Pears & Hay

We picked up pears from the trees on the property and got them canned yesterday. The temperature was lower outside-the first little cool front we've had-can Fall be too far behind???

My always helpful hubby-he finished peeling the pears while I went in and got the syrup ready. The cows stood at the fence and begged for the peels.

Cooking in the syrup-smells wonderful!

And all done-6 pints and 1 quart-all ready for pies or cobblers!

And more honey!! 9 pints and 6 half pints-Yummy!!

We spent the afternoon getting hay. Found some bale hay first, and when we got there to get it-it was a friend of Jeff's that he used to work with. So we had a good long visit with them. Then went the other direction and picked up 4 rolls of hay. So hopefully with that and the other we need to pick up-we'll have enough to make it through.

We got our first egg yesterday from the pullets yesterday too! Kinda small, but they'll get bigger and hopefully more a day are on the way. Bad news is, something tore into the coop at home and killed the rooster and all but 2 of the laying hens! :( So the pullets will have to start laying or we will have to buy eggs-oh no!!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce!!

I finally got around to making some homemade spaghetti sauce last weekend and if I can say so myself, this stuff turned out good!!! The recipe I used is at the end of this post and was really quite easy and fun to make-if you have lots of good help in the kitchen!

 All of the onions, peppers, etc-I actually chopped these up the night before and let them set in the frig to get a head start in the morning. Man did it smell good when I opened the frig!

Here is a picture of my help for the morning! Jordan helped get the tomatoes ready, and Suzanne and I juiced them up. Ignore all the extra stuff on the counters-Alana was busy making and decorating the birthday cake for Suzanne and Kaytlynn's party later that afternoon. Some days my kitchen just isn't big enough for all of us!

Once we begin to put everything together, I realized I didn't have a pot big enough to cook it in! OH NO!!! Jeff's mom suggested using my roaster and what a great idea it was! As you can tell, it couldn't have held much more, but what a wonderful smell throughout the house-even could smell it from outside. It was great!!

And just like we've done all year, we processed the jars outside on Jeff's fish cooker. We ended up with 14 quarts-well one is not quite full. Only one didn't seal, Jeff used it over a slow cooked rabbit this week and it was very tasty! Alana used a jar for spaghetti one night-Jordan didn't like it, but Suzanne ate 2 plates full!

We finally got most of the Jacob's Cattle Beans shelled and put up-9 pint jars. They are so pretty and taste really good. All the grandkids helped-even Kylee, but she did put 2 up her nose! Alana was able to remove them without a trip to the Doctor-she's going through that stage at the moment!!

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

12 Qts of Tomato Juice

6 Cups Onions-chopped

3 Cups Peppers-chopped-I used bell, 4 jalapenos, pimento-whatever you have on hand

1 Cup Green Onions-chopped

4 Stalks celery-Pureed

1/2 Cup Salt

2 Cups Sugar

14 Small Cloves of Garlic-Pureed

8 Heaping Tablespoons of Basil

40 Ounces of Tomato Paste

14 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Italian Seasoning

Mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil. You'll need a large pot or roaster. Turn heat down and simmer for an hour. Pour into hot canning jars, wipe rims and add seals and rings. Process in water bath canner for 40 minutes.