Three Canning Projects ~ Bulk Food Grocery Haul ~ Cellar Project Update  

Your children are going to know so much when they enter the world.

I have such appreciation and deep admiration for you. I am in my late 60's and live alone, but I am expanding my skills and knowledge as I watch you work. I care for my 93 yr old mother, and she is benefiting from your recipes! God bless you and your family. ❤

I canned a bushel of peaches this week - 22 pints of diced and sliced for school lunches, and 11 quarts of pie filling for cobblers over the winter. Today I cleaned up the kitchen after the mess of processing a bushel of peaches, and didn't feel a bit guilty about not preserving anything. Tomorrow is another day! Tomorrow is farmer's market day, and I hope to get there to collect some produce for preserving. My middle son (who loves it when the canner comes out!) investigated what was in my root cellar on Sunday and decided that home canned green beans and corn should be on the dinner table. As the jars are emptied to feed my family, they are being repurposed and refilled for storage. My oldest son couldn't figure out why I was preserving so much pie filling, until I told him it was the basis of cobbler which he prefers to pie. At that point, he wondered how much more pie filling I could can! I love seeing their excitement, and knowing that there will always be food at mom's house for them to eat. My little countertop canner has been going non stop, and the big kahuna hasn't been out much this summer. There's tea, and blueberry and cherry and peach pie filling, there's been two batches of jam and jelly. The jelly didn't set, so I may repurpose that over the winter into gelatin with some unflavored dry gelatin I purchased last spring from the Mennonite grocery. Today I made myself a batch of no bake cookies for my own snacking and used up some peanut butter that had been in the cupboard for probably close to six months. It's not something I eat regularly, so using it up was a positive experience. I made a batch of beef broth from the roast I cooked last week, and I want to turn that into individual servings of vegetable soup for my lunches over the winter. Maybe I'll work on that in the morning. I'm loving this challenge and the knowledge that there will be food for my family over the cold winter. One more task on my challenge is to make quart jars of homemade chili so that I don't have to eat 5 quarts of it every time I decide I want some. It's coming!

Thanks for sharing. Youve taught me so much. Im about to tackle taking in 3 foster children aged 2-6, its going to be a huge shock to my system as my son is 19. I hope to copy some of the things you do to run your house to help me. So thank you for all you share.❤❤❤

Wonderful video, Miss Jessica!! Such joy watching your family work together!

I listen to your podcast when I walk. Just want to say your narration is so clear and full of description, I can clearly “see” ye as I listen. This make me think, those types of video’s are great also for people with visual impairments! (I work in physical disability field, so always have that on my mind.)

How wonderful that you have claimed this previously unusable space. I can hear the excitement in your voice. I love how the older children pitch in to help get it done.

That cellar will be a game changer for you. How exciting!

Jessica the cellar is so exciting and the dumb waiter will prove invaluable!!

Oh how exciting for you to have all that room in the basement for your food storage and all the free room upstairs in your kitchen. Very happy for you Miss Jessica.

I can’t wait to see how your organize your cellar. It’s going to be great! I know you’ll make it very inviting down their. I have a basement. In one section is a cellar. My nephew was so scared to go down their when he was young bc it was so dingy. I painted it white, and lined it in bright primary color of Red, like a fire truck. I then painted a huge sunflower with a great big smile growing out of bright green grass with a butterfly in flight. He didn’t know that and when the family came for dinner I asked him to go downstairs and grab a can of black olives…his favorite. His face is so precious, I could see he was scared. So I said I’d go with bc I needed something else and I’d help him. Omg….priceless….he never was afraid to go down their again. He’s 31 years old today and still mentions it to me sometimes. When I go down today, I always think of that moment with such tenderness. I love my sunflower, I love my nephew, I’ll take that moment with me to my grave. He’s such a beautiful young man today…a nurse. Just like me ❤

Sending support, love, and kindness from Lexington, Michigan, USA

Your basement progress makes me so happy haha! That’s so great! Gives me hope for our 1840s damp useless basement in the future.

Jessica...a great video...as usual...I like seeing that you took an older home and are making it yours...the image of the coal shoot brought back so many lovely memories of my Grandfather tending "his fire"...there was a bench in the furnace room and I would sit with him and watch the fire that heated our entire house. I am sure you will enjoy your new storage space...food is a family affair!!

The cellar is coming along great ! So close !!! Have a beautiful week !!

Ideal in damp rooms If there is high humidity in rooms, lime paint is the ideal paint for this. The paint consists of water as a solvent and white lime. This special composition gives the lime paint special properties: it is extraordinarily coarse-pored and has a disinfecting effect. This ensures that lime paint prevents the formation of mold on wet walls and is the best paint on damp surfaces. Another factor that lime paint uses to prevent mold growth is the high alkalinity of the paint. This ensures that the mold is deprived of its breeding ground.

