Day To Night At The Farmhouse...

Liljegren's Hickory Hill Farm

It was a perfectly wonderful weekend, and the leaves are beginning to turn. As I was coming home from an errand, I had to stop on the road and take a photograph of our farmhouse from a distance. You can see the compass barn to the left, with the woodshed in shadow behind it. Seeing it from this vantage point always makes me smile. I know I'm almost home.

Canned Pineapple

It was also a perfect weekend for canning. I saw a sale on butter at our local store (Pick n Save), for two dollars off per pound - as long as you purchased at least three pounds - with no limit. No worry there. I bought a thirty pound case of sweet butter and a thirty pound case of unsalted for my baking needs.  (NOTE: If you have a Pick n Save local to you, the sale is on until November 5th, in case you're interested in getting some.)

On my way to the checkout, I stopped in the produce section to see if there were sales on anything in that department, to find that pineapples were indeed at a reduced price. Although not the $.88 they were last time, I purchased four anyway.

When I cut them to can, there was some damage on one, and overripe spots on another, so I didn't get the yield I originally anticipated, but seven pints isn't bad. These will be added to what I canned earlier this summer, and we'll still have lovely pineapple (pressure canned in spring water so it has no added sugar).

Canned Sloppy Joes

I also came across a pressure canning recipe for barbeque ground beef (sloppy joes, or as a friend calls them, "tamales"). I'd purchased four pounds of ground beef from our local butcher shop last week, and had set aside two pounds to try this out before committing to a larger batch. I'll reheat one of the jars some time this week and we can decide whether or not I should do a larger batch to add more to our winter stores in the pantry.

You can see the pineapple photograph was taken during the day. The sloppy joes were finished after six pm, and it was already dark. ugh 

Handsome said that after a day in the kitchen, he was treating me to a meal out of the house. Our favorite drive-in was closing for the end of the season, so that's where we went to enjoy tasty food without the cleanup. When we got back home, I removed the rings from the jars to find that only one jar of pineapple hadn't sealed. That one went into the fridge to eat this week. The rest of the jars were cleaned and labeled and placed in the pantry cupboard. The perfect end to a perfect and productive weekend.

I did stitch on my bluebird babies, too. I'll share a progress photograph with you tomorrow.