Corn cobs and kernels.

I realize that many who see this are in the depths of winter with snow and ice and cold all around. It seems strange knowing that that we are in the peak of our summer vegetable harvest here in Australia.I love seeing all the photos going up of life on the other side of the world.We really are the same, world over and we all love our gardens and canning and cooking  no matter where we come from.It is the mainstay of many of our lives, and also a  productive pastime as well as a necessity.
Corn is such a useful vegetable to have on hand,we use it to death in soups, stews, casseroles, salads and just as a side vegetable or mixed with others.

We had a very  successful corn patch last year and once again decided to plant another patch this year here on the coast which also has been very fruitful.
We had a lot of issues early on with  nuisance birds we have here called "The Indian Minor birds",they rip out seeds and small seedlings, we had to  cover everything with nets to begin  and then strung fishing line across the gardens and suspended old cs's,canning rings, and bits of tinsel to try and scare them....it worked with reasonable success.

The garden progressed well and this last photo of me in front of the corn was taken  about 4 days ago.
The beans in front have been equally productive this season, we were lucky to have recieved good rainfall here right when it was required.It's a shame that we are not getting any rain up at the farm.
We harvested our little crop the day before yesterday and ended up with a yield of about 80 cobs of corn of varying sizes, but mostly medium to large.
We decided that we would  cut the kernels off  enough cobs

to fill one canner load(19 pints)  and cut the rest into smaller cobs to freeze and cook as cobs.
I use a sharp knife to de-kernel the cobs, but we have seen an attachment that goes on your electric drill that makes the job super speedy and easy that we are going to look into for next year.

So, after filling my 19 pint jars loosly with the kernels  this is what I was left with. We were very pleased with the  amount.
I then bagged up all the cobs  into individual meal sizes to  freeze.
Next I poured water into my jars leaving abou1/2 -1 inch head space, de-bubbled and adjusted water levels. I add no salt to mine preferring to do that if  or when required. I raw pack whenever possible as that is just a method that I prefer to do.
I  then  wiped the rims of all my jars with a bit of paper towel soaked in white vinegar,placed on my lids that had been simmering in a pot of water, added the bands and screwed to finger tight.

Then they were all ready to be processed, bags went into the freezer, and we loaded the jars into the pressure canner. We have it set up at the moment out in the laundry room as it was too windy to use the gas burner outside and keep it regulated, so we chose a sheltered position. as I have said in previous posts, I have only a glass top stove here  on the coast and can't use my big AA on that.

We stacked the jars into the canner, I double stack the pints, fitting 19 in all, vaseline the pot edges and lid edge and lock down with the wing nuts and set going.
The corn kernels were processed at 10lbs pressure for my altitude for 55 minutes for the pint jars.
After the  processing time has elapsed, I turn off the gas, and leave the canner to come back down to zero pressure, leave a few more minutes and remove the weight. We then wait a few more minutes before removing the lid.
As we processed it outside, we  then carried the canner inside to remove all the jars out onto my kitchen bench which I cover with a bath towel.

I leave the jars overnight to cool completely ,next morning I remove the bands, check the seals,wash and label the jars, store the rings away, and add the jars to my pantry.

This is my final product. 19 jars of lovely golden corn kernels, Last year we processed the corn in half pints, but due to the cost of lids we decided to this year do more canning into the pint jars which seems to be working well so far.
We keep a few basic canned vegies, corn, carrots, green beans, potatoes,chick peas,and 4 bean mix, they all come in handy and help to produce quick meals when i need them too.
I  am just wondering what my next canning project will be, not much more in my garden now, so may have to pay a visit to a local vegetable producer and see what i can pick up cheap to keep me going. We made a decision this year to not grow a single tomato as the cost of seed/plants, water, sprays, and fruit fly traps was prohibitive. We can buy wonderful cases of good quality  tomatoes for $5.00 a case,which is great as they are that price per kilo in the shops.
So everyone, I will be off, I also have an appointment  this morning with the blood bank to donate blood, something I do every three months.
I hope all the readers in the cold parts of the country keep warm and visa versa for the ones in the warm parts of the world.
Best wishes to everyone,
Cheers,
Jane.

Chick,Chick,Chick peas

We have gone through a fair few tins of chick peas and four bean mix over the years, so when I recently saw a quick method of canning  chick peas and beans recently I was keen to give it a go.
I owe credit for the info to a fellow called Ben Scholes on one of my canning sites I belong to, and the recipe was just called "Ben's Beans ".
I started with just one jar, slipped into a canner load of raw packed lamb chunks.as they are processed for the same time.
When I opened the jar we were very impressed as the  ratio of beans to liquid was perfect and the texture of the peas was just right.
So I decided that I would do a whole canner load of chick peas.I used  packets of dried chick peas that I purchased at a  middle eastern shop down in our local shopping centre that sells lot's of interesting bits and pieces.

I started by rinsing off the chick peas in a strainer under running water and then placed 1/2 cup of the dried chick peas into each pint(or 1 cupful per quart).

Next I filled the the pre-washed  jars with plain water  leaving about 1 inch headspace.

I then  wiped all the jar  rims with paper towel dipped in white vinegar, and applied the lids that had been previously simmered in water for a few minutes to soften the seals.  I then added the rings and screwed just  until finger tight.

I also added 1 jar of 4 bean mix as well so i could see how they would process too.