Thank the Lord for people like you who teach their children to work hard, and to enjoy the fruits of a job well done. These kids will be productive contributors to society because their parents invested time in training them right. Kudos to you.

Jessica, I love watching your videos. I find them very informative and creative. Thank you.❤❤❤

You cellar is amazing!!! Love the dumb waiter idea!!! Smart!

All this preservation makes me happy.

Canning 10 Pints of Chicken Stock as we speak, earlier...Deboned 2 Costco Rotisserie Chickens, Shrink-sealed Canadian Bacon, Polish Sausage & the Chicken! WHEW!😀

I wish I was raised this way. I would be self sufficient and not bending over backwards like I am now trying to keep my kids bellies full.

I'm SO excited for you! and yes, the white makes such a big difference. Good call on that. Even if the bottom stays grey... it's a lot better than it was. You probably won't see much of the walls anyway with all that food you will have! .... yes... very exciting!

Excited to see your progress with the basement and I can hear the excitement in your voice and I’m so excited for you. Sometimes I wish I had a basement but I do have a root cellar my husband built for me.

Just think about how much more canning you can do now. Oh my,you will be busy. I'm happy that you will have more space for all of your canning that you do. And I have to admit,I love watching you can all the things.😊

Yay! It's such a relightful treat to see this video pop up. I'm going to comment now instead of the end as I will be jumping straight into my next duty. THANK you for posting. Have a glorious day! -K

You do awesome video’s for us to watch so we can understand your way of life. You all work hard that I 🙏 for you to all have a great happy life. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💞🥰🤗

I want to be like you when I grow up! Thank you for all you do! I’m learning so much and I am so encouraged by you! We had Covid the first week of August so getting a later start, but still at it! Thank you Jessica! I so wish we lived close, you’d be so tired of me! Lol. Have a great day! God bless you and your beautiful family!❤

oh my goodness!!! min 13..?? the Azure haul reveal.... all those boxes.... and then up comes the hand with the treat! Cant see the person the hand belongs to ... just the hand I literally laughed out loud, then had to get quiet quick to not wake the whole house! Oh my! thank you mystery hand for all the giggles!

Last year i decided to freeze dry my roasted salsa and it turned out perfectly. We were able to remove just a small amount when needed for chips and salsa and there was zero waste. It rehydrates quickly and wonderfully.

Fun watching your family growing up. Time Mar he's on. Hannah is comfy with the camera already.

With the carrot tops, I take the leaves and snip them off the stem and use them for tea during the winter. Using a coffee filter, I put in a tablespoon of dried leaves with one black tea bag to brew a pot of tea. (Once the carrot leaves are dry, I use a coffee grinder to grind the leaves up to a finer consistency.)

Putting a fan in a window ,drawing fumes out makes a big difference. I have done this for years Especially when working with heavy smells,hot peppers,garlic,cinnamon etc.

Thanks for my "ME" time 😂!!!! Every video you post is a moment I get to just sit and watch, no interruptions. Have a beautiful day Jessica 😊 your Michigan Fan and Friend Araminta ❤

Grew up in a 1920's house in NE Ohio (Mentor) remember that cold, wet basement. In desperation used to sleep down there when the humidity got to be too much. We had to have a sump pump in one corner it was so wet

Hi, Jessica! I’m not a homesteader (yet), but your Instagram and RU-vid are very inspiring! I also enjoy seeing your children as they enjoy this kind of life. I looked through some comments and didn’t see any mention, but if this is a repeat, I apologize. Shallon from the Appalachian Homestead has been sharing accounts of folks getting badly burned from failures with the lids that Azure is using for their new canning jars. She used to recommend the brand and has recently spoken out. You may have already seen her comments on Instagram, but in case you haven’t, please be aware! I’d hate to see you or one of your kids injured! I know you partner with Forjars, so you may be planning to use those instead.

This is going to be such great storage for your family! 🎉

Thank you for sharing! Love your planing and the love to add to everything you do ❤ Your kids are really blessed with there parents, and you have some amazing kids too 😊 Love and blessings from Johanne, Norway 🇳🇴

Great job with your canning project. It’s going to be great having more room to store food

Also to really cool a room ,set fan on floor ,hanging 2 frozen water bottles on the back.Change as needed.

