I love the feeling that I get when I have finished a canning session. Looking at the jars all lined up and thinking how I am providing for my family. And yes, they are so pretty setting on the counter.
Donna

I agree, I leave jars sitting on the counter just because they look so pretty.

I love the harvest colors, the greens of the beans next to the yellow of the corn relish, the red of the salsa, and the jewel colors of the jams and preserves.

Whoever said "eat a rainbow every day" must have known about home canning!

Annie

And listening to the music of the "pings"...........

I love the color of beets, in jars all lined up!

As beautiful as any art work.!!! I know you are supposed to store in a cool dark place but given the opportunity I would line them up on open glass shelves. I gave a friend a jar of habanero gold jelly recently and she later told me she hadn't opened it but set it in her kitchen window so the light could shine through.

Here on the other coast (Washington, DC) I, too, am admiring an afternoon of wonderful fun in the kitchen - two batches of Annie's Salsa is on the counter pinging away. And a beautiful first ever batch of Habanero Gold, too, from yesterday.
Thank you all for your help and encouragement. Couldn't have done it without you.
Cathy

I just finished 6 pints of Linda Lou's Apple Pie Jam. I have a ton of veggies and fruits to process but right now, I am just too tired. I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow. I have to do something with my blueberries (I am thinking Blueberry Lime Jam), shred a ton of zucchini, make pickles, chop and freeze about 30 jalapeno's for salsa(got them in the day old bin at the farmer's market for $1). I also have peaches, apples, peppers and parsley to process. Almost forgot the eggplants - they are doing really well this year. I usually fry them with breadcrumbs then freeze them for eggplant parm in the winter. And when that is all done, I have a ton of work to do in the garden.

I was going to do Annie's Salsa today and then put up the rest of the day's tomato pickings into quart jars, but went to put something in my freezer and found it defrosting. Spent the afternoon hauling stuff to a freezer in another house until we can get this one fixed. Freezers breaking down at harvest time is rotten karma.

So here it is eleven o'clock and I guess I'll run a load of canned tomatoes through instead because there is no room in the fridge left. LOL. When I was younger, I stayed up all night canning and loving every minute of it. I can still stay up and can, but I'm not really 'feeling' it.

I, too, am admiring a day of canning and harvest.

12 quarts of green beans (in addition to the 14 last weekend).
14 quarts of Chase's Dills.
3 pints of Dilly Beans.
A gallon of Linda Lou's Sweet Chunks started.
Another gallon of Walla Walla onions chopped and frozen (3 gallons frozen so far).
Four trays of onions drying.
A quart of blueberries picked and frozen.
About 20 lbs. of Yukon Gold potatoes dug up.
Beans, squash, peppers, onion all prepped to roast in the morning with some potatoes for church potluck.

And................I squeezed in a 2-hour nap!

It's 10pm and I'm pooped!
Deanna

Elaine, How beautifully poetic. I leave my jars set on the counter for a few days so my husband can see what I do all day while he plays golf. He'll say to me, Why do you slave all day in this kitchen when you could be out visiting your friends. I tell him it's my hobby,or I could join the Country Club and you could teach me to play golf. That shuts him up quickly. Occasionally he'll have a bad day golfing. I never have a bad day canning.

That's funny Shirley! You are visiting your friends! Your foods, your jars, you canner!! It's a great sense of satisfaction, mixing technical with an almost art product afterwards! To us it is art! If someone canned for me, I would be sooo appreciative!

Yes, my canned peaches will perk me right up on a cold, damp overcast winters day! And my jams will make me smile...fruits are such happy little souls! And the tomatoes will sing with summertime when I open the jars! And the green beans love to nourish you back in homey comfort and fresh, good taste! The roasted tomato garlic soup will zing me with taste and flavor, same as a gourmet restuarant!

Yes, Elaine, there is a magic in canning and we are so lucky to know it! A lovely post!

Today I'm making B&B pickles, Dill Relish, Pickled Peppers, picking beans and canning them and after all that, I'll can corn. Lastly, I'll clean my kitchen. The corn my not get canned until after dinner.

junelynn - you are so positive!! I actually get a little depressed in the winter when I open up a jar. I miss my garden, I miss the sunny weather, I miss the adventures in the kitchen and most of all, I miss the taste of a fresh-off- the-vine home grown tomato.

Ohhh...Paisano-Caggiano, (yes, I'm part Italian w. an Italian last name)..Wintertime would be good for making stocks!! Or canning veggie soups or something! But I know what you mean. I don't know what zone you are in as it's not listed, but zone 7 isn't bad in the wintertime. Just think of opening a can as a little bit of summer in the midst of winter!