It’s amazing how fast little goats get big. Our triplet does from our best milker, Velvet, are now nearly as big as their mom and as fat as little piglets. Of course, feeding them armfuls of oats and clover from the orchard planting has something to do with it, along with nursing on Velvet, who produces nearly 2 gallons of milk a day.

The littlest doeling, Sparkle, has always been spunky and something of a pet. There’s a small opening in the inside part of the goat pen, and when I call Buffy, our new doe, out to milk her, it isn’t two seconds before Sparkle dives up on the milk stand to help her eat her grain. But that’s okay; Buffy doesn’t mind and it gives me a few minutes to handle her to get her tamer.

Today, Sparkle beat Buffy to the stanchion, firmly wedging her head in below Buffy’s. So when I shut the stanchion, she was held in place just like Buffy. She wiggled around a little, trying to get out. But when she found she couldn’t she just kept eating. Good girl!

I pet her and rubbed her neck while she ate. After milking, I turned both goats out of the stanchion. Sparkle made a bee line for the pen, but I’ll bet she’s first in line tomorrow morning. She’s learning to be a big goat.

Readers’ Questions:

Stacking full canning jars

I have been canning everything I can get my hands on but have limited space so I have triple stacked my full jars. Is this ok?

Beverly Crussemeyer
Bristol, Indiana

You’re really not supposed to stack your canned goods, but I’ve had to do it, too. It’s really best if you put a piece of OSB, plywood or other board between the layers, to distribute the load well on the rims of the lower jars so you aren’t putting too much weight on the center of the jar lids, which could affect the seal sometime down the road. — Jackie

Hurricane Gustav

I have been watching the Hurricane Gustav news and hearing about mandatory evacuations. Got me trying to visualize if my husband and I could actually leave our home behind. We have some age on us now and have so much love, blood, sweat, and tears in our little place. We have approximately 60 chickens and I can’t imagine that I’d leave “my girls” behind. We’re not homesteaders and most people would describe our house a little more than a shack, but our life is here, no matter the circumstances. Whenever they show the old people saying they are going to stick it out, I’m starting to comprehend that mentality now.

Joanna Wilcox
Boone, North Carolina

I sure understand where you’re coming from. Once, in New Mexico, a real bad grass fire tore 26 miles in half an hour, right toward our little ranch. Mom, Dad, and David hooked up Dad’s little travel trailer which was outfitted for a grab and git rig, complete with bedding, water, food, etc. onto their station wagon, complete with my son, David and our dogs and cats. My late husband, Bob, was a volunteer fireman and was out fighting the fire. I chose to stay home to fight the fire, the best I could, knowing I could take some shelter in the trampled center of our barnyard, where we had a 2,000 gallon stock tank filled with water. But I also know that I would also evacuate if need be, with my loved ones because stuff is stuff and you can usually replace what you’ve lost, at least to some extent. When you or your loved ones are killed because you should have evacuated, that’s something you can never replace. In Montana, we lived in a little valley up in the mountains. It was gorgeous, but in a dry summer, we were very concerned about forest fires sweeping down on us. So we packed our big travel trailer with enough survival stuff to live out of for quite awhile. The stock trailer was parked in the pasture, ready to hook up and go at a moment’s notice. We knew our chances of defending our home were slim, and had made the decision to go if necessary. Of course, once our rigs were in a safe area, we’d have returned without the trailers to fight the fire right along the firefighters and our neighbors. We don’t give up. — Jackie

Canning meat

I may have made a canning blunder. Yesterday I making a meat sauce, following the basic recipe in the ball book. I had about 15 lbs of tomatoes, 3 small cans of tomato paste, 4 medium onions, two big green peppers and 3 jalepenos and about 6 cloves of garlic. I also added some fresh herbs from the garden and salt and sugar. Instead of using the 5 lbs of beef I used two pounds of turkey. I forgot the added acid. I pressure canned them at 1 hour and 15 minutes which is what it says for quarts. I got 8 quarts and 3 pints. I used the same time for the pints.

So now the big questions is: is this recipe safe to eat? Do I need to re-do it? Freeze it, or chuck it out?

I don’t understand how people can if they have to follow the exact recipes in the book. What if we don’t like the recipes? How do you substitute ingredients safely?

Mary J. Bolin
Elk River, Minnesota

Yes, your meat sauce is safe to eat. If you had used beef instead of turkey, you would have needed to can your quarts for 90 minutes instead of 75. The meat (or poultry) requires the longest time, processing. When you make up your own recipe, all you have to do to be safe is to check through the ingredients to see which take the longest time in the canner, then process the whole batch for that time, which is what you did. You didn’t need to add vinegar or lemon juice when you pressure canned your sauce for that length of time.