Love the cellar will be trying all the canning ideas thank you

Well, I agree with Adam that’s my favorite is oolong tea!😊 when I was younger, and my IBS would act up we would go to the Chinese restaurant because it would always soothe my stomach and make my IBS feel better. Love watching you guys.❤🎉

Congratulations on your seller! I would be so excited also!! 😊

Good morning 🌞. Thank you so much for sharing your canning projects and your Azure Standard order!!!! WOW!!! I imagine you are so excited about your root cellar!!!! Gods blessings 🙏

Brilliant video as usual, you are a very busy lady, I’m exhausted watching you lol

The dumb waiter is an excellent plan. When we added a basement under our 100 year old house, we didn’t install a dumb waiter and I have regretted it ever since. My food storage and laundry are in the basement. My daily access is a circle stairway. It’s beautiful but not practical for hauling things up and down. Thanks for your channel. I’m preserving every day: canning, freeze drying, dehydrating and freezing. Busy August!!

you are so right ,cooked carrots fresh is delicious, but once they are canned, the taste and consistency changes, they only benefit soups and stews ,in my opinion....eat your carrots fresh lol xxx

❤❤❤ Such an informative video! Thank you much.

That’s gonna be very nice you’re going to enjoy that.

What a joy to see the brothers bring in the harvest:))) I am sure they snacked on quite a few of them!!!

I really enjoyed this video. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

So excited for you to have the cellar almost finished.

I always love to see what you are doing you have such great ideas

I’m excited for you about your new food cellar. I’m sure it’s going to look amazing!

Can't wait to see the cellar food storage.

I can tell you from experience that no matter how much waterproofing, sealing etc that you do in a cellar you still need a dehumidifier. Your dry goods will get damp and your metal lids or shelves will rust. You'll also constantly have to deal with mildew or mustiness. It's just the nature of anything below ground to be damp, it has a lot to do with the temperature difference between the house above and the lower temperature in the cellar

Harney and Sons had a tea that has chocolate and roses in it and it is very good!

Lucky Ducky! a root cellar!! Brilliant to be able to do so, and have those men of yours do so much of it. A small little suggestion- Do Not Get Rid of the old Coal Chute door. It is rare ( many of them are), and a day may come when you would need to use it once again. Bunker it in where the fill dirt meets one of the walls. You will NOT regret it.

So excited when I saw a video up. Jessica, this was great! I can't wait to see the cellar when you get it all fixed up. I'm excited for you. It's going to make a big difference. I love your sweet family. I learn from you. Ty for sharing your lives with us.

All our first planting of radishes bolted this year. That's how we found radish pods! They're great! Noone in our immediate family really liked radishes a lot, but we tried it for the growing sake and to maybe get into them more if they were so ease as promised to grow... then as I said, they all bolted. The pods are milder and you get innumeral amounts of pods, as opposed to one radish... I'm sure not every type of radish produces pods... And I've heard there is an asian type that is cultivated to produce pods, but I forget what type of radishes we tried first, so I'll get back to you on that.

Wow, you won't know what to do with all the space upstairs! Enjoy your new cellar x

Carrot soufflé sounds delicious!!!

How exciting for you to get all that extra food storage room! I too live in an old house built in 1890. We also have a new part with all block that is my food storage area. Having that extra space really frees up the kitchen and hallway for us. Great job with that painting, its so nice when you have that help! Great job boys and dad! BLessings!

Hidden Heights farm used their freeze drier to preserve their salsa. They said the flavor was delicious when they rehydrated it.

I just love it when people are doing projects it's so motivating. Just completed renovation/ remodeling my home moved back in July we're about to start the plans for the garage but let me just say It's a lot of work. Now more than ever before in my Life I feel like that saying “do or die”. Im tired but I keep going because I see the end in sight. So those of you who are doing projects or starting projects just keep going you will reach your goal. Thank you so much for allowing us to take a peak at what you are doing to create more space for food storage. GOD bless you and your family. See u in the next video.

What a wonderful blessing your cellar upgrade will be. I'm very excited and grateful for the opportunites that will open up for the main floor!

How exciting your cellar is getting so close to using!! Thank you so much for sharing with us. You are an inspiration. Love your videos. Please keep them coming. GOD bless

I wanted to share a Fresh Garden Salsa recipe that I freeze dry. My husband and I both really like it. Our son, daughter-in-law and grandson also like it. To reconstitute, we just put some in a bowl and add water and it is instantly ready. If I have a ton of veggies and my freeze dryer can't keep up, I put a full sheet of parchment (with the flaps extending) in a freeze dryer tray. Then I freeze it into a brick and wrap the extra parchment around it and stack it in my freezer until my freeze dryer is ready for it. If I am able to put it directly into the freeze dryer, I put the mats in the trays, add the salsa and then freeze it before freeze drying. Here is my approximate recipe: Fresh Garden Salsa-Lg White Tupperware Bowl-5 quarts 2 c. lime juice 2 c. chopped onions 2/3 c. jalapanos 4 ½ - 6 c. chopped peppers 12 c. chopped tomatoes Cilantro Salt Fresh peaches or pears. (I’ve only tried those two fruits, but I suspect any fruit would be delicious.). Thanks for all that I'm learning from you.

