Blueberries
 

We hied off to a pick-your-own farm this morning and came home with
nearly nine lbs of blueberries. Picking were slim as there has been no
rain lately and it appears that the farmer hasn't been running his drip
irrigation system lately.

All rinsed off, green berries and stems tossed, sitting in the big
colander to partially dry. Tomorrow I will blanch the berries and then
can them in quart jars for use in pies and cobblers later. Got to make a
run to get some more Clear Jel, appears I don't have enough on hand.

No more room in either freezer. Seems I hit a sale on rib eye steaks
recently and they took up the space in the freezers. Golly, what a problem!

George

Blueberries
 

On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>We hied off to a pick-your-own farm this morning and came home with
>nearly nine lbs of blueberries. Picking were slim as there has been no
>rain lately and it appears that the farmer hasn't been running his drip
>irrigation system lately.

We've been a week without rain after a very wet early spring. I hope
it's not a repeat of last year.

Your climate is two to four weeks ahead of ours, looks like.

Our container-grown blueberries sitting on the deck are finally
earning their keep. I picked a few ripe ones off "Jellybaby"
yesterday and they're bigger than the rabbiteyes we have planted in
the orchard. None of the berries in the orchard are quite ripe yet. I
hope we have enough to make jam this year without having to buy any.

Oh, and we picked two (count 'em) TWO ripe dewberries day before
yesterday! I didn't see any others starting to turn yet.

>All rinsed off, green berries and stems tossed, sitting in the big
>colander to partially dry. Tomorrow I will blanch the berries and then
>can them in quart jars for use in pies and cobblers later. Got to make a
>run to get some more Clear Jel, appears I don't have enough on hand.

You're canning the blueberries whole? Do you use syrup, juice or
water? I think UGA had a method for all three but I've never canned
them whole and wouldn't know which was best. I usually just make jam
out of them.

>No more room in either freezer. Seems I hit a sale on rib eye steaks
>recently and they took up the space in the freezers. Golly, what a problem!

Ha! We should all have such a problem. Well, I'll help you make room
in the freezer. Throw one more of those steaks on the grill and I'll
invite myself over. :-D

>George

bluechick

Blueberries
 

On 5/22/2014 5:05 PM, bluechick wrote:
> On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
> wrote:
>
>> We hied off to a pick-your-own farm this morning and came home with
>> nearly nine lbs of blueberries. Picking were slim as there has been no
>> rain lately and it appears that the farmer hasn't been running his drip
>> irrigation system lately.
>
> We've been a week without rain after a very wet early spring. I hope
> it's not a repeat of last year.
We're seeing the same rain pattern here, drought for a month, then a
five or six inch downpour in a few hours. No rain in last ten days to
speak of and none for next ten days.
>
> Your climate is two to four weeks ahead of ours, looks like.
>
> Our container-grown blueberries sitting on the deck are finally
> earning their keep. I picked a few ripe ones off "Jellybaby"
> yesterday and they're bigger than the rabbiteyes we have planted in
> the orchard. None of the berries in the orchard are quite ripe yet. I
> hope we have enough to make jam this year without having to buy any.
Our in ground blueberries lost their blossoms to a late frost, killed
any idea of some this year.
>
> Oh, and we picked two (count 'em) TWO ripe dewberries day before
> yesterday! I didn't see any others starting to turn yet.
>
Wild dewberries and blackberries were tiny this spring and very seedy,
due to, of course, nor rain when they were bearing.
>> All rinsed off, green berries and stems tossed, sitting in the big
>> colander to partially dry. Tomorrow I will blanch the berries and then
>> can them in quart jars for use in pies and cobblers later. Got to make a
>> run to get some more Clear Jel, appears I don't have enough on hand.
Did have just enough Clear Jel to get six quarts of berries canned. Have
another two pound pack coming in tomorrow.
>
> You're canning the blueberries whole? Do you use syrup, juice or
> water? I think UGA had a method for all three but I've never canned
> them whole and wouldn't know which was best. I usually just make jam
> out of them.
I used the recipe from UGA's "So Easy to Preserve" canning book. Would
recommend it to anyone from beginner to expert. You have to blanch the
berries in boiling water, there goes whole berries down the tube. I made
the sugar syrup and you mix the sugar and the Clear Jel together and
move on from there. The blanching in six cup batches is a PITA but I got
it done without scalding myself or leaving a bluish red stain on the
ceramic tile. You have to add some blue food coloring back to the mix to
get the proper color as the blanching eats up the color.
>
>> No more room in either freezer. Seems I hit a sale on rib eye steaks
>> recently and they took up the space in the freezers. Golly, what a problem!
>
> Ha! We should all have such a problem. Well, I'll help you make room
> in the freezer. Throw one more of those steaks on the grill and I'll
> invite myself over. :-D
>
>> George
>
> bluechick
>
Come on down, we lived in Louisiana for twenty-four years and have had
many people we met on the internet come by to visit. We're a little
harder to find now though but I give out directions. We've had folks
from California to Rhode Island and including Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio,
and other sorts of Yanqui's come by. Every one was welcome.

