Monday, July 14, 2008

A new week

I don't have any pictures right now to post, so I guess I'll do a pictureless post. The camera is downstairs somewhere....we took it with us to Anchorage this weekend, and I haven't unpacked it yet.

We went to Anchorage/Palmer this weekend for the day on Saturday to pick up the bulk food order from the cannery. We got our stuff (about 1100 pounds) and the ward's stuff too (another 5000 pounds). We borrowed a uhaul trailer from our friends Trace and Heather, and we filled the uhaul, and filled the truck. It was a huge amount of food. We loaded it all at the cannery, went to WalMart, got some other stuff, and then basically came home. We stopped in Ninilchik, and off-loaded all the church stuff (by hand) and re-loaded all of our stuff, came home, and unloaded everything....again. :) Now I have about 30 bags of bulk food in the middle of my living room, and long with 5 big boxes, and a bunch of walmart sacks. Plus I went to Bed Bath and Beyond and got some stuff that I've really been wanting for my house. I LOVE shopping there this time of year because they have all the "going back to college" sales, so stuff that I like is really cheap so college kids can get it. So I got a pair of nesting ottomans, 2 end tables, some canvas "baskets" to hold hats and gloves in the entryway, and 2 closet organizers, which was really exciting. I'll post pictures of that when I get them all put together, after I get all the food storage taken care of.

The food storage is in my living room because the pantry room is right next to the living room, and its a train wreck, so first we have to take everything out of there, organize it all, sort it all, build new shelves, and then put it all back....which will be a huge project but really nice to have done.

Other than that, we've been really busy trying to get all the stuff done that has to be done in the summer (building a barn for the goats, hauling/splitting/stacking firewood (I also need to take and post pictures of that project), working in the greenhouse, and just general summer stuff). I also got a new canner the other day, so now I have 2, which I am VERY excited about. I got another one of these:

They don't have rubber gaskets, so its a metal/metal seal, so it basically never wears out, never leaks, never fails to pressurize - its really sweet! So I guess its not a pictureless post after all. :)
Now I need to get busy and can some pinto beans - hey I have a picture of that too! :D And you can also see my original canner in that picture too. Its the one on the left. The one on the right is the one I replaced.
I guess that's about all I have to post for today. Now I have to, I mean get to, go clean the kitchen. :)

3 comments:

The Rhiens said...

Wow! You have been BUSY girl! Way to go. I am so impressed by your hard work and your preparations for the future. It must be a great feeling!

Love, Earlene

Hannah said...

Hi-
I found your blog when I was searching "food storage" on google blogs. Anyway, that's awesome that you have so much food storage. It's a hard thing for a lot of people to do!

Hannah

Jodi said...

Where did you get your canner and how much was it? I don't have a pressurized one and I've been thinking about how much more canning I could do with it!