Taking Inventory

Ok, my store room is a mess.  The dry goods canned up in #10 cans and the 5 gallon buckets are in order and I know what I have but the home canned produce is another matter.  I can all year round.  Things I can store and can later I put off until winter time to can.  Meats and broths and soups get canned all year round.  I tend to stash in piles and sooner or later everything gets mixed up. 

So today I am downstairs digging through boxes finding out what I really have and finding things that didn't work out and need to get dumped because no one here will eat it.  Those items I bake into the daily bread for the chickens to eat.  The produce makes the bread moist and tender and they love it.  I also have to make sure to get a little fat and 15% protein added in.  I add in eggs, milk products, meat products, ect to get the protein levels meet.  I add in lots of whole grains and use items we need to use up along the way. 

I got stuck this week when tomatoes started coming on really good and not knowing what I really had and what I really need. 

One of my biggest mistakes last year was using pickling lime with cut up cucumbers to make pickled spears and slices.  I didn't know after sitting for the time required I then needed to drain them and soak again for at least 1 hour in pure water.  Some times it takes up to 5 hours of soaking and changing the pure water every hour.  So I have learned a lesson and am going to feed the chickens over the next week last years failures.  I also had a batch of salsa that need to simmer 12 hours so I decided to use the crock pot.  For some reason my family thought it had cooked enough and every time I walked into the kitchen the crock pot was turned off.  It turned a dark color and no one will eat it.  So 12 jars of salsa is being dumped also.  I thought it was strange that I did plum and apple butter in the crock pot and no one felt the need to turn that off.  No clue but it happened and ruined a batch of salsa.  I found two good jars down stairs when everyone claimed we were totally out. 

I still have a large section to do so who knows what else I will find.  Also my grapes are turning purple and ripen a full month earlier than usual.  I was worried they would be ready while we would be in California in early September but looks like in 2 weeks grapes will be done!  All we have currently are concord and it looks to be a great harvest this year. 

Hope you are keeping track of what all you have and getting all you need to get through the coming year.

Blessings,
Cherlynn