Trying my hand at canning!

As we get closer and closer to buying our house, the more and more frugal we are trying to live in order to save up the 20% down payment.  We are right on track to have the amount saved up by October!  Josh has been tutoring in the mornings before our summer camp job.  Since we drive one car, that puts me to work 2 hours early!  Though I was dreading it at the beginning, I've been really enjoying the mornings reading and "pinteresting" :)  I have a new love for pinterest!  I'm learning all kinds of new things from DIY projects to decorate our new house to canning!

God is allowing our garden to produce so much this year!  It's so cool how the produce spread throughout the whole summer.  In the beginning we had tons of lettuce and ate salads almost every day!  Then for the last few weeks we've been overwhelmed with summer squash and zucchini.  Next it will be bell peppers and tomatoes.  Because we will have so many tomatoes (provided the groundhog doesn't chow down) I will try to can them for sauces, salsas, etc.  My mom gave me her old canner (which she said she used when she was my age!).  We've only had a few cucumbers so far but I was able to successfully can a jar of pickles!  The dill smell is super hard to get out of the kitchen.  I made them 3 days ago and the smell is still wafting around!  I figured I would try out the canner with only 2 jars just in case I didn't do it right and ruined them.  I tried one jar of pickles and one jar of berry syrup.  The pickles sealed and can now be stored but I failed on the syrup...  Oh well :)  It's fun to try!   I'm hoping that canning some of these things will save us some money!  We'll see...

At least I have the option of running to Meijer to grab whatever I need, basically whenever I want.  It's probably been only in the last 100 years that people had this convenience!  I'm afraid we might starve if we could only live on what I (successfully) canned or grew! Hah!  There's something that is so interesting though about that simple life.

I found this quote about slowing down and living more simply :
"As we make an effort to slow down we are able to hear God’s message more clearly.  Whether you are at home, in the car or on the football field, act with compassion, be loving and kind, and put others before yourself." Tracy Lynn