It was 18 degrees at 8:00 a.m. when I went out to feed the chickens and horses. I was not too very excited. The ground was so heavy with frost it looked like it had snowed last night. I was in one of "those moods" and having to go outside in the brutal air was not my cup of tea. I don't know, I must have got up on the wrong side of the bed. I've been doing exceptionally well with these morning feedings, even through all the yukky weather; but this morning I was way, way grumpy!! After I got back in the house I fixed hubby something a little different for breakfast. I prepared Farina. What is Farina you ask? Check my Did You Know? page.
I intended to can up some meats Thursday or Friday but the meat had not properly thawed yet so today's the day. Meats take 90 minutes to process. They are not at all difficult to can but the processing time and then the cool-down time can become extremely monotonous. I'm terribly old fashioned and keep a close eye on the gauge. I'm probably a little overly cautious but, be that as it may, I have a hard time leaving the kitchen while I have a pressure canner on the stove. I take a nice book into the kitchen and get a lot of reading done while waiting on the meat to finish canning so it's not all bad!! After having the pork last night for supper I'm even more entrenched in the idea of this being a knock-out way to preserve meats. The freezer is my go-to but I had no idea how good canned meats really could be and what a great emergency food too! I've already forewarned hubby that it's soup and sandwiches tonight. I've got some leftover roast beef and leftover pork for the sandwiches and some canned vegetable soup. I know I'm going to be super tired by the end of the day so I figured I'd better be prepared.