The joy of canning!

This year I turned 50 .....whew that was hard to say.  I am finding that my eyes don't work as well as they used to, I can't hear as well, and the one thing I said I would NEVER do is grunt like my mom always did when she would try to get up off the floor, I am doing.  I am also finding out that the things that were so important to me at 25 seems really silly now, so I am guessing the things that seem so important to me now won't amount to much in 25 more years.   I have decided to start posting recipes that I am trying and some that I am making up myself.  I have also decided to put down just some random things that I find either on the web or just in plain sight.  I figured I had better write them down somewhere while I can still remember them.    So lets get started.....for the past 2 weeks my friend and I  have discovered the joys of canning.  We are learning that there is nothing that you can't put in a jar and either water bath it or pressure it and it will keep for years, really!!!  I am dead serious, I have canned potato's and I am about to can a chicken. Not a live one just for the record.  Now my first canning experience with a pressure cannier was scary.  There is a lot of pressure in that pot and I did not really understand that until I was finished and took the potato's out of the pot and they were still boiling in the jar.  They boiled for about 30 minutes after I removed them from the pot.  So the next thing on the list was Southern Chow Chow.  We spent near 3 hours chopping and shredding veggies, then had to let them soak for 12 hours.  The next morning, early, like 7 am, we  cooked them and canned the beautiful concoction.  We stepped back and admired our beautiful work of art.  We even giggled a bit over it.  This week I believe we will tackle soups!!!