We're off to pick seven or ten lbs of blackberries tomorrow. Will can
those as "pie mix" like we did the blueberries, still no room in the
freezers. Thinking of getting a bigger freezer.

George

Blueberries
 

On Thu, 22 May 2014 20:42:00 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>On 5/22/2014 5:05 PM, bluechick wrote:
>> On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> We hied off to a pick-your-own farm this morning and came home with
>>> nearly nine lbs of blueberries. Picking were slim as there has been no
>>> rain lately and it appears that the farmer hasn't been running his drip
>>> irrigation system lately.
>>
>> We've been a week without rain after a very wet early spring. I hope
>> it's not a repeat of last year.
>We're seeing the same rain pattern here, drought for a month, then a
>five or six inch downpour in a few hours. No rain in last ten days to
>speak of and none for next ten days.

Yep. We're about two weeks out from the last rainfall we had and that
was very light. It's cloudy at the moment but I don't think we're
going to get any of that 30% chance they're predicting. Same rain
chances the rest of the week. :(

All the blackberry flowers all over the place earlier in the spring
and then lots of fruit looked so promising. But now you'd think
summer was already upon us and there's no rain now that they're
developing. I'm very jealous of the berries you and Miz Anne got. Our
blueberries are being irrigated so we should have enough if critters
stay away. That reminds me to get more bird netting...

I hope we'll be able to find some blackberries that are worth picking.
We have a few thornless berries we planted and I've been watering the
wild varieties that are near the garden. *fingers crossed* I am
determined to make more Blackberry Chambord Jelly this year. That
stuff was awesome last year - and I don't use the word "awesome"
often. :)

>I used the recipe from UGA's "So Easy to Preserve" canning book. Would
>recommend it to anyone from beginner to expert. You have to blanch the
>berries in boiling water, there goes whole berries down the tube. I made
>the sugar syrup and you mix the sugar and the Clear Jel together and
>move on from there. The blanching in six cup batches is a PITA but I got
>it done without scalding myself or leaving a bluish red stain on the
>ceramic tile. You have to add some blue food coloring back to the mix to
>get the proper color as the blanching eats up the color.

Sounds similar to the 'Blueberry Pie Filling' recipe in Ball's
"Complete Book of Home Preserving" which also uses Clear Jel and food
coloring (as well as a little optional lemon zest). Have you used
Ball's recipe? If so, why do you prefer UGA's? I'm not criticising
UGA's method, just curious.

>Come on down, we lived in Louisiana for twenty-four years and have had
>many people we met on the internet come by to visit. We're a little
>harder to find now though but I give out directions. We've had folks
>from California to Rhode Island and including Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio,
>and other sorts of Yanqui's come by. Every one was welcome.

