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I don't think I'll make it through the summer without a canning kitchen. I know the spot I want to put it. It is in the furnace room adjoining my cold sotrage/freezer room and my canned goods room. I am just starting the summer canning and already the hauling of jars, lids, rings, and pots upstairs to can and then back downstairs when I am finished is tiring me. I can set up a canning kitchen fairly easily, but it won't have running water. In the next room over I have a laundry sink I can use and in the "kitchen" room I have faucets but no sink or drain. So, filling and emptying pots is not an issue but fruits and veggies will have to be hauled from upstairs once they are cleaned and prepared. I think hauling that way is bound to work better. I had all of our strawberries up with several gallons bags frozen and in one of our three large freezers. Someone left the freezer door open and we lost most of the food in the freezer. The strawberries were a melted mess. I used those to make some triple berry syrup and got a couple more flats of the last of the strawberries and have been putting those in the freezer. Today I have to finish cleaning up the freezer and taking out the items that were not safe to refreeze. The pigs will be feasting on those items. In general I have been cleaning and organzing feezer space and feeding the pigs the extra. It is not so disappointing to throw away food when you know it will add to the pork you will be eating soon. Other items that will get put up this weekend are cherries, peas, and raspberry jam. I decided to do half a flat more of raspberry jam becuase it turned out so delicious. The bing cherries are looking beautiful and I found a U-pick location that does not spray. The U-pick price is $1.50 and the We-Pick prices are $2.00 from the local farms. They say you can pick about 25 pounds per hour. I need to put up about 40 pounds. I bought just a few peas from a farm stand to get started on peas. Mine should be ready soon but I doubt I will have enough to cover all of our needs. I will also try and get some broccoli and spinach from the farmer's market to freeze. I am learning so much about what I will do different next year, but I just have to make sure I am recording in my garden journal. I always think I will remember, but when the time comes it all mixes together. This month I attempted to order all of my food through Azure Standard. Hopefully I will be able to avoid doing much shopping at the local stores. Between the garden and the freezers I should be able to fix some nice meals. This also will help with the food budget aspect. I spent $300 with Azure and even if I buy milk and eggs from the local farm and a few other items from the store, I should be able to keep to my $400 budget. The items I did not purchase and need a plan for are the snack items. DH and the kids are eating snacks like they are starving all of the time. I am going to have to bake some cookies, muffins, and other items in order to keep them satisfied. This will be cheaper than the trail mix and crackers they are eating now. I am off to get started on my work - happy homesteading!
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