Learning 2 Shoot & Can
...Is how I spent the July 4th week. I knew how to do neither until this week but as part of my 'Summer Prepare Accordingly' goals I now can do both! Granted, I'm not really great at either yet but took the first steps and am now just needing more practice at both.
Practiced shooting at cans in the pasture and hit targets with both a 22 rifle (which I understand is not that difficult) and with a 22 handgun. It was silly how nervous I felt before pulling that trigger the first time. Almost couldn't do it. Almost brought tears to my eyes. Really developed an almost awe of the power you have to respect and control you need to develop. Does that sound silly?
Canned green beans, corn, strawberry jam, and am now working on potatoes, blackberries, blueberries, apples and I want to also get peaches and squash and okra. Which is really wild because I've not always (ok ever) been a vegetable's number 1 fan. ...Veggies, boo. 
And just so this thread doesn't sound like a completely worthless tooting-my-own-horn sort of thread I REALLY would love to get some canning tips from the pros. Namely, I burned the first batch of corn doing EXACTLY what the recipe book said. 'Transfer corn mixture to a stainless steel pot and cook on medium-high heat for 3 minutes prior to transferring to hot jars.' ....I had no sooner gotten the pot on the burner (it was nowhere near boiling) when I smelled a burning smell. The corn on the bottom was burning.. 
...which gave the entire batch a burned flavor. Blah. ....So, I have decided to skip that step about boiling for 3 minutes prior to transferring to jars. I mean if you're going to pressure something for 85 minutes.. why in heck do you need to first boil it for 3 minutes? Makes no sense to me but then again these ARE vegetables we are talking about ..and vegetables and me haven't always been the best of friends. Veggies, gek.
So! >>Let this be the Canning Tip Thread! Or Shooting Tip Thread .....Unless, such a thing already exists and then we can just point me to it and pretend this thread never happened. 