Your such an inspiration. I have learned so much from you just watching your channel. I will forever be a subscriber. ❤

How exciting to be getting all that room after your canning goes down to the cold storage! I always look forward to your videos and I’m always bummed when they end. I’m gaining tons of knowledge from you, and as always you’re a joy to watch!

Hey Jessica, I'm so happy for you finally getting your basement/root cellular! Congratulations you definitely deserve this. You're such a patient, kind, loving wife and mother. You deserve good things to happen in your life.

Hey Jessica and beautiful family! I think you are a true inspiration! And you are definitely one of my most favorite people to watch here on RU-vid! God please continue to bless this family in your unwavering grace and love! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Good selection of food. In regards to gluten free spaghetti, I use rice based spaghetti. Are the oats thick or thin rolled? I prefer thick for my morning cereal. I noticed that you have raised beds. You might want to research container potato growing for a supply of potatoes for your breakfast fries. Irish videos cover that topic well. You cannot cold store some types of produce together. It would be beneficial to learn which ones are compatible. Carrots cold store well in coco coir containers with lids on them. Sand can also be used. Be sure to go through them periodically to throw out spoiled ones. Your basement may need a dehumidifier. No need for that in cold storage, though. Potatoes like it slightly damp and cold. Enjoy your newfound basement storage!

Good job, harvesting carrots, boys 👍

Thankful you're getting a great storage cellar

So exciting to get SPACE, cool space, dry space, white space! I'm so happy for you!!!!

Thank you, for another video, Jessica. I always love the team work and sharing the daily load of responsibility. I often mention my family and friends the admiration I have for your way of living. Although, I don't have any kids or farm I do appreciate the simplicity and family values. As always grace and peace to you.

I am so excited for you and the finished cellar!

So exciting to see the root cellar coming together! I’m so happy for you to be able use this space for storage and free up some space in your home. It’ll definitely be a blessing. Thank you for sharing all you do, I’ve learned so much! I hope to plant my first garden next year. I couldn’t get one in this year because I passed out in March and broke both legs. I’m still healing from that and it will probably take a year to fully recover, if I do.

So exciting for you the cellar is looking great 👍👍 Looking forward to your next video 💕 Thank you for sharing as always enjoyed the video 👏👏👏👏👏 Love from the UK x

Wonderful Jessica! I’m so happy for you! I know that cellular will be such a blessing for your family. Great way to store a years worth of food for you….what a relief….

I hope you will consider sharing the results of your macadamia nut cheese experiment. It must be wonderful to see the result of all that hard work that was done in your cellar. Congratulations!

The cellar!! I know you have waited a long time to be able to tackle this project and now you're almost at the finish line! 🥳

Wow! So happy for you, to be getting that cellar space to use soon. What a blessing that will be.

So inspiring thank you for sharing your knowledge. Can't wait to see your finished cellar!!

You won't know what to do with yourself with all that space. Then, one day, you will look around and see it all filled. Great video

Love your videos and seeing how much the children are involved in the day to day. You’re both amazing parents and your children are very fortunate with all the knowledge and hands on experience they are getting from you both

I’m getting ready to can salsa in the next week, thanks for the roasting idea!

I can already envision the walls full of beautiful canned goods. Can’t wait to see the finished project.

Another great video. Can't wait to see your finished cellar! Blessings!

Wow the size of those tomatoes 😮

I’m getting so excited for my Brandywine tomatoes to ripen. First time we’ve ever grown those & Jet Stars. We put a dwarf tomato in our Greenstalk. We’re in PA & our tomatoes were slow to mature too. Pretty sure it was the month we went without rain. I’ve been coring them & tossing them into the freezer as they come in until I have enough to can. Makes slipping the skin off so easy. None of us are raw tomato eaters.

I can't wait to see your cellar! My home was built in the 80's but they put in an awesome cellar right off my kitchen and it is a huge blessing. You are going to love having the storage!!

Thx, Jessica!

Your caller is looking fabulous! I’m so excited for you. Your Azure haul looked divine. We’re hoping to soon have one near us too. Should be soon. Like within 45 minutes!

Y'all have had a very busy and productive week. I'm so happy that you're getting the cellar ready. It's very exciting to see a project come to life that will be so helpful for your family.

I just love these videos! I apply "every bit counts" to my life! Didn't know it was a thing 😂. 💚💚💚

So excited for you to have a root cellar and more storage. Very exciting.

I love seeing all your jars filling up! My empty jar shelf is overflowing right now. I can't wait to fill all mine back up soon!

Thanks for the video!