Basement Project

My basement has always had major flooding problems due to a design flaw, the lack of a floor drain, and a sump pump that wasn't low enough to automatically pump unless there was a lot water. As a birthday and Christmas present my mother had plumbers come to rework the basement so I could store my canned food there. My grandma and uncle bought me the shelves to complete the project.

This is the sump pump. They had to jackhammer down through rock to get it lower. It's now in a drywall bucket encased in cement. You can kind of see where they took a cement saw and made channels from the other two corners of the basement so the water would flow to the pump. The floor has to incline whatsoever, so any water on the other side of the floor would always just stand there and make the basement moldy. The plumbers also hooked the pump up to the waste water line so the water in the basement will now go out with the water from my washing machine.

The finishing touch will be replacing the window. The glass falls out to the touch and the other side is just a board. The hole in the board is where the hose from the sump pump used to go outside; pumping water right back where it was entering the basement to begin with.

I spent several hours on Christmas Day organizing all of the jars, finally getting them out of the office floor and kitchen cabinets. Yay for cabinet space!

My Latest Scarves

I just finished this one for a co-worker tonight using the smallest of my newest looms. I really like these new looms. The knit is a lot tighter. I'll still use the purple one, but probably only for chunkier yarns.

Tomorrow I'm going to start a new scarf using my favorite yarn, Lion Brand Homespun. I've never used it, but i already know I'm going to love it. It's squiggly, soft, and the colors are so pretty. This scarf will be corinthian.

New Obsession

I have a new hobby, ok it's really an obsession. Loom knitting!!! I've always wanted to learn how to knit, but I'm just too impatient and couldn't figure it out. I have to credit a patron who walked into the library a few weeks ago with a beautiful scarf on that she had made, for turning me onto loom knitting. See, I'm already giving my yarn a drawer so it's going to be a long term relationship.

Here are some looms I just received from Amazon today. I also have a purple one that is probably 2 inches longer than the yellow one pictured here. I bought it at Walmart.

I'm currently working on a blue/tan/off white scarf. This will be my 4th in about a week. The pink and green one was my first scarf and the red and white one my second I rushed off so I could wear it to the Arkansas LSU game last Saturday. I gave my third one, a really pretty one with fall colors, to my cousin to donate to a women's shelter she knits for. I'm going to make it a point now to knit some for the shelter and mail them to her.

I'm finding this to be the perfect hobby for the fall and winter when I don't do any gardening and very little canning. If you want to learn to loom knit I suggest mikeyssmail's YouTube page and website. I learned everything from this video. I started it and stopped it several times before it clicked in my head and I was set. After I finish the scarf above and do one for a co-worker I'm going to attempt some of the other stitches I've seen on YouTube. I'm also very interested in doing a scarf with 5 different yarns of the same color, but different shade and an eternity scarf. Back to knitting I go!

Long Time, No Post

Wow, it's almost been 2 months since I last blogged. Nothing is wrong, I just don't feel like blogging. I ended up not going to the district or state fair due to conflicts in my schedule. I won 2 red and 10 blue ribbons at the county fair. I'm not saying I'm done with conventional canning, but I've been learning more about fermenting lately and am very interested in this method of food preservation. This past spring I made some kraut and I hope to make a different batch of that and some kimchi soon. Obviously, since fermented veggies end up turning the liquid cloudy these won't be entered into the fair. That's all I have to report at the moment.

Ready...Set...Go!

Today is the day to turn in my fair entries! Here are the class of 2010 on Saturday night. They have been cleaned, polished, and are waiting for their rings and labels for the bottom. I've decided to enter 12 things this year, which has me worried. Now you're going to think I'm crazy, but last year I entered 13 and worried constantly about that being a bad number, but then I won big. So this year the 12 has me worried, but I've decided to just let it go and be done. Tad superstitious?! I have to confess that I will be wearing what I wore last year when I turned my entries in...can't you just let me have a few superstitions?! I honestly think it was the new cowgirl boots!

In the dried classes I'll be entering: peppered beef jerky (I had a taste tester since I'm a vegetarian), dried corn, and cinnamon dried apple rings.

In the general canning/pickling/jam classes I'll be entering: fire roasted red peppers, spiced orange rings, bread and butter pickles, cinnamon peach chutney, tomato salsa, mango salsa, hot rhubarb jelly, chunky spiced apple butter, and my Gigi's hot tomato relish.

Judging will be all day Tuesday and I'll find out that night how everything did. I'll keep you updated.

And welcome to those who heard about this blog through my interview on the Ozark Harvest Radio Hour!

Put 'em Up!

Check it out from your library, like I did, but let me tell you, you're going to want to own this new canning book! A sister library owns this book so I borrowed it from there, but I'm going to order one for my library and myself asap.

The first 99 pages is all "how to can" type stuff. Great to brush up on for current canners and perfect for newbies.

I love how this book is broken down into food such as 7 pages with just apple recipes. There are canning, pickling, and drying recipes. There's also several things that I don't see in any of my other canning books such as apple brandy, drunken cherries, and spiced pear vodka. Yes, it has alcohol recipes! Don't pretend you aren't ecstatic about that! I can totally see this book being right along side my trusty favorite next year as I prepare for the 2011 fair. Cantaloupe pickles?! Heck yes! I hate cantaloupe, but this book has so many fairly odd recipes that I know I'm going to have to make for the fair sooner or later. If all of that doesn't make you want to buy this book let me leave you with 2 words...lemon curd.

It's the Final Countdown

It's almost county fair time! I have to hand in my entries on the 30th. Normally these last few weeks before the fair I'm scurrying around trying to can some last minute items so I can enter some extras or have an alternative to something else I did earlier in the summer that didn't turn out too well. This year I'm feeling pretty good. I did change dried vegetables though. I'm now doing corn. I was doing black krim tomatoes with basil leaves on top, but nature had other plans.

Today I also did roasted red peppers and I'll never do them again. Three hours and this is what I got...

For what red peppers cost around here this is an expensive 1 1/2 pints! They do look really pretty though, so I'm happy.

In this upcoming week I'll be cleaning jar rings and jars, picking out which 12-15 items get to be entered into the fair and making labels for those jars. Picking out what goes is a ridiculously long process...for me anyway. I'll have to set aside 3-4 hours for that, which I realize is stupid, but it's actually really fun for me. What's nerve wrecking is when I'm down to two jars of something and can't decide which one is better. If it takes more than 10 minutes to decide I usually pick one with my eyes closed. Inevitably I go back the day before hand in and will make sure I'm happy with my selections.

In case you are wondering what they are looking for (at least at our fair) in the food preservation class its all about looks. Your headspace has to be correct on everything (for non-canners there's a different amount of headspace depending on what it is and headspace is the empty space at the top of the jar before it hits the lid), liquid not cloudy, not too many other floaty things in the jar, no rust, no dents, no mold, a good seal, no food touching the lid, no labels other than on the bottom, and it has to be a Ball and Kerr jar as they sponsor this class. But dehydrated stuff they will taste. I didn't know this last year and I didn't taste any of the dehydrated stuff I entered, I just knew it smelled really good. Looks matter with dehydrated food too, but there are no headspace rules. Although, I was told once if I just added a few more dried oranges the jar would be full. In the end its all fun and games and keeps me off the streets and out of jail!

Happy county fair!