His Great-Grandma’s Pot

It all began with his great-grandma’s pot… Sounds like quite a story is about to unfold but so sorry no, not that kind of pot. Got your attention though didn’t I?! (Hee Hee)

About 4-5 years ago or so I was helping my mother-in-law go through the basement of the family lake house and I saw this HUGE black pot sitting on an old shelf covered in probably 20 years of dust (no exaggeration). 

I instantly knew I wanted it, not sure why but I knew I had a family with boys and I could use it. (And Yes! They really do eat that much.) So I asked her “Hey, M-I-L, can I have that?” pointing to the pot. She was like “sure, I don’t care.” Cool, I took the lid off and it had this funky looking rack thingy in the bottom with two handles on it and I shrugged and thought, “well that is weird” but packed it up into the trunk of my car and I brought it home.  

I had no idea what I had at the time so it kinda just sat in the closet unless I was making a big batch of BoiledDinner. Side note, if you have never had Boiled Dinner and you have a large family and need a stick to your ribs kinda hot soup – this is a good one.

Side Note: I have to thank my mother-in-law again for this recipe. My husband grew up eating this and it instantly brings him back to childhood memories. It is a household favorite. This is a recipe that I will be posting in the future so keep your eyes peeled!

This year's: pickles, dilly beans, and some green beans.

Anyway – 3 years ago, I had way too much produce and didn’t want it to spoil. I thought hmm salsa and pickles would be nice so I called up my cousin Luisa and asked her what to do and she was like “Oh girl, just can it, it is so easy!” and she proceeded to tell me how “can salsa”. She made it sound super easy. I immediately went to my local big box store and purchased the Ball’s Blue Book to Preserving and the various tools I would need. I did some reading on the internet. Ok to be fair I obsessed a little. The more I read, the more I was like, “I could totally do this!” And boy did I ever!  

I fell in love with canning. I canned enough salsa to last us a year… we averaged about 1-2 Quarts a month I would guess. I canned anything I could in that water-bath canner (which turns out is what my husband’s Great-Grandma had in The Lake House basement and had just been sitting in my closet) and the next year I filled gift baskets at Christmas for each family unit to enjoy. They were loaded with homemade goodies! Not only that they were a HUGE hit and I saved soooo much money at Christmas because of this! (To my family reading this, YES you will be getting another basket this year as requested.)

One of the Christmas Baskets from last year that was given as a gift.
See how homemade gifts can be quite a treat!

Anyway, I eventually moved beyond this and wanted to be able to do Pressure Canning but you need a Pressure Canner which… I did not have (sad face). I went to my local big box store and priced them out. Turns out a good sized Pressure Canner is not cheap. Don’t get me wrong they are worth EVERY CENT and you will definitely get your money’s worth out of them if you use them regularly, but I wasn’t really keen on spending $80-100 on a pressure canner. I thought hmmm maybe I will ask for this for Christmas. Christmas came and went, no luck. So at the beginning of this summer when I saw one at a garage sale with everything included (weights, 2 racks, seal, and the instruction manual included) for $10 I knew I had hit gold! “It works like a charm” she said “but we just got a brand new one as a gift…” SOLD! I couldn’t wait to use it! I packed it into the trunk of my car along with a couple of racks of jars and went home and promptly read the instruction manual and begun pressure canning…

So that said, I love canning even more (if that is even possible) and my kitchen and dining room currently show it. There have been boxes of empty jars stacked on the table since about July (they kinda go in rotation) waiting to be filled and boxes of canned goodness waiting to be taken to the pantry downstairs (by one of the strong men/boy folk in the house) and a big box of supplies to have on hand and loads of fresh produce from the nearby farms waiting to be canned. It is… as I call it… Canning Season… This is the state of things until around the end of October. 

I have already begun making baby food so… This may be going on for some time. Which reminds me, I will be posting recipes for homemade baby food in the future too so if that is something you are interested in, stay tuned!

I have pretty much told my husband that this is going to be an every other day thing until the end of October, maybe sooner as we have a baby due at the end of October! Woot Woot! 

It’s funny to me how something like canning has really lead to a focus of where my food is coming from (local, fresh, clean), a desire to grow it myself, and a passion for being more self-sustained and for using more natural ingredients.

So what if we aren’t there yet. One day at a time. We have things that we need to take care of first. We are so close to paying off a large chunk of debt (Dave Ramsey’s – “Total MoneyMake Over” is a great resource). (UM YAY!) We want to plan ahead, educate ourselves on some things, you know, the whole smarter not harder thing, but ultimately the goal is to move to our "dream property" before this baby starts school. Some would say that makes it a 5 year plan… I would prefer more like a 2 year plan, but hey, who knows what life will bring us.  I mean who knew that his great-grandma’s pot would lead to a love of a whole different way of life?! Anything is possible!

What to do with leftover Sunday ham?
Make 9 Pints of Split Pea & Ham Soup
& 3 Jars of Canned leftover Ham