I then placed them all in my pressure canner and processed them at 10lbs pressure for 75 minutes for pints(or 90 minutes for quarts)

After the processing time was complete I turned off the stove and let the canner  drop back down in pressure and after it returned to zero I removed the weight,and when all steam had completely ceased I removed the canner lid .
I then removed all the jars and placed on a towel on the table to cool for 24 hours.

The next day I removed all the rings, checked my seals were intact and washed the jars and stored my rings for future use.I then stored the chick peas away for future use.
I had also on a previous load of  lamb stock processed some lima beans in the same way, but forgot that stock is processed at a shorter time than beans, so the beans really hadn't been done correctly so I refrigerated those and used them straight away.
I made "pantry stew" the next day, with jars of,lamb chunks,tomatoes,carrots,corn,stock,and the lima beans, It was really delicious.

We had unexpected quests turn up that weekend also  and I was quickly able to make up a 4 bean salad with the jars of beans, a  pint of canned corn, and a few other bits, and it was  great too.

Tonight I am cooking a small piece of pork and instead of the usual baked vegetables, my husband requested  that we have a chick pea salad and coleslaw, suits me just fine.

These beans will be so handy to us for quick salads and ways to stretch a soup or stew if extras turn up, I am certain that I will can many more jars of them in the future. Every time I can meat and I haven't a full load I will just slip a few of these in.
I must away now as it is close to our dinner time and I have that roast to check,
Until we meet again,
Cheers,
Jane.

Pest control

Here on the east  coast of  N.S.W we have a major pest. The Indian Minor Bird.
It makes such a mess everywhere,.When we put out dog biscuits for our furry friends they come in droves and raid it, they have no fear at all and then  they leave their white filthy poop every where they go.

They  nest in a huge palm tree up in our back yard(after hunting any nice birds away, they steal their nests and raise their own dirty noisy babies.We bought the owl on the table(supposed to scare them), what a joke, they hang round it all day.
I peg my wash up under here often, and am forever finding streaks of bird poop all over everything.
We recently re-oiled our back wooden table that we love to use all the time,  but within 24 hours it was covered. The poop  seems to have an acid in it as it marks the table badly and is very difficult to remove.

So we had no alternative to cover  it semi-permanently, and only remove if we know we are going to entertain. You can also see in this photo a previous attempt at control.We placed a piece of fishing line across the top of each chair so that they couldn't land on them(they used to sit on the top of the chair and poop and it would run down all over the chairs) This technique stopped them for about 6 months.The cover is ugly, but we have no choice.

The  other major issue we have with them is the garden.
They always strip our strawberry crops, and they pull out any seedlings and new plants that you put in the garden. Brian has had enough, they are the worst this year that they have ever been(we think it's because we spend so much time away(and so does the dog) that they are getting more and more brazen.
This  time when he re-dug the strawberry pants, he decided to at least cover one bath tub full to see how it goes.

We used some black poly drip irrigation tube which we cut to 1.1 mtre lengths and teck screwed to the sides of the old tub in a hoop. We used 4 of them and then covered with bird netting. Simple but hopefully effective.
We had such big help on this project, I thought I would add a picture of them.

Brian  also prepared the beds for corn,cucumbers  and beans while he was home this time. He has planted 2 beds of corn, 3 beds of bush beans and one bed of bush cucumbers.

As soon as he planted the seeds, those rotten Indian Minors were there , scratching and digging, trying to find the seeds....So I looked for a solution.I had read on a few of the canning sites that I frequent that the extra canning rings that we accumulate are a good bird deterrent, We strung up a few lengths of fishing line with rings hanging off them, and some aluminiun foil strips hanging off that to wave in the breeze.

Did that deter them?

......no not likely, so then today we moved onto stage two,covering all the beds with bird netting and placing lots of whirly windmill things and shiny tinsel and twisty things, to hopefully scare them away. Tomorrow we will see it it worked( but I am not holding my breath)

We don't have this issue at the farm, the Indian Minors  thank god  haven't made it out that far west yet.......but they will eventually.
So until next time I will be on Bird patrol.
All the best to everyone,
Cheers,
Jane.

Our first time canning corn.

 We try to grow vegetables at both the Newcastle  place and  up the bush, but things  seem to do so much better here on the coast with the higher rainfall and we arn't up the bush enough to keep the extra water required up to everything. We have a few timers set  that we run off 1000 litre tanks on a few things that we really need to keep alive. Back in February we picked our corn cobs from our garden in Newcastle and ended up getting roughly 100 cobs.
I then  cut some up to make smaller cobs and froze those,to use here in Newcastle as we needed them (I have a nearly 3 year old grand daughter who just has to have a corn cob every meal.)So I need to have lots. The rest of the cobs I then stripped the kernels off and froze until we went up the bush next time (That's were I keep the pressure canner)So then, on our next trip up, out came the canner and I got busy, I canned the niblets into half pints as that's just a convenient size for the two of us, and that seems to have worked out well.Also in the photo was some other canning I did that day, some  Bullhorn peppers,Dilled carrot sticks(which were really lovely for nibblies with drinks on the verandah) and also a few half pints of 3 fruit marmalade that hadn't sealed from some earlier canning.


I definately would recommend growing and canning corn, it has already been excellent value to us.
Sorry if these photos  arn't in order as I just can't seem to work out how to manually change them,
Cheers everyone,
Jane