Boy oh boy, is it! Because we have so much meat from the two steers we had butchered (folks who got a half are on vacation and we have lots of extra ground beef too), we emptied out one freezer which held older meat to receive the new meat. But we still had lots of meat in boxes! So, we ran to Virginia (the city) and bought a mid-sized chest freezer. Will and I unloaded it and plugged it in. Now it’s stuffed with frozen beef. Not enough room for the three boxes of bones though. So, I ran to town and got three huge bags of ice to put on them and threw a quilt over them to keep them nice and fresh. We still have three boxes of bones at the processing plant I’d planned on canning beef broth with. But with hundreds of pounds of “old” meat, I’m passing them on to friends, Sherri and Dara.
A little of the old meat was freezer burned a bit as it had been in there for a long time. That, I’m canning up for pet food. But some, which I’d thought was dog food meat turned out to be fine! I’m talking about boneless chicken breasts that I bought family packs just as COVID was hitting hard. Now that’s old meat, just packaged in store plastic wrap. But, as I opened it, there was no freezer burn at all! I canned some of it up then opened a jar and tasted it. It was perfectly fine! (Sorry dogs and cats!) I cut the breast meat into chunks and pack the jars lightly. Then I add boiling water. Yes, I know they say raw meat can be packed without liquid, but I’ve found, after years and years, the meat is more tender when liquid (broth or boiling water) is added.
I also did nine pints of ground beef yesterday and nine are in the canner now with more chicken breast. Meanwhile, I had boiled a bunch of the old chicken hind quarters in Mexican seasoned broth and today I took the meat from the bones and tasted it. It, too, was perfect! That’s in the canner now, in quarts of chicken soup. Only a 5-gallon pail full of thawing ground beef and more chicken to go. Whew! But what a blessing!
I took a golf cart ride around as the canner is cooling off so I can remove the processed jars. Will is working on adding a large bucket to the big Kubota so he can load gravel and manure with that tractor. I checked out the flower beds, where tulips and daffodils are coming up in the sunny 55-degree F warmth. The beaver pond is all thawed out and looking pretty. Soon our pair of Canadian geese will be nesting on the island to raise their new batch of goslings. Can’t wait!
— Jackie
We have an oversize bucket on our skid steer (skid loader). Only bucket we have but its size means less trips of whatever we’re hauling.
Daffodils and tulips are a viewing pleasure. We did NOT get the rain per the weather prognosticator. Time to water the taters, garlic, asparagus, and strawberries.
You can’t go wrong with another chest freezer – unplug it if not needed but is there if needed. NOT wasting food should be everyone’s golden rule. Waste of any sort is sinful (and remember I am not a religious person) and waste of anything (including time), has a cost. Remember cost does not always mean money. When it comes to wasting time, one cannot make more time.