Thanks, George! If I ever get over to Texas I will holler. You are
most generous to host Southern and Yanqui equally. :D

>We're off to pick seven or ten lbs of blackberries tomorrow. Will can
>those as "pie mix" like we did the blueberries, still no room in the
>freezers. Thinking of getting a bigger freezer.

Yum! I think everyone can use a bigger freezer, if there's room. It's
kind of like a closet: stuff expands to fit the storage space you
have. Soon, that bigger closet or bigger freezer is full before you
know it! Been there, done that. :)

>George

bluechick

Blueberries
 

On 5/27/2014 10:47 AM, bluechick wrote:
> On Thu, 22 May 2014 20:42:00 -0500, George Shirley >
> wrote:
>
>> On 5/22/2014 5:05 PM, bluechick wrote:
>>> On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> We hied off to a pick-your-own farm this morning and came home with
>>>> nearly nine lbs of blueberries. Picking were slim as there has been no
>>>> rain lately and it appears that the farmer hasn't been running his drip
>>>> irrigation system lately.
>>>
>>> We've been a week without rain after a very wet early spring. I hope
>>> it's not a repeat of last year.
>> We're seeing the same rain pattern here, drought for a month, then a
>> five or six inch downpour in a few hours. No rain in last ten days to
>> speak of and none for next ten days.
>
> Yep. We're about two weeks out from the last rainfall we had and that
> was very light. It's cloudy at the moment but I don't think we're
> going to get any of that 30% chance they're predicting. Same rain
> chances the rest of the week. :(
Yesterday ended our drought, started with about a half an inch falling.
About 0200 this morning I was awakened by a tremdous rain storm,
according to the weather folks we were in danger of tornadoes and some
areas had golf ball sized hail. We got 4.5 inches of great rain,
tremendous downpours for a few hours, with street flooding in low spots
and, now, a gentle rain with spurts of hard rain.
>
> All the blackberry flowers all over the place earlier in the spring
> and then lots of fruit looked so promising. But now you'd think
> summer was already upon us and there's no rain now that they're
> developing. I'm very jealous of the berries you and Miz Anne got. Our
> blueberries are being irrigated so we should have enough if critters
> stay away. That reminds me to get more bird netting...
We mostly pick at berry farms, lots of pick your own type farms within a
ten mile radius of us, some have been here fifty or more years. Where we
pick blackberries they do a lot of drip irrigation and the blackberries
were 1 3/4 inches long by 3/4 inch diameter, biggest blackberries I've
ever seen and very sweet.
>
> I hope we'll be able to find some blackberries that are worth picking.
> We have a few thornless berries we planted and I've been watering the
> wild varieties that are near the garden. *fingers crossed* I am
> determined to make more Blackberry Chambord Jelly this year. That
> stuff was awesome last year - and I don't use the word "awesome"
> often. :)
>
>> I used the recipe from UGA's "So Easy to Preserve" canning book. Would
>> recommend it to anyone from beginner to expert. You have to blanch the
>> berries in boiling water, there goes whole berries down the tube. I made
>> the sugar syrup and you mix the sugar and the Clear Jel together and
>> move on from there. The blanching in six cup batches is a PITA but I got
>> it done without scalding myself or leaving a bluish red stain on the
>> ceramic tile. You have to add some blue food coloring back to the mix to
>> get the proper color as the blanching eats up the color.
>
> Sounds similar to the 'Blueberry Pie Filling' recipe in Ball's
> "Complete Book of Home Preserving" which also uses Clear Jel and food
> coloring (as well as a little optional lemon zest). Have you used
> Ball's recipe? If so, why do you prefer UGA's? I'm not criticising
> UGA's method, just curious.
Most of those recipes were established with federal funds and all the
preserving books list them, the same recipe is in many of the recipe books.
>
>> Come on down, we lived in Louisiana for twenty-four years and have had
>> many people we met on the internet come by to visit. We're a little
>> harder to find now though but I give out directions. We've had folks
>>from California to Rhode Island and including Minnesota, Michigan, Ohio,
>> and other sorts of Yanqui's come by. Every one was welcome.
>
> Thanks, George! If I ever get over to Texas I will holler. You are
> most generous to host Southern and Yanqui equally. :D
>
>> We're off to pick seven or ten lbs of blackberries tomorrow. Will can
>> those as "pie mix" like we did the blueberries, still no room in the
>> freezers. Thinking of getting a bigger freezer.
Rinsed the blackberries let them air dry and then put them on bun pans
and into the freezer for two hours, froze them solid. Then quickly
vacuum bagged them for later use in four cup measures, just right for
pies and cobblers. They held up well to the vacuum with no crushing. I
keep both freezers at -10F and that helps. Now I need to get in the big
one and organize things again. We tend to just toss stuff in there until
it's full and then have to unload and organize. Maybe tomorrow, today I
was hanging curtain rods, again, and wire brushing and painting a sixty
year old lawn sprinkler, belonged to my folks and I just ran up on it,
sold cast steel base with copper sprinkler head, beats the heck out of
all this plastic stuff.
>
> Yum! I think everyone can use a bigger freezer, if there's room. It's
> kind of like a closet: stuff expands to fit the storage space you
> have. Soon, that bigger closet or bigger freezer is full before you
> know it! Been there, done that. :)
>
>> George
>
> bluechick
>
George, listening to the rain and feeling the arthritis that comes with it

