism.


Fast forward to my baby turning 6. I have to say after two very long years of working hard on him, he is fully recovered. We are gluten, dairy, soy, crap free. We are also 95% corn free. Along the way we have found he is very allergic to gluten, mushrooms and sulfur. He went from almost being kicked out of preschool to being a smart boy who I want to try and send to private school. Because I can not keep up. He now does Karate and is currently an orange yellow belt. He is sweet and kind. He is very loving. We got very lucky we know this. We don't take a day for granted with him. We lost two years with him. We will never get those two years back. But we have him now and all we can do is move forward.


So with the help of a team of four doctors, supplements, diet, speech therapy. We have him back.

So here is what we think happened. His two year shots gave him an infection which lead to seizures, once we got the seizures under control the Celiac disease came out. Because we did not know about the Celaic for two years, he also fell into allergy induced autism. Which that explains why the diet worked so well on him.


But honestly as we look back and knowing how hard we worked and where we are now. We are amazed. No I would not wish this on anyone. But I do like the road we are on now. This travel has really opened my eyes. I get the joy of cooking gluten free. I started gardening and canning just so I know what is in my son's food. But on the other hand saddled with medical bills and I don't know how we are able to keep our house from month to month. But I have my son back.


And I got the joy of seeing my son turn 6 today. Where he invited his preschool class and about 1/2 showed up and had fun. He had so much fun turning 6, and Ethan is so looking forward to kindergarten. Now if I can just figure out where to send him right?


Here is Ethan sneaking a birthday cupcake. Just don't tell him they are full of zucchini!


Thursday, June 25, 2009

Canning 101

OK I'm going to attempt to do a Canning 101 using Strawberry Jam. Honestly it's easy as one, two, three.

First go strawberry picking. This is a photo of a Strawberry from our bed. So far we have picked enough to make three batches of jam and one batch of Strawberry Lemonade. Num, Num. Pick enough to make 5 cups crushed. I think about 6 cups or so is good.

Now take the time to pick off the tops and to wash the Strawberry's.

Next I toss them into the food processor for a few seconds. I leave them kinda chucky. I than measure out one cup at a time and dump into a big stock pan. Until I have five cups.

I than add 1/4 cup lemon juice.



I than mix in the pectin, this is the one I used this time. The recipe I used comes in the box.


I than bring to a full rolling boil for about a minute, really not long.


I than add in the sugar, I have changed over to organic this year. Yes more pricey. But worth it to me. I get my bags at Costco where it's much cheaper.


Put in 7 cups of sugar. Yes, really. Where I live I can get away with using 5-6 cups of sugar and it sets just fine. But if you live where it's hot I would not try this.
Now boil hard for 1 minute. If you wish to skim off foam go for it. I do not do this.



Well it's boiling get your jars ready. I normally have them sitting in hot water. A trick is to have the lids and rings sitting in hot water in a crock pot.


When done pour into hot jars leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch space. I normally fill to the first line. If you look at a jar you will see what I'm talking about.


Once all jars are filled put on the two piece (I didn't take a photo, oops) But a top and a ring and tighten it down. Hand tight.


They say to bwb for 5 minutes I actually do 10. Now bwb is easy, Boil Water Canner. You put the jars in and make sure water covers the top of the highest on in there. About an inch over is what you want. You than put the lid on and turn it on high. And you wait for it to boil. When it starts to boil is when you start the timer. You than time for ten minutes. Once the timer goes off, I turn off the heat, I remove the top and let it cool a bit. About ten minutes or so later I come back and take the jars out and set them on the dining room table to cool over night. You want to set them in a place they will not be touched for 12-24 hours. When 24 hours is up you can take off the rings and test the seal if you can pick it up by the seal and nothing happens you have done good.
The pinging sound you hear as you take the jars out of the canner is a good sounds. They are sealing. Don't panic if all don't ping, some seal without the ping. Also your jam may not set up right away. It can take up to two weeks to set. I know that has happened to me.



Here is the ending result. Some nummer Strawberry Jam you can put on your shelf that will keep up to three years. And you know what is in your jam. How cool is that?


So did I miss anything? Do not double recipes. One batch at a time. If you do the pectin verses sugar may be off and have trouble setting. Anybody else have any questions?
And yes I will do a pressure canner one as well. In fact I'm canning chicken right now. Busy, busy...