Thanks for the tip, Jeannie, now all I have to do is find our county extension office and I'm good for canning. I read an article today about a woman in Florida whose pressure cooker fell off her stove, exploded and sliced her leg off. Then I read the comments on the article, because frankly, I usually find the comments more interesting than the articles themselves, and so many people were freaking out and saying that pressure cookers were unsafe, unnecessary and should be outlawed. What a bunch of bologna! The woman was 80 years old, so her pressure cooker was probably one of those old ones that don't have pressure release buttons, which is why it exploded. Secondly, it was a FREAK accident. Pressure cookers don't commonly explode (especially now with the safety features) and if they do, they don't take body parts with them when they go. That's like saying if a clock fell off the wall and hit you in the head, you should outlaw clocks. Thirdly, you better believe they're necessary if you can vegetables or meat. The first time I ever canned green beans, I didn't read the instructions properly and canned them in a water bath canner, fortunately, I noticed they all went bad and dumped them before we got poisoned to death or something, but you better believe that I was a whole lot more careful after that and I loved my pressure canner.
Okay, rant over. Yesterday, angel #4 had her spring band concert and rent-a-grandma came to watch it. It was really nice and #4 was so happy to have her there. Afterwards, she spent the night, since it's an hour and a half drive back to her house and this morning we had a great gabfest over coffee. She's planning on doing the same thing when Angel #2 graduates next week, so we're all going to get a lot of quality grandma time.
We're planning on putting in the garden on Saturday. The good news is that the weather is supposed to warm up as the week progresses, with a high of 68 on Saturday. The bad news is, there's supposed to be thunder storms as well. To tell you the truth, I'm over this whole "spring" thing and will welcome summer (if it ever comes) with open arms.
1 comment:
Definitely pressure canners are necessary. My folks used one all the time and never used just a plain water bath, and canned spaghetti sauce, pickles and all kinds of fruit. Yummy! As long as you get the gauge checked regularly, you are good to go.
I don't understand this hysteria over "scary" pressure canners. I think people are in far more danger from from eating improperly canned foods.
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