Your pints only needed 65 minutes processing time, but over processing them did no harm at all. The more you can your mixed recipes, the more confident you’ll become. It’s like anything else, the more you do it, the better you’ll become. Good luck! — Jackie

Canning little potatoes

I have some small Yukon Gold potatoes, smaller than golf balls. Is it absolutely necessary to peel them before canning or would a really good scrubbing be adequate?

Michele Zipf
Amelia, Ohio

You can just scrub the little potatoes. I use a green scrubby and most of the peel just rubs right off. They make excellent new potatoes, creamed or boiled. The processing time is the same as if you had left the skins on. — Jackie

First and foremost, fall is upon us. I first noticed a maple tree with a red leafed branch a week ago. Then we had that nasty surprise freeze that about did us in. Now, in the night sky, I notice the winter constellations slipping up on us. And, of course, harvest and canning season is under full force.

Two days ago, I picked and canned up a big basket of dragon’s tongue beans. These are my very favorite yellow bean. They aren’t your regular wax bean, either. They are huge, twisted and curved like a serpent, thick and flat. And they are yellow with purple stripes. Awww. The purple stripes quickly fade away when they are cooked or canned. But the taste is sweet and very good.

Then yesterday and today, I canned up the wild blackberry puree that my sweetie, Will, sent from Spokane. He’s been picking nearly every day, down along the river and bringing them home to cook down and puree, removing the plentiful seeds. Then he poured the puree into 2 liter plastic pop bottles, froze it hard and sent it on to me, Priority Mail. It arrived in pristine condition, and I have it all canned up, as jam. Wow! It’s so good. I made five separate batches, yielding about 3 pints and 3 half pints per batch. Pretty nice, huh?

And, best yet, Will’s still picking!

Meanwhile, I’ve been helping Tom with our newest addition. We decided to do the living room part of the addition as an enclosed gazebo type structure, so it would fit with our multiple roof line and not trap snow and water. To do this, we raised the walls to 9′, with an octagonal floor plan and roof. It’s been a headache for Tom, with all the multiple angles and cuts, but WOW does it look terrific. Now when we get the wood stove in there…

Today I canned up the last of the blackberry jam, re-canned a #10 can of cheese sauce into pints and half pints, then put up salsa. I still have the juice part of the salsa left after straining much of it off the salsa. I’ll let it sit overnight, then skim off the watery part and can up the rest to use in stews and soups. The chickens get the watery part. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it on their mash!

In the mornings, before chores, I take a few minutes to walk the gardens. For me. Our flowers are blooming very nicely. (If I could just get the weeds out, it’d be nicer!) Some of my favorites are the clematis and oriental lilies right now. What a show! I’ve never had larger flowers. The white clematis has flowers seven inches across and the lilies are nearly ten inches wide. How pretty they are. After Will left this spring, I scattered wildflower seeds on the barren gravel in our side and backyards, in hopes of something growing. It seemed a folly, as I could only spot a few baby plants afterward. But now, they’re coming on in full force, with more and more blooming every day. I have California poppies, bachelor’s buttons, toad flax, California bluebells, sunflowers, cosmos and more making the gravel disappear under sparkles of color. I sure hope they’re still blooming when Will comes back for another visit in three weeks.

Readers’ Questions:

Canning boiled peanuts

I have a question that I have never seen addressed. I’m sure this can be done but I’m not sure how and wondered if you could help me. I would like to can boiled peanuts. When I cook them to eat, I cook in my pressure cooker for 15 minutes. I don’t mean to be insulting, but some people that are not in the South and are not familiar with boiled peanuts don’t know this so I’m going to say it–they are still in the shell. Do you think I should cook them done then pressure can them the same amount of time as peas or should I leave them a little under-done before canning? It is right to use a pressure canner and not a water bath canner isn’t it–even though they are done?

Melanie Staggs
Statesboro, Georgia

I don’t know squat about boiled peas; hey, I’m a northerner! BUT I did go online for you and found information on canning your boiled peanuts. Here it is: Make up your salt water brine and bring it to a boil. Boil one minute, then pack your peanuts in the jar and cover with the boiling brine to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Put on lid and ring, screwed down firmly tight. Then partially submerge the jars in boiling water and boil for ten minutes. Take out and pressure can at 10 pounds pressure for 45 minutes. Good eatin’! — Jackie

Canning potatoes

I have a weighted mirro pressure cooker/canner. I canned up white potatoes in pints and put them under 15lbs of pressure (I’m above 1000 ft) for 35 min. I did not vent my pressure for 10 minutes, the steam was coming out full force with no sputters…do I need to redo my potatoes?

