See this strong arm? I've never, ever dropped a jar -- even when boiling water bubbles over my arm or plops me in the face. This arm can can, man! I am a preserving queen.
A couple of weeks ago, Amy asked me to ROAR! (I sure like how she roared.) I heartily believe in roaring, but I don't like to show pictures of my face here and wasn't sure what was roar-worthy in my life these days. But I thought about it quite a bit.
Then, when my mom scoffed at my recent preserving projects, I thought, "Well, I'll show her! Roar!" And I realized I finally had something to roar about here.
These are the fruits of my labor during the last week:
From far left to near right...
- 4 trays of dried nectarine halves
- 5 quarts of beets pickled in red wine
- 8 half pints of low sugar peach jam
- 10 half pints of low sugar apricot jam
- 14 quarts of Aunt Ruth's vinegar pickles
- 4 pints of low-sugar bread and butter pickles
- 8 pints of spicy nectarine bbq sauce
- 4 quarts of lemon cucumber pickled with vinegar
- 6 quarts of spiced nectarines
- one big jar of fermented garlic dills
- (you can't see the frozen peaches, frozen apricots, or the apricot fruit leather)
Yeah... I did say fermented garlic dill pickles... Yes, they're the real thing. Of course they taste great! (Didn't I tell you that I'm a preserving rock star?) My first batch of real pickles turned out! Yay! The jar here just holds a quarter of them. I left the rest in the crock to ferment more. Please admire the cloudy brine. Friends, these pickles took just a week in the Harsch crock. (I haven't had a failure yet with this crock.) The pickles taste fresh, flavorful, and crunchy. I'll keep the rest in there another week and then start another batch! Yay!
My feet and hips are killing me from standing at the stove all week, but my husband hasn't asked for a divorce yet, and my daughter still calls me mom and asks me to kiss her owies. So shit howdy, man! I am a preserving goddess.
ROAR!
I won't single out anyone in particular because I had such a hard time following through on this one, but does anyone else need to roar? We all feel emboldened when we hear other women roar. Be proud!
So fabulous, isn't it good to shift our perspective now and then? Thank you for playing along, I really, really loved this. And I hope it made you feel as wonderful as you are.
Posted by: mrs. chicken | August 24, 2009 at 10:28 AM
You rock.
See? This is why I must learn from you.
Posted by: Stephanie | August 26, 2009 at 07:35 PM