A Jen Too Many

Right now the love seat in the living room is unusable, because it is covered and stacked with various boxes. This is because I have a little galley kitchen, which, while it is not as small as it could be, is still not nearly big enough to accommodate the needs of a serious home canner.

I usually keep my canning stuff in the basement, but it is upstairs right now, where I have no room for it all. I can't put my boxes and pots on the counters, because I need to work there. I can't put them on the dining room table, because we need to eat there, and I am also using it as a workspace in between meals. I can't put anything on the floor because the dog will do unspeakable things to my boxes. So I am using the love seat, and my husband is being very nice about it.*

Currently, I have a mason jar case, containing 7 quarts of applesauce and waiting for 5 more jars to complete the dozen before going to the basement. I have the huge box that my Roma strainer and all its assorted accessories came in, which is holding all the pieces that are not currently air-drying on the dining room table. My water bath canner is on top of the applesauce case. My dehydrator is sitting on the kitchen table, but when it is done with the current batch of apple chips will go back onto the loveseat.

In the kitchen I have a 10 quart stockpot full of applesauce. I made it Monday (didn't have time for it yesterday) and need to reheat it, flavor it cinnamon, and can seven quarts. I also need to get started on the spiced apple rings. I am not making apple butter this year, since I still have several pints from a couple of years ago. We go through strawberry freezer jam much, much faster than apple butter.**

I also have plans to make some salsa since I have everything up here, another item which makes my husband very happy. That isn't as hard as it sounds - I make it with canned tomatoes and a salsa mix packet. All I have to do it cook it a little while, pour it in the bottles, and water bath it.

But first, I have to stop goofing off and procrastinating, so I'll end this post now.
___________________________________________

*Because he is unreasonably impressed that I know how to can, and thinks it is hard work. (It is, but it is fun hard work.) He also loves spiced apple rings.

**My daughters are such jam snobs. They refuse to touch commercially made jam, turn up their noses at jam which I have canned in a water bath, and go crazy for freezer jam. I have to threaten them to keep them away from it, and still have to hide it in the back of the freezer to make it last more than a few weeks.