I get this question a lot. After all, on a good year I’ll can up dozens and dozens of jars of a good crop that’s had a great growing year. Sweet corn, for instance. Many people say, “Well, I canned up a couple dozen pints and gave away the rest. That’s all we’ll eat this winter.” Then they wonder why I bothered to put up a hundred pints. (Yes, I also gave away a lot too.) This year demonstrates the why of this! First off, we had torrential rain that washed away many of our sweet corn seeds in all but two of our gardens. Then it rained day after day, rotting those that hadn’t germinated right in the ground. After the rain stopped, we got intense heat that caused the clay in three of our gardens to crack into hard concrete. Okay, Will tilled up that mess and we started again. But the soil was clumpy and still kind of hard. We planted anyway, hoping for the best. It didn’t happen. Very little corn managed to germinate in that clumpy clay. The rain seemed to have returned to normal, so we again tilled and planted. Still, no dice. Fortunately, most of our corn from which we let mature and save seeds for our little seed business was planted in better soil and earlier. So, that, at least is doing quite well. But I’m not going to have much, if any, sweet corn to can this year. Buying is out of the question as even at farmer’s markets, the corn is just too expensive. Fortunately, I still have at least a year’s worth of corn canned up, down in the pantry. That’s why I always can up all I can in good years folks! We’re not greedy, just being prepared.
Our peppers look pretty good this year, both in the hoop houses and in the gardens. I planted lots of both jalapeños and Sugar Rush Peach peppers so I can make my now-famous Cowboy Candy, Vaquero Relish and Gaucho Relish, all using the Cowboy Candy syrup. I’ll swear, it’s like cocaine. You just can’t stop eating it! I even use the leftover syrup to can and use as a marinade and also in stir-fries and other recipes. Yum!
Each year I mix up our leftover old wildflower seed then toss it out onto disturbed soil to beautify our surroundings, whether it’s the driveway or along various paths. All that rain made the flowers really pop! In our new part of the front yard, Will had been in there with the tractor, scraping stumps and filling holes. Perfect. I tossed seed out there and wow, did it take hold. It’s just so beautiful! What a great place to come and sit — when the mosquitoes aren’t bad!
— Jackie
It sure has been a crazy year for weather and the gardens. I too find canning to be such a joy and I love looking at the fruits (and vegetables) of my efforts. My problem is that the stash of canned jars just look so appealing that I hate to open and use them. Which defeats the point of canning.
Jackie, I have your Cowboy Candy recipe but would you mind sharing your Gaucho Relish and Vaquero Relish recipes? You have mentioned these three recipes many times and I would love to make them. Not sure of the details on them though — ingredients, proportions of ingredients to syrup, processing, etc. It would be much appreciated.
Had so much squash last year, I canned it. Turned out wonderful. The wise see trouble and prepare, while the foolish keep going and perish.
Amen, Elizabeth!! The foolish also say “It’s too much work. I’ll just buy it at the store.”.
That cowboy candy syrup is amazing in bbq sauce, baked beans, and drizzled over pizza too.
Oh Yeah!! Every week I find more yummy uses for it. I even can it up by itself, just for that reason.
I agree with you! Some years one crop produces an abundance and we stock up. Sweet corn around here is priced 50 cents an ear-crazy. I’ve canned green beans and pickles. I’m hoping the tomatoes produce as our canned supply has dwindled same as has the canned beef. More canning to do.I’ve dug some early potatoes to eat. I also planted some veggies twice as the rain “drowned” out or could break through the earth crust. Can you ever have too much of what you need? We also supply others in need.
Yep, I even bought four ears of corn at Walmart for 50 cents an ear. Outrageous (but it was good, surprisingly)!! I’m getting ready to can our first Cowboy Candy as the jalapenos are getting big. Green beans will follow soon after. I have such a hard time stealing a few new potatoes from a hill. Part of me wants to wait until they are big. But boy are they ever good!
No, I don’t feel you can ever have more than you “need”. There are always friends, neighbors and family that couldn’t or didn’t believe in being prepared…..
We like our salsa on the thicker side, so when we make a batch, we strain off a lot of the juice. I can up the juice and use it for marinating or thicken it for enchilada sauce or a dozen other uses! It’s amazing!
I’m growing sugar rush peach peppers for the first time this year. I’m anxious to see how they do. I have jalapeños going, too, so I’m sure there will be lots of “candy” on my shelves this year!
I live by my mom’s motto (which is yours, Jackie, just reworded).
