Smokefree

If you mean Parks Whopper I bought one yesterday at KMart. I got a nice looking plant. Some had blossoms on already but I didn't pick them because I remember hearing somewhere (probably on godubois here) not to buy them when they are blossoming already. I only bought one because I am just going to try a few of several different varieties this year, mostly on my deck because something kept eating my tomatoes in the garden last year. When I googled Parks Whopper the info looked good.

Where can I find Miracle Grow for Tomatoes?

That is great! I hope I can do as well as you are. Do you fertilize with deluted Miracle Grow? I was thinking of trying that. I have heard that Miracle Grow makes fertilizer specifically for tomatoes but I can't find any in stores.

Has anyone grown these? I bought one today and was just wondering if anyone has planted them before and how the tomatoes came out.

I think fruits and vegetables grown at home are priceless. You get the joy of watching them grow and nothing compares to sitting on your deck, picking a tomato and having it with salt! I compare the price to buying annuals. You pay just as much or more for them and you don't get to eat anything! I can too and the last few weeks I have been eating bowl after bowl of cold home-canned tomatoes with onion and green pepper. MMMMMM

Anyone see the mini-greenhouses at BiLo? Do you think they are worth $29.99? I am considering getting one for the deck and just wondered what others thought.

I used two rainbarrels all of last year. There are simple instructions on the internet. It only takes about 15 minutes to put in a spigot at the bottom that you can attach a hose to. I couldn't get enough pressure to use a spray nozzle so I just got cheap ($1 each) buckets from the deli at Brookville Comet and lined them up by the garden and used the hose to fill them. So convenient. Really cut down on my water bill! With these high food prices continuing to soar I may have to have a "Victory Garden" this year if I can keep the animals out.

Do you add water? How do you keep the apples from burning or drying out in the crockpot?

I live in DuBois and could pick some up Monday if you have any left. I remember them from my childhood and would like at least a few because of the memories. I remember the black on our skin from the outside but the flavor was great. Brenda

I just wanted to say that I noticed Osage Orange plants for sale on godubois in the classified under miscellanious. I think I remember someone on here looking for them. The seller has a lot and they are only a few dollars each.

I never heard of grape pie. Can you post the recipe? What kind of grapes can you use? I keep tellling myself that I am done canning. Then I have someone offer me tomatoes or there is a great sale on meat or something and I am grabbing the canning jars. LOL

That is interesting. Some of the Blueberry jam that I made this year didn't set so I just labeled it "Blueberry Syrup". LOL I wonder if I could use this method when I open it and freshen it up that way before serving.

I missed the Big Lots sale. I asked about lids about a day later and they said they had them for .99 but just sold out. That was a month ago and I have been checking there 2 or 3 times a week since then and haven't found any at Big Lots. I don't know how I missed the sale, as I shop there a lot. I love trying new foods from Big Lots. Some I really thought were tasty and you can't get many of these items anywhere else.

I know most everyone is probably done canning but I just wanted to say that the discount food store in dubois Save a Lot has the wide mouth lids for $1.79 and the regular ones for $1.29. I think this is the best price that I have seen around here. It isn't a sale or anything. Just their regular price. And they have a lot. Most of the other stores are low on stock and probably won't have any soon. I plan to keep canning food now and then this winter when there is a big sale on meat because I just can't stand paying the regular price. Plus when you can 7 quarts at once of something that you have to simmer for hours anyway you are saving on fuel, as you are doing enough for at least 7 meals at once. Has anyone heard of a better price for lids or any sales on jars? If so, where?