Darnell Rogers
Arden, North Carolina

Your potatoes will probably be fine; just keep checking to make sure the seals remain good. And, I’m sure next time, you’ll vent your pressure canner for the full 10 minutes. — Jackie

Mixing jar sizes

Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom with us! With your encouragement I purchased a pressure canner and have canned two batches of meatballs. Now that I have actually used the canner, I have a couple of questions. 1. Is it OK to mix the sizes of jars being processed at one time? Quarts and Pints and Half-pints being processed at the same time? I am assuming that if you do, you would need to process for the longer time required by the quarts? 2. If it is OK to mix the jar sizes, can you stack the smaller jars on top of the quarts? Or is that a No No?

Brenda Palmer
Bakersfield, California

Yes, you can certainly mix jar sizes in your batch of canning to save time and energy. Yes, you do process the batch for the longest time required for jars in your batch; usually the quarts. And, yes, you can stack the jars. But you do need to place a wire rack over the first layer to evenly distribute the load on top. You can make your own; I’ve used a wire frame from an old dart board and then a heavy wire grill cover from the dollar store, cut to fit the canner with wire cutters. It’s simple and the rack will be useful for years. I’m really glad to hear you’re starting canning! — Jackie

Elderberries

We live in Pennsylvania and were wondering how we can tell elderberries from other berries that look like them but may be poisonous. Any help you can give would be appreciated.

Sherri Davis
DuBois, Pennsylvania

Your best bet is to have an experienced person show you. Elderberries are quite easy to identify, though. The shrubby tree is medium sized, and the stems of it are usually hollow with a pith inside. The leaves are along a stem and are pointed and oval shaped. The berries grow in large clusters and are very dark when ripe, like blueberries but smaller. They have large seeds. Go to the library and get a book or two on tree/shrub identification and look up elderberries. These books usually have good photos for you to study. — Jackie

Canning goat milk

I pressure canned goats milk according to your directions. I’ve done store-bought cows milk before, and had no trouble at all. The goats milk was strained twice, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized, non-separated, and fresh from the goat. When I took the jars out of the canner, the milk had all separated into horrible-looking light brown globs with light brown liquid underneath. To say it’s truly disgusting looking is an understatement. I will save it and run it through the blender and use it in bread if you think it’s okay food-wise, but I wonder what in the world happened? The milk was from 3 different goats of 2 varieties. Any ideas as to what went wrong? Would it be better to water bath it for an hour rather than the pressure canning instructions?

Pat Crowder
Holyoke, Colorado

This carmel color is fairly common in canned milk. But it usually doesn’t get as nasty as what you’re describing. My guess is that the milk got overheated a bit. Did your pressure go up a bit too high for a few minutes? Or was the time a little too long? Why don’t you try another batch and see if that doesn’t go better for you. I’m sure it’s nothing wrong with your goats’ milk, but in the processing. The ugly milk should be fine for cooking (gravies, baking, puddings, etc.) provided that it is sealed and it smells okay when you open a jar. Stuff happens. Better luck next time! We all have days like that on occasion. You might like the result of water bathing your milk better; the milk doesn’t seem to get as dark colored. — Jackie

Dehydrating vegetables

I have a few questions about dehydrating vegetables using my gas oven. How would I go about drying tomatoes in the oven using only the heat from the pilot light? Can I only dry paste style tomatoes or can I dry cherry/grape varieties too? Do I lay the vegetables directly onto my cookie sheets or should I put something onto the pans? Thanks for taking the time to answer your readers questions. You inspire so many people, me being one, to try to be more self reliant.

Patrice Lindsey
Lockport, Illinois

While you can dehydrate any type of tomato, the paste tomatoes dry nicest. To dehydrate cherry tomatoes, you can simply halve them and lay them in a single layer on your cookie sheets. No, you don’t have to put anything on the cookie sheets, but you need to kind of move the slices/halves a little while they’re drying with a spatula so they don’t bond to the cookie sheet when they dry. Just a hint: it is easier to dry tomatoes in a dehydrator rather than your oven, as the heat and air movement are more even and dependable. But you can certainly do it with great success. And the end result is SO good! — Jackie