Canning is a Family Affair

As I've said before, canning season is upon us and everyone has a part to play.

The most exciting part for the kiddos is frenching the green beans. Frenching green beans?!?!?! I bet you're wondering what that is.

Have you ever bought canned green beans at the store that were labeled french-style? They're cut lengthwise instead of cut into bean stubs. That's what the kids do.

We have this cute little contraption that clamps onto the table and as they turn it, it cuts the beans. They fight over the fat ones because they're "squirters". Basically, the bean is juicy and as it's cut it squirts bean juice up and occasionally hits them in the face. For whatever reason this cracks them up. It also keeps them busy so I can get more canning done.

The grand total of jars so far is:

• 12 dill pickles
• 13 Bread & Butter pickles
• 14 Sweet pickles
• 5 peas
  
• 9 corn
• 47 green beans
• 6 pizza sauce

That's 106 jars so far if my math is right. That doesn't count the few jars that didn't seal. Those went in the fridge

The pizza sauce was big surprise. I wasn't expecting enough tomatoes yet to do anything. It was a very nice surprise though because we've been out for awhile now.

Now I'm off to sit down. This canning stuff is a lot of work. ;)