Reaping The Benefits Of Our Garden

One thing my husband and I both really enjoy is our garden. And right around this time every year I start missing that garden. All the fresh produce, the sun, the warmth, getting my hands dirty...

We both love watching it grow. And we both love harvesting from it every evening.

Now that our daughter is big enough, she loves to help out too!

At the end of summer we spent our days picking and washing and grilling!

One thing I was pretty excited about this year was my new pressure canner. We got a new stove last year and I needed a new canner that would work properly on my new ceramic stove top.

We LOVE green beans. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Well, I love every part of our garden, my husband on the other hand, loves green beans.

So, finding a way to preserve those yummy green beans is really important. In the past I have frozen, this year, however, I was excited to try out the pressure canner and can some green beans.

First off, I enlisted my little helper and we snapped some green beans while watching Daddy work around the yard.

I gathered up my supplies. My jars have been sanitized in the dish washer and my lids have been sanitized in boiling water.I use a cold pack method. Where I place the raw green beans into the jars and then pour hot, boiling water into the jars. I also add 1/2 tsp of canning salt.I cheat. I used to use water boiled in a pot and then pour in using my funnel. Now, I use this lovely tea pot that boils water super quick. And is super easy to pour. No funnel neededI added the jars to 3 quarts of boiling water in my canner.And I waited for the magic to happen!And it was a success!Now, I know some people who can all year long. When they get really good deals at the grocery store. They find someway to preserve that product. Green beans sometimes run on special in our grocery store and it might be a fun winter project to try your hand at canning. Then you can plant your own garden next year and be an expert in canning by the time you have to pick!I am pretty excited about these canned green beans because we will be trying this year's crop for the first time tomorrow at our Thanksgiving Dinner! Yum!