Hi Bonnie,

I have several great reference books for figuring amounts of fresh produce=how much canned. One is called Keeping the Harvest, another is Stocking Up and another is Putting Food By. I'll bet they have the latter two in your local library, or could get them via inter-library loan.

Recently I saw a newer one at the library called "Preserving Food for Busy People" or something like that, but I don't know what it contains.

I'll try to get a chance to look up corn as an example and see what I find in my books, but I do know that Keeping the Harvest has some really helpful charts that I use frequently to figure how many cannerloads I can get from a bushel of peaches, for example. Of course, it would always be only an estimate, but it's usually pretty close.

I don't see how you could spend more on your food by gardening and canning than by purchasing it in the store. Just don't go for any really expensive garden equipment like a rototiller (which you won't need with raised beds anyway).

Hi, sorry it took me a couple days. I was able to look at the chart in Keeping the Harvest and it says that 3 to 6 fresh husks of corn will make one quart canned. So for each 7 qt cannerload you would plan to harvest at least 42-47 larger ears.

There are many similar, helpful charts in the book.

Hth

This is such an exciting time -- all the planning and anticipation! Good for you!

Anticipating a harvest is so very difficult -- you never know what kind of year you're going to have. The trick is getting too much the first year and not being able to keep up with it. Start small then build. I raise pole beans - blue lakes, a great, reliable variety. This year I put out a couple of short rows of Derbys for a friend who doesn't care for the blue lake flavor. Thank goodness, because the friend petered out, the year was exceptionally dry, and the pole beans didn't bear significantly until the season was about over. The derbys kept us in beans all summer and outdid themselves in stress situations. See? Never know. Hmmm -- if you get a 2 1/2 gal (regular size) galvanized bucket full of green beans, that's about 4 quarts. Peas? Pick all day and shell all night and you'll have 2-3 pints. I picked 2 5-gal buckets once and got 9 pints. Of course, by the time I got them all finished, the nutritional value was zip.

About the canning -- if you've never canned before, be sure that your instruction book was printed within the last 10 years. Stocking Up (a Rodale Book) is wonderful, but old. I think there's one or two sequels to it to bring methods up to date. Remember that vegetables aren't the same as they were 20-30 years ago. The chemistry has changed. University of Georgia has about the best guide I've found, all tested recipes, etc. It's available in book form (I got a copy at the library) and also on line (Soeasytopreserve.com) . Don't forget to use your Cooperative Extension office as a resource.