First Meat Canning of the Year

While we were in another town yesterday, I stopped in at a grocery store that had boneless, center-cut pork loin for $1.69/lb.  This was about the best price I've seen in quite a while so I chose two loin packages and had the man working in the meat department slice it into 1" pieces.  I followed the instructions from Jackie Clay's book Growing and Canning Your Own Food to prepare and process the pork.

This morning, I began the canning process at 6:00 am.  It took almost an hour for me to trim the pieces up and place them in the jars.  I used pint jars as a pint of meat is plenty for most meals and will let us get more meals out of this meat purchase.  I used disposable Ball brand lids for my wide mouth pints and reusable Tattler lids for my regular pints.  I chose to use some disposable lids in case I decided to share with someone I wouldn't lose my lid.

I enjoy using the Tattler lids but I do make sure to read the instructions each time before using them to make certain of the proper closing.  With these lids, you loosely tighten the rings but then back off 1/4" to allow for proper venting.  When you remove the jars from the canner, you finish tightening the rings down.  I've read of some folks having problems with improper seals but I believe it comes from not making certain of the instructions and allowing the jars to vent.

I ended up with 14 pints of yummy pork loin that will be a welcome addition to quick and easy suppers when things are hectic around here.

TH has been very busy around the farm.  He planted a nice sized patch of Hickory King Corn this weekend.

He used his planter to plant almost 30 rows of corn.(We actually lost count somewhere during the planting.) We're hoping we'll harvest enough corn to have some ground to corn meal and some cracked to help feed the goats, chickens, and cows during the winter.

We received some much needed rain last night.  Our plants in the garden as well as the seeds that were planted over the weekend needed a nice drink and the steady rain that fell through the night and into the morning should help quite a bit.