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The Benefits of Canning And Gardening |
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May I respond to all the nice people who commented on my home food canning tip? If you want to get started, buy a copy of the newest (2003) edition of the Ball Blue Book. You can find it at hardware stores and your local Cooperative Extension office. Just look them up in the phone book if the hardware store doesn't have a copy. I think mine cost $7.95, which made me flinch but has paid me back a hundred times over and more! Read every single word in that book! It doesn't have a single extra word -- honest! You need it all to figure out processing times.
Regarding the gardening, good gardens are not made in the first season. Just keep building up your soil every year. Keep the soil evenly moist. Make sure sun-loving plants get sun. We found a copy of the old Organic Gardening and Farming encyclopedia many years ago, and it has been a big help to us. Reader's Digest, Better Homes and Gardens and others have also published wonderful guides.
It is absolutely miraculous what profit there can be in a packet of seeds. And that little apple tree you plant now will bear more fruit in a lifetime that you can conceive of. Ours are 20 years old now, and we get many bushels from each one, even though they were damaged by a fire a few years ago. So go for it! Your own food production and preservation are your hedge against climbing gas, postage and grocery prices.
Thanks again for your many kind comments. You made my day!
By Coreen from Rupert, ID
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RE: The Benefits of Canning And Gardening
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Post By (Guest Post)
(09/30/2006)
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Couldn't agree more with your reflections-- I've canned for more years than I want to remember-- I was born just before WW II and my parents learned to ration foods as did the entire country. We gardened and canned just because if we wanted canned tomatoes-- they couldn't buy them-- the metal for the cans was rationed as part of the war effort.
We also used the Ball Blue Book-- and like you I obtained a old organic gardening encyclopedia-- from the annual Library sale. I have never grown a large garden in my time-- but we did grow popcorn (so good compared to packaged popcorn!) and I put in a genetic dwarf apple tree-- I sold that house and really, really miss that apple tree! I miss the amended soil with all that compost!!
I checked with a master gardner recently- and learned the paper shreds I make trying to keep personal information from the trash-- is excellent mulch-- and I'll cover the shreds with cypress shreds--
Good luck with your growing and canning-- I salute you.....
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