Yes I Can Can

      It's mid August in Ohio and there is a little nip in the air.  We are getting ready to enter into my favorite time of year.  The garden is winding down...I have 36 pints left to fill with tomatoes and then all of our jars are filled.  This has been a bountiful year for us.  Corn, broccoli, cauliflower, and chopped green peppers and zucchini have been frozen.  We have canned carrots, green beans, potatoes, stewed tomatoes, peas, relish, corn, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and BBQ sauce.

     We have been canning (putting food by..as they put it in the "old days") for years.  I used to use the water bath method until my mother-in-law, Irene, taught me how to use her pressure canner.  What a difference that made!  I went from 3 hours of boiling 7 of quarts green beans to 25 minutes!  After getting over my initial fear of the pressure canner blowing up I became a pro.  You just have to follow the directions and use common sense.  The shortened times allowed me to do more than twice the usual canning in a day.

     My instruction book has taken a lot of abuse over the years, so this year I copied the necessary pages and laminated them.  Now I have my handy, dandy, 2 sided chart hanging on the front of my frig for easy access.  Once you have a system down, you can can a lot in just a few hours.  And the feeling of seeing the cupboard full of food that my husband grew and I preserved is really quite satisfying.

     Out in the barn hanging from the rafters are bags of onions my husband harvested at three different times.  He dried them on boards and then he put them in net bags I got from the store. There are still butternut squash, watermelon, and honeydew melons to be picked.  We are getting zucchini about every day...still...and I have made bread, mock apple crisp, fried, baked, and casseroles out of them.  I even made up a side dish putting buttered french bread slices in the bottom of a pyrex dish then mixing cubed zuchinni, onion, green peppers, eggs, and cheese before pouring it over the bread. Topped with yet more cheddar and baked at 350 for an hour or so...it was delicious (if I say so myself) and the bread absorbed the natural liquid from the zucchini and toasted on the bottom.

     All in all we have had an amazing harvest.  Like everyone else we live week to week and having all of this food will save us a ton of money in the months to come.  We have truly had a "Garden Victory"!!

The roads that should be taken...

     I live in central Ohio within 5 miles of a very large Amish community.  A rural area…with lots of fields, full of corn, wheat, hay, and soy beans.  The rolling hills and green valleys are dotted with farm houses, barns, and animals.  Highways with "Share the Road" signs and dirt roads marred by buggy tracks and "horse tracks" are all the norm in this area!

     Tucked here and there are the usual Amish shops...selling cheese, flour, spices, and everything a home baker could ever want.  And the prices are VERY reasonable!  That's because these shops aren't amid a village or "tourist trap" town (like Ohio's Walnut Creek and Sugar Creek).  These shops are usually found in front of modest 2 story homes, with no unsightly poles or wiring, against a backdrop of green pasture and blue sky. 

      Blue and black clothing blow in the wind on clotheslines.  The line running from the second floor windows of the houses to the tops of barns using a pulley system.  Dogs sniff at your heels, chickens run a muck, and curious, barefoot children peak from behind their mother's skirts at the "strange looking" people invading their sanctum.

     There are other homes "just up the road" where you can get anything from homemade furniture, upholstery, leather goods and tack, maple syrup, and the freshest of produce.  Others boast fresh baked bread, pies, and cinnamon rolls. 
      In our area, there is an auction house (in the middle of nowhere) where every Wednesday local folk bring in bushels of produce to sell in bulk.  You can find a wide variety of fruit and veggies for canning, freezing, or just enjoying!  “Outsiders” flock from nearby to take advantage of the good prices. 

     Amazing as it seems there are not large crowds pushing and invading these quaint country shops.  It’s like those of us who “know” only share our secret with a select few.  Small, well-worn signs are posted where the highway intersects with the rural roads…pointing the way to these gems of the countryside.  Luckily, for us, few venture off the beaten path to investigate further.

     One of my favorite stores is only 4 miles from my home.  It took a year of living up here before I found it.  On a gravel road, within spitting distance of a major interstate, sits the “Bent and Dent” grocery store!  I don’t know where or how they get these items (and I don’t care) but the bargains I find there are absolutely AMAZING! 

     The name says it all…bent boxes and dented cans are in abundant supply.  Name brand and store brand veggies of EVERY variety are available for only 35 cents a can!  On some occasions we have lucked out and gotten banana boxes full of assorted cans “reduced” for $9 a box…which we figured out to be 20 cents a can!

     BBQ sauces, Marinades, and salad dressings for 85 cents a bottle.  Hamburger Helper, boxed potatoes, and pasta for 85 cents a box!  I check the dates and they are mostly 2012 and beyond!  And food isn’t the only bargain they have.  Just this week we got a large bag of Kingsford charcoal…which retails for $12 for only $3.00!  Just because the bag had a small rip on the outer layer!

     The “jewels” we find are the icing on the cake.  Olive oil imported from Italy and Australia pops up from time to time.  Most retail online for $10 but we pay $3.65 a bottle.  And just the other day I found a 34oz tin of extra virgin olive oil for $6.55.  When I looked it up online I found it for $36.99 on Amazon!  Another goodie was a 250ml can of Black Truffle Oil for $1…online $14.95!!  I assume some of these more “pricey” items are slow moving ones that have been discontinued in the stores.  All I know is that I would never have tried Black Truffle Oil if I hadn’t got it at such a good price! (it is AWESOME by the way) For a wanna-be gourmet cook, access to these big ticket items are like gifts from the Gods!

     Now I AM NOT going to divulge exactly where MY little Amish stores are!! (it's a secret)  But I do encourage you to take that unbeaten path and see what YOU can discover.  Dare to investigate where those weather beaten signs can take you.  The most inconsequential looking sign could lead you to treasure!  I look forward to hearing about your adventures!    .........Holly=)