My Journal

I've always wanted to keep a journal and I've made numerous attempts at it over the course of my life.  I've failed every time.  The one journal that I have successfully kept up with since 2003 is my Canning Journal.  It's more than just a canning journal.  It includes what we've froze, dehydrated, phone numbers of orchards, lists of bushels bought from where and at what price, notes about what foods not to can again, etc.

It's supposed to look like denim.  How cool is that?

This is how it flows.  Starting in 2003, I listed what we put up.  As we moved from dabbling in preserving to counting on it as a major food source, the flow began to also include what we had left over in the spring so I could get a handle on what we had a surplus of and therefore what I wouldn't need to put up as much of that summer.  You follow?

This time of year, I draft my list of what I want/need to put up during the coming summer.  Not only does it include the items, but the goal amount of each item.  I come up with these specifics by determining how much of each item we went through the year before (spring to spring).

 A section of 2008's tally

For example, in the spring of 2009, we had 10 quarts of tomato sauce left in the pantry from the summer of 2008.  We went on to can 21 quarts during the summer of 2009.  We have only a couple quarts left (except for the 6 pints of sauce I bartered with a friend for).  This means we went through about 30 quarts spring 2009 to spring 2010.  That means, I need to put up at least 30 quarts- most certainly more than 30- to get us to next spring.

These calculations give me a idea of what to shoot for.  But shooting doesn't always make it happen.  We froze 21 quarts of crushed strawberries last year and by the looks of our strawberry bed this year, we aren't going to get anywhere near that amount.  So, I adjust as we go.  Less strawberries means we need to pick more blueberries and so on.

One calculation that about gave me a heart attack was that we went through (ate!) 48 jars of jam (mostly half pint sizes).  Granted, I give jam away as thank-you and hostess gifts, use it to flavor yogurt, etc, but still.  48 jars!  (THAT, my friends, is going to change.)  Since strawberries are a bit scarce this year, I will not be making strawberry jam- I will be crushing and freezing what we don't eat fresh.  And, instead, I will can more grape jam. Our kind neighbors let us pick as many as we want from their over-abundant vines.

The moral of this story:  Keep a canning journal.  Don't freak out.  Adapt.