Blueberries
 

On Tue, 27 May 2014 12:27:02 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>On 5/27/2014 10:47 AM, bluechick wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 May 2014 20:42:00 -0500, George Shirley >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 5/22/2014 5:05 PM, bluechick wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>Yesterday ended our drought, started with about a half an inch falling.
>About 0200 this morning I was awakened by a tremdous rain storm,
>according to the weather folks we were in danger of tornadoes and some
>areas had golf ball sized hail. We got 4.5 inches of great rain,
>tremendous downpours for a few hours, with street flooding in low spots
>and, now, a gentle rain with spurts of hard rain.

We just got the rain that you had! I don't know whether to be happy
or not. It was torrential. And, of course, we were coming back home
from running errands and I had to open the gate. I still look like a
drowned rat. :) At least we got into the house before the hail hit.
Tore up some seedlings I had just planted. I still don't know how
much rain we got or how strong the winds were but they were strong
enough to knock down a huge oak tree in the backyard. :( It was on
the side of a hill and it was blown UPHILL. So, that lets you know
how strong those winds were. Thankfully, the oak didn't hit any
structures. At least I don't have to water the tomatoes today! :D

>We mostly pick at berry farms, lots of pick your own type farms within a
>ten mile radius of us, some have been here fifty or more years. Where we
>pick blackberries they do a lot of drip irrigation and the blackberries
>were 1 3/4 inches long by 3/4 inch diameter, biggest blackberries I've
>ever seen and very sweet.

Those are huge! I'm happy you found some big, tasty blackberries.
Those ought to make some delicious cobblers and/or jams.

>> Sounds similar to the 'Blueberry Pie Filling' recipe in Ball's
>> "Complete Book of Home Preserving" which also uses Clear Jel and food
>> coloring (as well as a little optional lemon zest). Have you used
>> Ball's recipe? If so, why do you prefer UGA's? I'm not criticising
>> UGA's method, just curious.
>Most of those recipes were established with federal funds and all the
>preserving books list them, the same recipe is in many of the recipe books.

Ah! That explains the similarities in the methods between the UGA and
Ball recipes.

>Rinsed the blackberries let them air dry and then put them on bun pans
>and into the freezer for two hours, froze them solid. Then quickly
>vacuum bagged them for later use in four cup measures, just right for
>pies and cobblers. They held up well to the vacuum with no crushing. I
>keep both freezers at -10F and that helps. Now I need to get in the big
>one and organize things again. We tend to just toss stuff in there until
>it's full and then have to unload and organize. Maybe tomorrow, today I
>was hanging curtain rods, again, and wire brushing and painting a sixty
>year old lawn sprinkler, belonged to my folks and I just ran up on it,
>sold cast steel base with copper sprinkler head, beats the heck out of
>all this plastic stuff.

