Moolie - Happy Thanksgiving :)

[moolie]

I love your shelves! Its great how they just fill up and in another month they will be fully stocked and almost done

To quote several people who posted in your pantry thread, it's a visible sign of worth--the work that went into growing, then canning that food displayed for all to see. The potential for so many good meals throughout the winter months.

It's funny (and perfect, really) that we are down to exactly one jar of peaches (and half a jar in the fridge) because we are headed to the Okanagan this coming weekend to go camping with family, and will pick up several boxes of peaches from our customary fruit stand on the way home--Monday will be peach-canning day!

Oh thank you so much for all the pictures. I love looking at the older jars. I have many that are garage sale finds. Not sure if their age but I still use most of them.

I would love to use/have glass lids. They are just beautiful.

Hummm now I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for Gem jars as well.

I have over 200 quart Gem jars as a result of following up on ads on kijiji and freecycle over the past couple years--got them for a song or free, and most came with the glass lids and zinc or steel rings, the rubber seals are $1.99/dozen.

And every time I go into Value Village, there's 6-8 of the pint size (and sometimes a few quart size) Gem jars sitting on the end of the dishes shelf that is marked "canisters", for only 29c each (complete jar/glass lid/ring combo).

So, if you ever want some just let me know--the only real cost (beyond the 29c each and a $1.99 box of rubber seals) would be the shipping

 

[TanksHill]

Your so kind. I actually did a search locally this morning. I don't think they are something I'm going to find locally.


But trust me ill keep looking.

G

Ok quick question. These glass lids don't fit standard ball or mason jars do they???

 

[moolie]

Your so kind. I actually did a search locally this morning. I don't think they are something I'm going to find locally.


But trust me ill keep looking.

G

Ok quick question. These glass lids don't fit standard ball or mason jars do they???

Mine don't, they are Gem size, which is a Canadian jar mouth size halfway between regular and wide mouth.

But you can get old Ball and Presto glass lids, I have a few of those as well--only thing is I can't find rubber seals for them. A few of mine came with old ones, which I've been meaning to test out by canning some water--just to see if they still seal. I'm thinking of ordering some Tattler rubber seals for them.

I've seen the Ball and Presto glass lids on eBay, you might be able to find them at flea markets/garage sales etc. or Craigslist.

 

[TanksHill]

Not sure if your interested. But I found someone selling 75 glass gem lids on Etsy for aroud 25 dollars. Seemed like a great deal.
G

 

[moolie]

Not sure if your interested. But I found someone selling 75 glass gem lids on Etsy for aroud 25 dollars. Seemed like a great deal.
G

I'm actually good for Gem lids, I have about 20 more lids than jars at the moment. Most of the jars I pick up here and there at the thrift store come with them, so I think I'm good for a long while now.

I did order a bunch off eBay a while back (which is how I know there are also the Ball and Presto lids available out there) and really had to watch what people were charging for shipping. I got mine from a gal in BC and she charged actual shipping, which wasn't all that much--but some sellers were charging more for shipping than for the actual lids!

 

[moolie]

Had a great weekend away camping and now we're back at it again--the garden grew even in the 4 days we were away so I'm picking peas and beans, pulling carrots, and pruning suckers out of my tomato vines. Need to bake bread today and make yogurt as well.

Huge storm went through yesterday afternoon/evening with winds gusting up to 100km/hour and torrential rain (no hail thankfully, other parts of the city have had golf ball-sized hail the past couple of days) but the gardens and greenhouse came through with flying colours. The trees were all bending quite a bit in the wind, but it seems our 6' tall back garden fence provided ample shelter from the winds. And today I won't have to water

 

[Denim Deb]

Glad you didn't have any damage and that you get a break from watering!

 

[SSDreamin]

Glad you had a good time camping, even though you had to play catch-up when you got home.

I miss camping. The last time we camped, that was NOT at a race track, was 14 years ago

 

[moolie]

Thanks, we are very fortunate that we got through the recent storms basically unscathed--the evening news tonight showed some pretty awful damage.

The camping trip was fun, and even more enjoyable because we got together with family and friends that we don't get to see very often

 

[moolie]

My girls and I picked lots of peas yesterday (but ate lots before they made it into the house) along with a fair number of yellow beans, but the slugs have been feasting on the green beans so this is all I got. Hoping for more over the next few weeks

---


Had a request via PM for more info on the wooden boxes hubs has been building for my canning jars, here's a few more photos and some info and measurements:

half pint jam jar box made out of 1x6 pine

half pint boxes have two screws at each corner, larger boxes have 3 screws

bottom is made of hardboard, hubs cuts a groove on his table saw to receive the bottom board--just like building a drawer

most of the hardboard hubs bought for the bottoms of the boxes is painted white on one side, some is just brown throughout--both kinds are textured on the bottom/smooth on the top side

Box Measurements:

125 ml/half pint jam jars
-finished outside box dimensions are 10 1/4" x 13 1/2" made out of 1x6 pine
-front and back boards are 10 1/4" pieces of 1x6 pine
-sides are 12"
-don't know the size of the bottom board but the groove is 1/4" up from bottom

500ml/pint and 125ml/half-pint wide mouth jars, pint Gem jars
-hubs made two sizes, half are made out of 1x6 pine, half out of 1x8 pine--just measure your jar heights
-outside box dimensions are 12 1/4" x 15 5/8"
-front and back boards are 12 1/4" pieces of 1x6 or 1x8 pine depending on jar height
-sides are 14 1/8"

quarts and litres
-outside box dimensions are 13 1/4" x 17" made out of 1x10 pine
-front and back boards are 13 1/4" pieces of 1x10 pine
-sides are 15 1/2"

Hope that helps if anyone is interested in building some really sturdy jar crates I think they would also work in plywood, we just had some pine on hand when hubs first started building these, and then he just got some more of the same to make more boxes.

He built them because most of my jars are second hand and didn't come with boxes, and because jars don't really come in boxes anymore--the jam jars pictured above came in a shallow tray with the divider you see in the photos, wrapped in shrink wrap plastic. Once the plastic is gone, the sides of the jars are exposed and can easily get damaged/broken/chipped. I wanted taller boxes, and couldn't find anything that fit my jars properly, so hubs decided to make me some crates--these babies will last forever!