When I closed my shops, everything went into my basement. I am slowly swimming my way out of it. I set up a homestead shelf in the root cellar and organized the things I had brought home from my not-so-popular homestead shop. With this lifestyle, I will use them or use them up at some point. Soap making supplies, extra boxes of canning supplies, cheese presses, and loads of candles are carefully organized on shelves so that I can see what I have. I now have two canners and two pressure canners, which really came in handy yesterday.
Now is a good time to empty your freezer and take stock of what you have and what has been lingering for years and what needs to be replenished this gardening season. Out went several bags of way-too-spicy peppers and half opened this and thats. Into the ginormous soup pot went all the frozen veggies and odds and ends that I had saved; wilted celery, a few carrots, ends of onions, and all the bags of frozen veggies I thought we would eat; eggplant, Brussels sprouts, green peppers. Some things are better fresh. Some herbs and salt and pepper and two hours of simmering later, I had a beautiful vegetable broth waiting to be canned.
20 pint jars of aromatic liquid were put up. Usually I would take all day to wait for the canner to come to pressure, can the jars, wait for the pressure to come down, and then do it all again. With two canners, it was done so fast that I am looking forward to canning season! I really boosted my production while saving time with just one more pot. The extra six cups of broth from the pot went into the fridge to use in recipes this week. A pressure canner fits 10 pint jars or 9 quart jars. I never freeze broth. It takes up too much room and I will never remember to take it out in time for supper.
This is a great time to start your canning. Get some stocks and beans done now on rainy days and before the rush of summer veggies and fruits. While you are at it, take stock of your root cellar items too. Start eating some of those canned foods and make room for new ones. A full cellar is a thing of great comfort and joy! And it turns out, a second canner is too.
How to Make Broth (and for the record, we have thus far failed at eating roosters and Bob is quite safe here.)
Farmgirl School 
Oh I need you to live nearby! I’ve never pressure canned but whilst I was away there was an offer to good to miss so I bought one. It will sit on the shelf for a good while, maybe until next year it is too scary! Also I used to be able to buy my canning jars from the states for a really good price and suddenly boom! The price has gone up more than 100% maybe I won’t have to ‘pressure’ myself to use the pan as I may not have enough jars! Happy canning 😊
The new ones don’t blow up! Never fear! And that makes me want to go stock up on canning jars…I hope the prices don’t go up!
I think it’s just to overseas customers. Stay calm and don’t panic!