With the weather being so nice we decided to take our dog, Sugar, down to the meadow to go for a run. She made a bee-line for the water and jumped right in like she had done it a million times. It was fun to see her swim all over the lake and explore all the sticks and rocks and chase the birds and turtles.
Saturday Canning Class
Saturday we attended a “Canning Class” held at one of the local Cowboy churches. In the morning we learned how to properly store foods using buckets and Mylar bags. KETK was there to film our class. I think she learned as much as we did.
After that we learned how to “Dry Can” dry goods using the oven and canning jars. This process works great for dry goods such as flours, cake mixes, corn meal, rice, and such.
After the dry canning demonstration we learned all the different ways to utilize a vacuum sealer to seal canning jars and items in vacuum bags. Vacuum sealing also works great to seal first aid, band-aids, toilet paper, diapers, matches, etc., for camping and survival kits to keep your items dry.
The next demonstration was how to make homemade laundry soap and all-natural deodorant. I can’t wait to try these out. I’ll post my results when I decide to try these.
We then learned how to can figs and properly prepare them for canning using the water bath technique. After the figs we learned how to can prepare and can cherry jelly using the inversion method to create the seal and preserve it. It was yummy!
Whew! It was one busy morning full of learning new things. We even had two ladies go over techniques for saving money using coupons! That was one I knew all about as I used to be an extreme couponer. 🙂 It was nice for a while, but I am trying to rid my home of toxins and items that are not all-natural or organic. 
Unfortunately about 90% of what you buy using coupons is not on my buy list anymore, so I gave up couponing.
After lunch we had a barter event. No money was exchanged, it was only item for item. It was a learning experience in learning to trade for what we wanted. Even Stormy got into it and made some good trades for several items she wanted. I got some good items also. We are looking forward to next month’s event as we will be learning about gardening, having a seed swap, learning to can meats, and doing more bartering.
Hoping you all have a great and blessed week!
Till next time,
Rachele T.
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