Its been kind of hectic around here with school and dance class starting. Also, I've been canning my buns off trying to preserve as much as I possibly could from this year's garden and a huge box of peaches my husband decided to buy.
I know the first day of fall was Tuesday so I'm a little late.
HAPPY BELATED FIRST DAY OF FALL!!!
MR. SNEDDEN & MRS SNEDDEN
Yes. I still go by Roeper because I love Texas. Hahaha. Get it?
*Hears only crickets in the background*
JOSCELINE'S TURKEY CHARACTER
Notice the 2 homegrown decorating pumpkins from my only surviving volunteer pumpkin plant.
All of my other pumpkin plants didn't make it.
LINDSAY'S PUMPKIN CHARACTER
THIS YEAR REALLY WAS A HAPPY HARVESTING YEAR
FIRST YEAR OF CANNING RESULTS
- Lots of jelly jars, green beans, soon to be cubed pumpkin, and soon to be carrots from the garden not included.
I WANT TO HOLD YOU, AND SQUEEZE YOU, AND HUG YOU, AND ...
LAMPOST DECORATION
aka Cousin Caitlyn from Texas Character
LEFT SIDE OF DRIVEWAY
RIGHT SIDE OF DRIVEWAY
MUMS, MUMS, MUMS THE WORD
MY DECKED OUT STAIRS
HARVESTING SUNFLOWER SEEDS
Family making faces at the birds and singing "Nana Nana Poo Poo!"
There you have it. I really went overboard with the pumpkins this year. I think I have:
28 decorating pumpkins (because they are so darn cute)
2 homegrown decorating pumpkins (from my volunteer plant)
6 pie pumpkins (for... you guessed it... pies)
13 medium pumpkins (canning)
4 large pumpkins (carving)
2 insanely large pumpkins (anger management)
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55 Pumpkins = My dream of having a pumpkin patch on my front yard being fulfilled.
***Or you can use this equation***
55 pumpkins: about $100.00
Time to find and buy all these pumpkins with my kids: 2 days
Expression on husband's face when he came back from his Army weekend drill: PRICELESS
HAPPY BELATED FIRST DAY OF FALL!!!
BigShotsMom pointed out that I canned about the amount that I spent on pumpkins. I decided to do a breakdown of the cost of all the canned jars. This does not include the cost of buying all the jars, extra ingredients, and the pressure cooker. I figured in the long run, canning for X amount of years would surely pay for the pressure cooker, jars, replacement lids, and extra ingredients. So here is the estimated breakdown:
26 (32 oz pasta sauce) x $1.50 each = $39.00
24 (32 oz green beans) x $2.00 each = $48.00
12 (16 oz green beans) x $1.00 each = $12.00
4 (4 oz jalapenos) x $1.50 each = $6.00
8 (8 oz pizza sauce) x $1.25 each = $10.00
24 (4 oz tomatillo salsa) x $0.50 each = $12.00
12 (16 oz tomato salsa) x $2.00 each = $24.00
12 (16 oz carrots) x $0.50 each = $6.00
24 (32 oz pumpkin) x $3.00 = $72.00
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TOTAL: $229.00
Which pays for almost all the pumpkins I bought and the pressure canner/cooker I bought this year.
I didn't include the applesauce because I bought the apples. All the blossoms froze and fell off during the last freeze in May so I was unable to make applesauce from free apples like last year. The applesauce from store bought apples is equivalent to the amount I would have paid at the store.
Also, I didn't include the peaches because we bought those and they would have cost about the same amount if we bought canned peaches at the store.
Last of all, I didn't include any of the jelly because I bought most of the ingredients for the different kinds of jelly. The only thing I didn't buy were the peppers for the pepper jelly. I did buy the grape juice, apple juice, and wines. If I had to guess, the ingredients I paid for would equal the amount if I bought jelly from the store.
What's this?