All I can say is WOW! I hope you had help doing all that canning. I didn't add up all the stuff you canned in the last week and a half but I think it is about what I canned altogether over the last few MONTHS. LOL and I thought I was stocking up. Someday I am going to go down and count what I have of each thing and add it up. I wish I had written this down as I did it just to see how much I made. I tried a wide variety of foods. Today is the last day potatoes are $1.49 for 10 lb at SNS here in DuBois and I am trying to convince myself to can some but the idea of all that peeling sounds horrible to me. I can already feel the blisters on my hands that I would get. Do you think I could can potatoes without peeling? The price of potatoes is usually high and they won't be this cheap again. Brenda

Now I am canning some chicken in broth with carrots and celery. Roasting Chickens are BOGO at Shop N Save and that makes it about $.75 a lb. I am also canning 7 quarts of broth with carrots and celery. I will have many uses for that. I roasted them first and it is not hard at all to debone it. The bones and some other chicken that I bought will make nice broth. The second canner will go on in an hour.

I have made romas like that before and they were delicious. I just never put them in jars like that but it sounds great. If I get any more fresh romas I am going to try it. I am just about done canning for the summer, I hope. Yesterday I got some smoked ham hocks at Polumbos and canned 7 quarts after I simmered it down and removed the bone. I added some onion, carrots and celery so that if I want to make bean soup or cabbage stew I can just open a jar and add the rest of the ingredients when I cook the meal. I figure canning it will actually save on the cost of using my gas stove because I cooked it down all at once instead of simmering a hamhock alone for each meal. You can get a lot of meat in each jar.

After the canner on the stove is finished processing I will have done 14 quarts of vegetable soup today. Just the way I like it with a tomato base broth. I have been trying to can a variety of things this year, not too much of any one thing.

Those sound like good prices, especially the tomatoes. I am about done with tomatoes ( I hope! LOL) but I would like to do some other things. Canning is sort of addicting when you have a pressure canner. I have been buying tomatoes from several different people and they have all had wonderful tomatoes. I also got several bushel free from nice people who were just sick of tomatoes, as they had been canning so much. All the things that I have canned over the last few weeks have turned out well as far as I know. I opened a pint of pickled green tomatoes to see if I liked the amount of spice used. It seemed pretty spicy and I thought "I better use a lot less pickling spice. So I ate a few and then polished off the jar to get rid of it. LOL

I have been looking for a Squeezo! Do they really sell them at Kohlhepps and how much are they?

Well, It is 9:00am. I just washed dozens of clean jars of varying sizes. Don't you hate it when you didn't wash enough jars and then have to find a few more to empty the canning pot? LOL I have the three racks of the oven full of pans of roasting Roma tomatoes sprinkled with salt. I will add the spices later. About to put some tomatoes in the crockpot to simmer. Dishes all done. And soon I am off to pick up another bushel of tomatoes and a couple of green peppers. The lady that I am getting them from in Rockton is unfortunately about out of peppers. She has such nice ones that people are on a list to get them. I am going to get some nice smoked sausage from Willars in Falls Creek and add to the Romas to can. Slice them up and this should make a nice chunky "sauce" to eat on crackers or bread and butter. MMMMM. What kind of sieve do you use to remove the skin? I might try the applesauce if I don't have to peel them by hand.

It has been years since I canned applesauce (or anything to do with apples actually) but I love home made applesauce. It is a lot of work isn't it? I think like you when it comes to tomato sauce. My extended family says you are canning so much. What will you ever do with all those tomatoes and I think well, 52 weeks in a year. Even if I only want pasta or pizza once a week I will need 52 jars or if I want it even twice a month I would need 26 quarts to last me until next season. I would rather have too much than too little!

What do you use elderberries for? I have heard of making wine and jelly from them. Is that what you use canned ones for? My mother has elderberry bushes but I have never canned it.

Maybe it's a sign that last night in the middle of canning, the little rust mark on the bottom of my water bath canner sprung a big leak and the whole stovetop suddenly was covered with water. LOL. I had to transfer the jars to my old pressure canner to use as a "water bath" canner to finish them. I had to take all the burners off first and mop up the water. Talk about cleaning up as you work. LOL

Yesterday I made some cooking sauce (I don't know what else to call it) and some tomato puree. I did use a blender. It really helps. I splurged and bought a new pressure canner last week. I only used my old one for venison years ago. It was used when I bought it and then a handle broke off. So now I am excited wanting to try some new good recipe to can in my pressure canner. Any suggestions of something that you have done?