Powdery mildew be damned, I still got a number of good pumpkins out of the patch before the vines died off and I decided to make pumpkin butter. I had two wheelbarrow loads full of them, so I got my bowls, knives and recipe book ready. It seemed like simple enough task to cut open the pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, cut them up and boil 'til they're soft, I mean, they're small pumpkins, right? I must have been blind the fact that I had to do this to more than thirty pumpkins. Why so many, you ask? Well, it seems that I can never do any canning half way. I also have absolutely no concept of what "12-14 lbs of pie pumpkins" mean. And to top all that off, I can't stand to waste what I have; you'd think I grew up in the depression. It's a sickness. Anyway, I had four large bowls full of pumpkin pulp and I had to put it through the food mill to make it nice and creamy. I finally finished this; it was 8:30, my kitchen was a disaster, I still had some pumpkin to puree and I hadn't even made it to the pumpkin butter stage. I was so overwhelmed by pumpkin because I knew the next step would take another several hours, so before I had a meltdown and started throwing pumpkin pulp on the walls, I gave the pumpkin that wasn't pureed to the cows and went to bed (side note: Cows do not like pumpkin). I told Art that this had better turn out to be heaven in a jar because I can't go through this again. And I love to can. The next day I was ready to go back at it. I made three batches of pumpkin butter but I ended up freezing about two gallons of pumpkin puree for next year because I ran out of jars. 49 jelly jars later, I have enough pumpkin butter to last me for years (and some of you might be getting some for Christmas...) It is tasty and Art loved it, but this was more work than I have ever had to do.
(notice the left over pumpkins. It was all I could do to just leave them alone)
Art was busy as well fixing the barn. The walls had started to pull away and bow outwards, so Art tied cables across the inside of the barn to keep walls together, just like the barn straighteners do. Only this way it was cheap because Art works for pumpkin butter and since I have so much, everyone wins. As I write this, Art is painting the back of the barn. We did the other three walls last summer and Art has borrowed a bucket truck to finish the back.
In case there are those of you out there that enjoy canning or would like to try it, there are two recipe books that I use and love: Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and More and Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. The recipes are really good (they haven't failed me yet) and easy to use. They also include chapters on all you need to know about canning. I always thought canning was really difficult, btu I have found that it's actually very easy and, for the most part, relaxing. Some things are more work than others, but you also don't need to make the large quantities that I do. It's extremely satisfying to preserve what you grow and a lot cheaper than buying these items in the stores. Plus, they make great gifts!
1 comment:
I'll gladly take some of that yummy pumpkin butter!!!!! - Cody
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