Blog Schedule

I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Beets

Over the week-end hubby and I canned beets from our meager garden. It's really a miracle anything grew at all as it is so terribly dry here. (We've also managed to have a couple of servings each of snow peas, string beans and broccoli.)

But the beets....Here's what we figured.

Eight months to grow, $50.00 worth of supplies, and ten hours of labor. That ten hours included, harvesting, sorting, washing. Preparing the kitchen before hand and cleaning up afterwards. Boiling, skinning, slicing and dicing beets. Putting the beets in the bottles and boiling them.

So for all that work and time, how many quarts of beets did Bish and Stan can?


Wanna buy some?
Despite all the time and energy, we had fun and we learned a lot. We learned how we could grow beets better, by thinning them out and mulching them. We learned better steps to take in the canning process. And, we learned we can do it.

There are other things I'm learning I can do too. Like work on my stories and maybe blog once a week.

We'll see.

Here's beets in your eye.

15 comments:

  1. You will enjoy every single mouthful I am sure. Bish and Stan sure can, can can.

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  2. Beets, my new favorite food. I love pickled beets and I don't know why. I eat them every day. Do you know what they're good for? My mother says they're red and that's good for Vitamin A. I should probably look it up, I think I have a deficiency somewhere.

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  3. Oh yes, mybabyjohn, we will be thankful for every mouthful...mouth full? :)

    Anne, I like pickled beets too! I've read that beets may have anti-cancer benefits and help against anemia, urinary tract infection, kidney stones and who knows what all else!

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  4. See, this is what runs through my mind when I think about doing my own gardening--will the effort/cost be worth it? But good for you for doing all that canning. It's a boat load of work. I LOVE beets. Enjoy every bite.

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  5. Yum! My son and I love beets and we even love the pickled vinegary ones :) My SIL often gives me a can of her mother's pickled beets for Christmas.

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  6. I hear you Mel. But knowing where those beets came from, how they were grown (poison free) makes it seem all worth while.

    Me too Vijaya. I will be pickling some of them I'm sure.

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  7. Savor every bite for that price! But you know they will taste even better for all the work you put into it!!

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  8. Gardening and canning are time consuming, but I bet you had fun. And, as you wrote in your post, you learned a lot. A great metaphor for writing and even blogging. : ) Enjoy those yummy beets.

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  9. Well done! I don't think I would have had the patience for something like that - but I'll bet you enjoyed it!

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  10. Wow. Who knew beets were so complicated to grow?

    So glad you're back!

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  11. I will Kelly, yum.

    Cynthia, you are so right about the time. From getting the soil ready and planting the seeds to harvest to canning...many moons.

    Thanks Sangu. My husband is the one with green thumb. I weed and pick the fruits of his labor.

    Well, it's not that they're so hard to grow Suzanne, it just takes time. Makes one more aware of one's food, the time it takes to get from seed to table....

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  12. Beets take me back to when my mother used to boil and blend them into carrot juice. Delicious!

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  13. I am in awe of your canning prowess. Canning is one of those things I want to try but I'm too lazy to actually do it (and I don't have a garden - or anyplace to put one). In the meantime I bow to your awesomeness.

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  14. I love beets, but sadly can't eat them on the diet I'm on now. Too much sugar in them. I hope you enjoy them. My grandmother used to can and would make amazing jams every summer. I loved being inside her house during that time.

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  15. This made me laugh! Next time, you'll have so many you'll be giving them away...and it will all come out even!

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Your Random Thoughts are most welcome!