How did we live before vacuum baggers? It's a wonderful method for
keeping things fresh and free from freezer burn. I can't tell you how
many times we had to throw stuff out of the freezer before we got our
vac machine. Plus, bacon and cheese stay around a lot longer without
wasting them.

Do you have an upright or a chest freezer? My grandparents had a huge
chest freezer in their basement that was ruined by a bad flood one
year. I remember having to take everything out to find something in
it (and the thing I was looking for was always at the bottom). We
have an ancient upright freezer here, at least as old as I am. I know
it's inefficient as can be but I'm keeping it until the motor dies.
It's a PITA to defrost but stuff stays frozen hard as a rock.

Keep that sprinkler as long as it still sprinkles. :) We have a cast
iron "walking" sprinkler that follows a course laid out by running a
hose where you want it to water. It does a lousy job trying to "walk"
uphill but is great otherwise. We just oil the wheels every season
and it keeps on truckin'.

>George, listening to the rain and feeling the arthritis that comes with it

Hey, arthritis is the pits but it does a better job letting you know
it's going to rain than the weatherman! I should have known we'd get
more rain today than the pitiful 10 drops we got yesterday since my
right hand was killing me this morning. And I'm lucky I can type now.
Sometimes it sux to get old but it's better than the alternative. :)

bluechick

Blueberries
 

On 5/28/2014 5:36 PM, bluechick wrote:
> On Tue, 27 May 2014 12:27:02 -0500, George Shirley >
> wrote:
>
>> On 5/27/2014 10:47 AM, bluechick wrote:
>>> On Thu, 22 May 2014 20:42:00 -0500, George Shirley >
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 5/22/2014 5:05 PM, bluechick wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>> Yesterday ended our drought, started with about a half an inch falling.
>> About 0200 this morning I was awakened by a tremdous rain storm,
>> according to the weather folks we were in danger of tornadoes and some
>> areas had golf ball sized hail. We got 4.5 inches of great rain,
>> tremendous downpours for a few hours, with street flooding in low spots
>> and, now, a gentle rain with spurts of hard rain.
>
> We just got the rain that you had! I don't know whether to be happy
> or not. It was torrential. And, of course, we were coming back home
> from running errands and I had to open the gate. I still look like a
> drowned rat. :) At least we got into the house before the hail hit.
> Tore up some seedlings I had just planted. I still don't know how
> much rain we got or how strong the winds were but they were strong
> enough to knock down a huge oak tree in the backyard. :( It was on
> the side of a hill and it was blown UPHILL. So, that lets you know
> how strong those winds were. Thankfully, the oak didn't hit any
> structures. At least I don't have to water the tomatoes today! :D
>
>> We mostly pick at berry farms, lots of pick your own type farms within a
>> ten mile radius of us, some have been here fifty or more years. Where we
>> pick blackberries they do a lot of drip irrigation and the blackberries
>> were 1 3/4 inches long by 3/4 inch diameter, biggest blackberries I've
>> ever seen and very sweet.
>
> Those are huge! I'm happy you found some big, tasty blackberries.
> Those ought to make some delicious cobblers and/or jams.
>
>>> Sounds similar to the 'Blueberry Pie Filling' recipe in Ball's
>>> "Complete Book of Home Preserving" which also uses Clear Jel and food
>>> coloring (as well as a little optional lemon zest). Have you used
>>> Ball's recipe? If so, why do you prefer UGA's? I'm not criticising
>>> UGA's method, just curious.
>> Most of those recipes were established with federal funds and all the
>> preserving books list them, the same recipe is in many of the recipe books.
>
> Ah! That explains the similarities in the methods between the UGA and
> Ball recipes.
>
>> Rinsed the blackberries let them air dry and then put them on bun pans
>> and into the freezer for two hours, froze them solid. Then quickly
>> vacuum bagged them for later use in four cup measures, just right for
>> pies and cobblers. They held up well to the vacuum with no crushing. I
>> keep both freezers at -10F and that helps. Now I need to get in the big
>> one and organize things again. We tend to just toss stuff in there until
>> it's full and then have to unload and organize. Maybe tomorrow, today I
>> was hanging curtain rods, again, and wire brushing and painting a sixty
>> year old lawn sprinkler, belonged to my folks and I just ran up on it,
>> sold cast steel base with copper sprinkler head, beats the heck out of
>> all this plastic stuff.
>
> How did we live before vacuum baggers? It's a wonderful method for
> keeping things fresh and free from freezer burn. I can't tell you how
> many times we had to throw stuff out of the freezer before we got our
> vac machine. Plus, bacon and cheese stay around a lot longer without
> wasting them.
>
> Do you have an upright or a chest freezer? My grandparents had a huge
> chest freezer in their basement that was ruined by a bad flood one
> year. I remember having to take everything out to find something in
> it (and the thing I was looking for was always at the bottom). We
> have an ancient upright freezer here, at least as old as I am. I know
> it's inefficient as can be but I'm keeping it until the motor dies.
> It's a PITA to defrost but stuff stays frozen hard as a rock.
In our first home we had both, a 30 cubic foot chest and a 20 cubic foot
upright, not to mention the rental locker at the old freezer plant in
town. Now we have a 15 cubic foot upright that is at least twenty years
old plus the little upright on the new fridge. No room to speak of for a
big ol' chest freezer anymore and we might lean over and fall in one
nowadays.
>
> Keep that sprinkler as long as it still sprinkles. :) We have a cast
> iron "walking" sprinkler that follows a course laid out by running a
> hose where you want it to water. It does a lousy job trying to "walk"
> uphill but is great otherwise. We just oil the wheels every season
> and it keeps on truckin'.
>
>> George, listening to the rain and feeling the arthritis that comes with it
>
> Hey, arthritis is the pits but it does a better job letting you know
> it's going to rain than the weatherman! I should have known we'd get
> more rain today than the pitiful 10 drops we got yesterday since my
> right hand was killing me this morning. And I'm lucky I can type now.
> Sometimes it sux to get old but it's better than the alternative. :)
>
> bluechick
>

