Canning Green Beans!

I have 64 pint jars of canned green beans, for hopefully the next year to come. My parents so graciously came over and picked my green beans for me. We have grasshoppers in our garden and they just freak me out, so I asked my mom if she would come pick them for me, and she said yes. Also since I am pregnant, I knew bending down and picking beans for that long would drain me, since bending over for a few minutes to pick weeds would make me light headed. So, my mom and dad came over and picked my beans, the first time they came and picked and I didn't get too much, the next time I got a half a bucket full, and that was enough for one batch of 16 pints of beans. This batch I canned myself, it was the first time canning beans without the help of my mom. And lets just say, I was a little stressed out, had the water boiling before I was finished cutting and washing the beans and washing and cutting the beans took longer than I though it would. I will just say I was STRESSED and not happy. Luckily Rob was very patient with me and calmly started to help me out. In all, it ended up okay. We used the camp chef and it was hard keeping the temperature at a steady temp, but it was my first try.

And waiting for the temperature gauge to go down after turning off the heat took forever, do you see the time on the clock on the next picture, that is PM, I started the whole green bean process around 6:30.

 Call me weird, but I love the green bean smell after opening the lid of the canner, it just reminds me of when my Mom would can beans when we were younger.

 My Mom and Dad picked beans for me two more times, and both times I got two canners full of beans. This was the beans to fill 24 pint jars, and the time before that I got I think about 24 also. 

The washing and cutting of the beans took the longest amount of time, so the second time I did it at my parents house(so I could have the help of my mom) and I washed the beans and then she would cut them, and then the actual cooking of the beans and cooling took about an hour and a half. And the third time, I washed and cut the beans before going over to save time. I think I have the process down now, but who know, I might forget by next year.

So, after picking the beans three times, I got all my beans for our coming year. It feels good!

All though I don't like watching all the rest of the beans in my garden getting plump and going to waste, I will have to control those grasshoppers next year so that I can pick them myself. I do still have 4 tomato plants(they aren't too huge, but they have a good amount of green tomatoes on them so far), a buttercup squash(which is doing really well, I am going to have to research how to use and eat buttercup squash), and a yellow and green zucchini plant that I have gotten 3 zucchini's off of so far, and 6 onions. 

I love gardens, hate the bugs!