Canning Workshop

One of the optional projects that graduating La Meza Verde familes chose was food preservation. So, last Friday Sylvia came down from San Francisco with her husband, Bill, and brought all the things that we needed.

Laura, Sylvia, Debbie, Patty



Laura, Dora, Sylvia

Sylvia, Dora and the stuff.

Sylvia, teaching as usual.

We had the workshop at my house. Because it's so close and  there's a stove it fit the criteria. Altogether there were 10 of us if you count the boys. That's the most people that I've had in my house in a long time.
I spent 3 days giving my dingy kitchen a much needed cleaning!!I had been nervous but by Friday AM it felt so good to have everything decluttered and clean. Luis pitched in and cleaned and painted(?) the bathroom and washed the outsides of the windows, even though it was his birthday.      
By the end we had made pickeled jalepenos with carrots and veggies, strawberry and blackberry jam. It was so much fun to cook with other people! Sylvia was awesome! I was inspired!         
Since then I've made a birthday cake with the strawberry jam in the middle, canned a jar of green beans, made zucchini parmesean and I might make biscuits tonight to go under the blackberry jam!

Malin, Debbie, Sylvia

My idea of canning involved bushels of fruit or veggies, steam, sweat and so much time. It never occured to me to just put up 1 or 2 jars at a time. What a concept. Thanks Ladies.

Check it Out!->->Slideshow!!! ->->

My computer is back! At least for now because there are still issues. When they are resolved I'll tell you where I took it because I had it back the same day for a very reasonable price. But, it's only reasonable if they stand behind their work because like I said, there are still issues. At least it turns on now.                                     
The week that it was down was sort of a relief because I've been a little bit discouraged with the blog. I guess that I had this vision that everyone I know would drop what they were doing and tune in every day like I had invented gardening. I'm more realistic now, and I really should be writing for myself first anyway, but I've also had more visitors thanks to CrazyforCrust's Facebook Exchange Party. I listed this blog and the Facebook Page and then looked around and visited other pages, etc. Anyway, there were a lot of people visiting around and some of them checked out this blog and on the Facebook page there are 7 new likes! That's a total of 13! (the other 6 being my Family (either forced or hacked) and their close friends (guilted))                                
With people looking at it of their own free will, I feel I'd better step it up!                            
I'm kind of joking because actually the blog has 724 total views. Lots of people have told me that they've seen it and they've said really nice things, so Thanks!!!
OH!!! I almost forgot, FINALLY figured out how to put a Slideshow on the blog. It wasn't how they said to do it on Picasa or Blogspot, but by trial and error it works. I'm a regular techie.

Well, I need to get busy because I'm making Zucchini Parmesan with zucchini from the garden(my friend Melanie's idea) The sauce I made from about 6 lbs. of tomatoes from the garden. So there you go.