We ended up with nearly seven inches of rain in 48 hours, the local
drainage creek has been out of its banks for at least 24 hours now. Just
went out at 2100 and it is sprinkling again. This system must be huge.
Having to pick cukes and squash daily, they get big so quick from
getting all that water. Looks like tomorrow I will be shredding zukes
and yellow squash and vac bagging them for squash bread this winter. We
do like that and so do the little ones.

George

Blueberries
 

On Wed, 28 May 2014 21:06:50 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>In our first home we had both, a 30 cubic foot chest and a 20 cubic foot
>upright, not to mention the rental locker at the old freezer plant in
>town. Now we have a 15 cubic foot upright that is at least twenty years
>old plus the little upright on the new fridge. No room to speak of for a
>big ol' chest freezer anymore and we might lean over and fall in one
>nowadays.

I know what you mean. I'd probably fall into one as well. As a
child, I used to be afraid the lid of my grandparents' freezer would
fall on me. If the current ancient upright freezer dies, heaven
forfend, I still don't know if I'd rather get a chest or upright to
replace it. There are advantages and disadvantages to both and I know
a modern replacement would never last as long as this one has.

>We ended up with nearly seven inches of rain in 48 hours, the local
>drainage creek has been out of its banks for at least 24 hours now. Just
>went out at 2100 and it is sprinkling again. This system must be huge.
>Having to pick cukes and squash daily, they get big so quick from
>getting all that water. Looks like tomorrow I will be shredding zukes
>and yellow squash and vac bagging them for squash bread this winter. We
>do like that and so do the little ones.

