It's not all about quilting....maybe I need to change my blog title?

Hhhmm.

One of my favourite bloggers is Janet, author of ‘Suck it up Buttercup’. She writes regularly about her sewing activities, as well as her life on the land in Montana, USA, and juggling home-based online work with family and church.  She's a real multi-tasker, and I find her quite inspirational.

I came across her blog when she posted a finished bag on another blog ‘Crazy Mom’ some time last year and have followed her ever since.  I like the way she writes, and the way that she combines writing about quilting with whatever else takes her fancy – and she can be pretty feisty sometimes.  I like that too, by the way!  I find myself reading her blog with what I imagine is an American twang.

Since my blog is not just about quilting, I am planning on posting whatever takes my fancy too, but will only link to quilting blogs when I have a finish to show.

Janet and her husband try to be as self-sufficient as possible, and she has just finished a summer season of ‘canning’ vegetables.  Now, I’d never heard of canning before, and it sounded to me like tin cans for vegetables which I knew was wrong judging by Janet's photos.  I also knew that it was a form of food preservation – or home preserves as someone with an English background (like me) would say - so where did the word 'canning' come from?

I was intrigued enough to google North American ‘canning’ and came up with this:

“While people associate the word ‘canning’ with ‘cans’, as in ‘tin cans’, it actually comes from the word ‘canister’ (from which the word ‘can’ is also derived.) Canning refers to a defined heat process of preserving food in canisters of various materials.”

I may be wrong, but it does seem to be a peculiarly American thing to do.  I'm curious to try canning myself, so I'm on the look out for a proper canning pot - if that's what you call it - you never know your luck at garage sales (it's pot luck you might say).  I plan on taking a leaf out of Janet’s book and will be trying to can what I hope will be a glut of tomatoes in summer.   

I live in Australia, of course, where it is now spring.  Last year I tried to grow tomatoes in pots, not very successfully I’m afraid, and this year I want to do better. Lettuce and cucumber seedlings are ready to be planted out now.  I’ve never grown anything from seed before, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they do - it's exciting!

I thought I would put these into my new vegie planters, but they aren't built yet, so I need to figure out where to put them in the garden.  My friend gave me a compost bin, together with a small composting bucket to keep on my kitchen bench, so that I can start to recyle my green waste from the kitchen.  I also have a lot of garden waste.  I think if this works, I will have to build a good size composting area on the property.

Hubblebird