Canning Classes and Supplies

Mountain Feed and Farm Supply has the food preservation supply motherlode. (Chip Scheuer)

Anyone with a jones to can, pickle or otherwise preserve the summer harvest should make a pilgrimage to Mountain Feed and Farm Supply (9550 Hwy 9, Ben Lomond; open daily), where an entire building has been dedicated to food preservation supplies. Canning kettles, pressure cookers, tongs, funnels, thermometers and a gorgeous selection of Kerr, Weck and Quattro Stagione jars will make you want to quit your job and move in. If that’s too far to travel, their booth at the Aptos Farmers Market (6500 Soquel Dr., Saturdays 8am-noon) will most likely cover your needs.

Continue Reading →

Hot Tomatoes And Canning Class

Jennifer Alexander puts a lid on a jar of fresh dry-farmed tomatoes. Photo by Chip Scheuer.

It’s 11am and I’m chopping my way through the largest pile of organic dry farmed tomatoes I’ve ever seen outside of a farmers market with nine other burgeoning homesteaders at Live Earth Farm outside of Watsonville. Jordan Champagne, our ringleader and canning queen at the Happy Girl Kitchen Co., is teaching us how to can tomatoes with the confidence, patience and optimism of a sage.

Continue Reading →