As far as I can tell, with one digital and one "manual" rain gauge, we
got only 1.25 inches but that was within 30 minutes. And that doesn't
count all the water left as hail. I don't even know how to measure
that. Aside from hail tearing up my tomatoes the rain was much
needed. Maybe the blackberries will plump up a bit after all. And
we're due for more rain today and on through the weekend. I just hope
there's no more hail.

>George

bluechick

Blueberries
 

On Thu, 29 May 2014 07:42:33 -0500, bluechick >
wrote:

> I'd probably fall into one as well.

I did a handstand in our chest freezer the last time we cleaned it --
on purpose, to reach the bottom of the far wall.

No way I could get inside without first taking out the partitions, and
then it would be easy to open the lid -- it's held closed by its own
very light weight and a rather feeble magnet.

I find it easier to find things under things than things behind things
-- particularly since I can set the bag of breakfast sandwiches in the
next bin over, so there's no risk of forgetting to put them back --
the lid won't close until I do. The upright freezer that we run in
fridge mode is convenient only because it's hardly ever even half
full.

On the other hand, DH finds the chest-freezer lid a convenient place
to sort things, so I often have to dispose of a newspaper before I can
get a piece of bread, or I have to put away the cupboard and
refrigerator stuff before I can put the frozen groceries away.

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at comcast dot net
http://joybeeson.home.comcast.net/~joybeeson

Blueberries
 

On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:03:03 -0300, Joy Beeson
> wrote:

>On Thu, 29 May 2014 07:42:33 -0500, bluechick >
>wrote:
>
>> I'd probably fall into one as well.
>
>I did a handstand in our chest freezer the last time we cleaned it --
>on purpose, to reach the bottom of the far wall.

Hi, Joy! Athletic freezer cleaning - it's all the rage these days. :)

>No way I could get inside without first taking out the partitions, and
>then it would be easy to open the lid -- it's held closed by its own
>very light weight and a rather feeble magnet.

Chest freezers still scare the heck out of me. I'm probably scarred
for life from my fear of my grandparents' freezer. I doubt I'm
exaggerating to say that that thing was probably a death trap. I
still remember how heavy the lid was. I'm sure manufacturers have
made alterations on the lids that make them easy to open from the
inside in case a child does get inside the freezer.

>I find it easier to find things under things than things behind things
>-- particularly since I can set the bag of breakfast sandwiches in the
>next bin over, so there's no risk of forgetting to put them back --
>the lid won't close until I do. The upright freezer that we run in
>fridge mode is convenient only because it's hardly ever even half
>full.

Yep, it's easier to move things up and out of the way in my upright
freezer than it is to get to things in the back. I have a
side-by-side fridge/freezer in the kitchen as well as the upright in
the basement. The side-by-side is very deep and I'm always losing
something on the back wall of it, resulting in me saying very
unladylike things while trying to get at said lost items. ;)

>On the other hand, DH finds the chest-freezer lid a convenient place
>to sort things, so I often have to dispose of a newspaper before I can
>get a piece of bread, or I have to put away the cupboard and
>refrigerator stuff before I can put the frozen groceries away.

I can imagine the same thing being a problem here, with all sorts of
things stored on top of a convenient platform like that. Tools,
fishing gear, something too heavy to move easily, etc. I think that's
why I'd want another upright, even if they aren't as efficient.

I just hope all this freezer talk hasn't jinxed my old freezer. I
want it to work another 60 years! :)