“Can ’em while you got ’em”
My husband of 56 years passed onto his eternal reward and it’s just me now. I do have loving family who visit and often will stay for a meal. I have plenty of food canned for a year and MORE! I enjoy looking at the jars on the shelves. If I get sick, don’t feel like running to town every whip stitch, I don’t panic. I am trying to get meat in my freezer canned up because I don’t trust the grid to stay up like we’re used to. I am trying to be discerning and plan ahead. It’s just been our way of life but more so after Covid. Keep canning!!
By the way, I will be 79 tomorrow.
Happy birthday! It is wonderful that you are still active at 79. I pray I will be independent and active for the rest of my life!! I love canning.
Happy Birthday!!! I just turned 78 last Sunday. : )
happy belated birthday Jackie (Indy too)
And more years for you to come. My dad is putting up sweet corn today – he’s in his mid-80s.
Great that your food supply is secure. Sounds wonderful. I hear more and more headlines of electricity going off, not just in north korea, or in my california. Good strategy to can your meat. I dont trust the grid either.
Oh yes!! I can year around. There’s always something that can benefit from canning, whether it’s potatoes that are going a bit wrinkly, meat you get on sale, meat in your freezer (I never trust one after losing a lot when one went belly up.), stuff friends give you or, of course, veggies and fruit from your garden.
Make hay while the sun shines! I pick and freeze every red raspberry I can from my patch. I don’t use sugar, so canning isn’t an option for longer term storage. Sometimes I ask myself why do you keep putting more berries in the freezer – you haven’t finished last year’s yet. Because I have had times where the crop failed partially or completely 2 years in a row!
Pickles and tomatoes I usually rotate through what I’m canning (pizza sauce this year, for sure) but have 2-3 year supply on the shelves. It’s not uncommon to have blight problems around here so bumper crop years I sock them away.
I, too, think about fruit and crop failure on my own land. When something is in great supply, do something with it. Two years ago I got my cucumbers so I could make pickles. Next year wouldnt grow at all! This year the bear didnt take fruit orchard, so already canned up plums and made jam. Tons of lemons, so made tons of lemon curd. Gotta watch out for you and yours! Watch your top knot!
Good for you Elizabeth!! That’s just how we feel. If you don’t take care of yourself and your family, you can’t expect someone else to step in and do it. Especially the government!
Thank you for sharing. And yes things happen that you don’t get the garden you had planned or wanted due to health issues or an accident. I agree with you to can what you can every year. And yes the price of corn is crazy!!
A friend last year unexpectedly gave us a huge bunch of cob corn. Canned it up for you never know whats going to happen!
Corn is the new gold, I think. Hey, I was craving some fresh corn and spent 50 cents an ear for four ears. Holy cow, that’s just WRONG!! But, because of all the rain, our sweet corn is about six inches high right now. It’ll be lucky to make “knee high by the fourth of August!
Get while the getting is good sums it up for me. As long as you rotate and use your stock. You’d not believe how many canned goods reach their best used by date and people think food pantries will take them – no they do not. Yes, some items are okay but others can get ‘dicey’. I know of a couple of people who panic purchased during Covid and sad to say, too much went to waste. I’ve never understood buying something you don’t eat. I’ve grown veggies I don’t eat but other family members do (I like growing edibles).
I’m now convinced it was an excess of rain that got to the first fruits of the squash plants. We’re harvesting now. And have a plan for next year re: ensuring the safety of our tomatoes.
You know I’ve never had store-bought, out of date cans to get dicey. Some will rust and let air into the cans, ruining the food. But, like home canned foods (which are always more tasty and better for you), store-bought cans should remain good way past their best-by date. I sure can’t see stocking up on foods your family doesn’t like or commonly eat. That’s just a waste! Likewise with stocking up on only a few foods like rice and beans. That gets VERY boring, even if you like rice and beans!! Variety is important, especially during emergency situations.
Our first squash got blossom end rot, not for not enough water but from too much! Now it’s drying up, the squash are perfect. Yum!!!
Sad to say if a food pantry won’t take the canned goods, finding someone who will is difficult. And while commercial canned goods *should* still be good past best used, corporate greed is always too front and center in my mind. Honest to Pete, there *shouldn’t* be any Listeria or E. Coli present in the US food supply. Yet there is. And when corporate bonuses or shareholder “dividends” are at risk, basic tasks like maintenance and cleaning are the first to be squeezed. Makes me irate (which is the nicest word as I respect this readers/posters of this blog).
I can relate to your corn germination problem . For two years I have had to start my corn in flats then transplant into the garden. It is labor intensive but I am a sweet corn fanatic and don’t mind. Having fresh off the stalk corn is my favorite summer vegetable.
You and Will continue to inspire me to never give up trying.
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