Bad Seal, Observations and Rant

I was moving last year's canned salsa around in the cupboard to make room for more canned stuff from this year. As I grabbed this jar, the lid moved.
Uh-oh, NOT a good thing! The seal must of been bad, but took this long and my nudge to pop off.
Anyhow, this is what it looked like (those black dots near the dis-colored top are tomato seeds--see the 'normal' ones down lower in the jar?).
Then I snapped a photo of what it looked like when I poured it into the sink. See the brown color at the top? YUK-BLECH!

No way would I have eaten ANY of this......botulism comes to mind, and I'm sure a risk of a host of other food horrors I can't pronounce or have a clue of how to spell them!
I guess the motto is: If In Doubt, Throw It Out! (I wasn't even going to risk the chickens by giving it to them, either.) Good call/bad call? Safe call I say!

I've ran across some folks over the past 6 months who have canned or processed home-grown meat(s) for the first time. I hear over and over: "That's alot of hard work and takes time!"
Ummmm yeah, I call it a labor of love (I like to eat ya know!).
Did you notice a TASTE difference as well?? Not nearly the same as your cheapo or name-brand can of whatever factory produced food many are used to. Home grown/canned/preserved whatever excels over factory food because WE have quality and freshness control over the whole process. An added bonus is we put in more/less of what we like/prefer and tweak it to "just right"! :)

Do I SAVE money by doing my own? That is the big question (subject to interpretation) and many can argue the point all day long. For me, its about QUALITY of food.
Yep, I can get it on sale at the store.....but the quality is just not there. (Quantity is.....) If 90% of the ingredients I grew, then the new lid and say, spices is what I paid for, yep its cheaper. I had to buy sugar for the Apple Pie Filling, the rest I had on hand. So some things are cheaper, some or not.

One good thing is: We know how to do it, and Food Preservation is a skill I believe most should have. Meat/food recall? Thankfully, most of the time I can ignore it. Lots of what we eat came from HERE, grown/preserved by US. I don't need to look at a conglomerate of dates/labels/processing codes on the packages to see if it's "safe".......

Take milk for example; an older-than-me co-worker asked me the other day (insert accusing tone now!) "What do you need all that milk for? What do you do with it?" When I replied I can make Sour Cream, Creamed Cheeses, Cottage Cheese, Mozzarella, Butter, Creamed Soups and other Cheeses she about choked. (I saw the "lighbulb moment" click on in her head--gee we've only worked together for three years! I guess she doesn't really "hear" what I say I do.....).

I guess many look at "milk" as milk, not realizing all the foods you can make with it. They don't realize the industry skims most of the cream off and uses it to make 'value added' products that invariably cost more. (Yes, she did comment on "How high that stuff is getting in the store".) She is another farmer that do not really USE what they grow, they just make money off of it. So sad, really. I see it over and over and over here in the Heartland. Farmers who do not consume nor use any of what they grow. :'(

Maybe I'm not so crazy to can/preserve/grow food and have a milk cow in her mind. (Ask me if I really care what she [or others] thinks.......HA) But EDUCATION is amazing and comes in simple conversations.
These are the type of people (with an all too-common mindset) that thinks "we" should work full-time and "garden" on the side. Work all week for the paycheck and turn around and give it to the store(s) for food. Make sense? Not in my mind.

I don't fit into molds very easily....and when questioned stopped defending my (desired) part-time work (paycheck) status a looooong time ago. My work at home IS important. If I don't have a job tomorrow, yes, I will have to tighten my belt some, but I am not going to starve or be homeless, that is for sure.
Prepping is always high on my priority list.....even simple things. Better to have extra food and not need it, than to have no food and need it! (Same goes with supplies, critter food, etc).

Looks like the low (night) temps are going to take a nose-dive next week. I got some more spaghetti sauce canned last week and will make more today. We'll be pulling up plants and dehydrating/freezing/canning what we can before a freeze comes.

"Baby" Nessa is 5 months old now--I've got to call and make her shots/dehorning appointment. The chicks hatched early this summer should start laying anytime now. I finally got them trained to ALL go into the coop at night--they were roosting on the stanchion and making a poopy and feather mess!

Jared had a jump yesterday, it was kind of windy and he hit feet, butt, head and got knocked out for a bit. He realized he also got dragged by the parachute. He had a headache, but Medics said he was fine. Today they get a new CO, so they get to march and stand for hours in place while the ceremony occurs.
He is no longer in the Armory as they put him back as a Rifleman. (Drat!) I get disgusted with the "politics" the Military does. (Basically they just used him to fill in a needed spot in the Armory until it officially got filled....and someone else got it who needed out of what he was doing and had to be put somewhere.) GRRRRR

Kyle has been busy all week, and managed to help with Security (via the Marines) at the Nebraska football game last week. So he got to watch the game as well. He is always on the go--this Saturday is All-State Band auditions. He was actually home twice this week to eat supper, so I made him one of his favorites: Beef Stew!!

Pat took JJ (outside cat) to the vet--and $67 later she is fixed up and has meds to take for a week. Not sure if she got hit by a car or what, but she is feeling much better already!

And that's the long and short of what's been going on here this week! Never a dull moment!

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Rant Alert.......again! HA

On another note; I watched a documentary of a family that got lost in the wilderness for over a week. I was astonished--they depended on their car, well, until it ran out of gas. (Cell phone didn't work).
Here they had all these natural resources literally surrounding them, and they had absolutely no clue how to use them to their advantage, for signal fire, or heat or shelter or even food/drink.
I've been noticing how unprepared people really, really are, and that show I realized cemented the fact. Clueless!
Most are too worried about "entertainment [aka fun] value" of things....their "reality" is NOT what the Real World (Nature) has to offer, and it can be a very swift and harsh teacher. Everyone wants comfort and convenience, fast and easy is the norm.
Most people are also very naive and woefully unprepared and waaaaay too trusting. People NEED to learn to take care of themselves, and stop depending on others all the time.

Simple skills (and communication--let someone know where you were headed/change of plans) would of saved the husband and they wouldn't of been so cold, desperate and hungry and lost for so long. Wow, I was shaking my head.....what a senseless loss. I am sure all the families effected by this have a different outlook on dependence, planning and surviving/prepping now. It's just rotten of HOW the lesson had to be learned. (I don't want to sound judgmental, just the honest facts. I do have a heart!)