bluechick

Blueberries
 

On 6/2/2014 7:42 PM, bluechick wrote:
> On Sun, 01 Jun 2014 23:03:03 -0300, Joy Beeson
> > wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 29 May 2014 07:42:33 -0500, bluechick >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I'd probably fall into one as well.
>>
>> I did a handstand in our chest freezer the last time we cleaned it --
>> on purpose, to reach the bottom of the far wall.
>
> Hi, Joy! Athletic freezer cleaning - it's all the rage these days. :)
>
>> No way I could get inside without first taking out the partitions, and
>> then it would be easy to open the lid -- it's held closed by its own
>> very light weight and a rather feeble magnet.
>
> Chest freezers still scare the heck out of me. I'm probably scarred
> for life from my fear of my grandparents' freezer. I doubt I'm
> exaggerating to say that that thing was probably a death trap. I
> still remember how heavy the lid was. I'm sure manufacturers have
> made alterations on the lids that make them easy to open from the
> inside in case a child does get inside the freezer.
>
>> I find it easier to find things under things than things behind things
>> -- particularly since I can set the bag of breakfast sandwiches in the
>> next bin over, so there's no risk of forgetting to put them back --
>> the lid won't close until I do. The upright freezer that we run in
>> fridge mode is convenient only because it's hardly ever even half
>> full.
>
> Yep, it's easier to move things up and out of the way in my upright
> freezer than it is to get to things in the back. I have a
> side-by-side fridge/freezer in the kitchen as well as the upright in
> the basement. The side-by-side is very deep and I'm always losing
> something on the back wall of it, resulting in me saying very
> unladylike things while trying to get at said lost items. ;)
>
>> On the other hand, DH finds the chest-freezer lid a convenient place
>> to sort things, so I often have to dispose of a newspaper before I can
>> get a piece of bread, or I have to put away the cupboard and
>> refrigerator stuff before I can put the frozen groceries away.
>
> I can imagine the same thing being a problem here, with all sorts of
> things stored on top of a convenient platform like that. Tools,
> fishing gear, something too heavy to move easily, etc. I think that's
> why I'd want another upright, even if they aren't as efficient.
>
> I just hope all this freezer talk hasn't jinxed my old freezer. I
> want it to work another 60 years! :)
>
> bluechick
>
A few years back I bought several heavy duty plastic baskets, square
ones. Have been storing like things in them since. Two years ago or more
we bought a bunch of flowers to dress up the yard at our old house and
they came in plastic baskets that held six four by four inch plastic
pots for flowers. Planted the flowers and ran the baskets through the
dishwasher on a warm cycle and converted them into freezer baskets too.
In addition I keep a chart taped to one side of the 15 cubic foot
upright freezer that tells me where everything is. The only problem with
the system is that my lovely wife just tosses stuff in the big freezer.
I keep meat in the upright freezer part of the refrigerator and know
where what is on which shelf. I get itchy if I don't have things
organized. I may just be sick. <BSEG>

George

That's why tomorrow afternoon is "rearrange the big freezer day." T

Blueberries
 

On Mon, 02 Jun 2014 20:25:02 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>A few years back I bought several heavy duty plastic baskets, square
>ones. Have been storing like things in them since. Two years ago or more
>we bought a bunch of flowers to dress up the yard at our old house and
>they came in plastic baskets that held six four by four inch plastic
>pots for flowers. Planted the flowers and ran the baskets through the
>dishwasher on a warm cycle and converted them into freezer baskets too.
>In addition I keep a chart taped to one side of the 15 cubic foot
>upright freezer that tells me where everything is. The only problem with
>the system is that my lovely wife just tosses stuff in the big freezer.
>I keep meat in the upright freezer part of the refrigerator and know
>where what is on which shelf. I get itchy if I don't have things
>organized. I may just be sick. <BSEG>

Ha! I always have the best of intentions regarding keeping things
arranged in the freezers. I have labels on 3 shelves in the
side-by-side freezer for Beef, Pork, Chicken and the 4th shelf gets
everything else like sauces, ice cream, etc. Frozen veggies and
fruits are sent to the upright in the basement. But it never fails
that there's no room on the Chicken shelf because I always fill it up
with homemade chicken stock or for some other reason. The Beef shelf
is now smaller as we eat less beef. So my organized freezer is a
disaster. Things go where ever there's room. Oh, well... I do like
your improvised freezer basket idea, though.

>George
>
>That's why tomorrow afternoon is "rearrange the big freezer day." T

I need to do that too! But I know it won't last long. *sigh*


perpetually disorganized bluechick