I just made dill pickles from the cucumbers I grew in my garden! WooHoo! I can't believe what a crafty lady I have become!

Anyone else out there making great crafty stuffs too?

I'm working on it...After AG gets paid at the end of the month, I will be investing in my first cheese-making kit!

Oh Oh! I just read about cheese making in this past months Mother Earth News mag. Sounds fun!

What kinds of cheese are you gonna make?

Oh Yeah- I was not trying to discriminated against the crafty fellas on OS I just kept singing the Beastie Boys song in my head while I worked this morning.

I get that song stuck in my head every time I knit:)

I'm currently working on a bag that I WAS going to designate as my "farmers market bag", but it's turning out to be so huge that I'm going to have to turn it into something else. Seriously, at the rate things are going, I'll be able to fit Ana in this bag. One of these days I'll actually follow a pattern!

Also, I just made myself a "plastic bag dispenser" for my pantry by sewing a piece of scrap fabric into a tube, and then attaching a loop at the top so I can hang it from a door.

sasy - hahahaha! That's where I got the idea! I had no idea I could make my own cheese. I'm thinking of getting the kit to make ricotta, mozz, and farmhouse cheddar. Little B doesn't particularly care for cheese, but he loves doing stuff in the kitchen.

Also, is canning hard to do? I'm very interested - for whenever I manage to get enough compost into the ground here for a garden!

Stephanie-I knit as well. I have to follow a pattern though...I'm not brave enough or creative enough to wing it. I am working on another sweater for our youngest and have a few other projects going for the new babies of a few friends.

MNM-It's not hard at all. I have a few great books on preserving foods. I follow the recipes and they turn out great- no spoilage yet. Except for the hard cider Jimbo and I made last Christmas...but thats home brewing and a different ball of wax entirely. I can spaghetti sauce from the tomatoes I grow in the summer and have garden fresh sauce for the winter. I do lots of jams (we have not bought store bought jam in about a year) and now pickles.

sasy - I usually do freezer jam, since that's about all the fruit I have on hand at any given time, but I'm interested in canning other stuff, and it would be nice to be able to make shelf-stable jam too! What book do you use the most?

We are going out to the local fruit farms this weekend to pick up scads of fresh fruits so I am hoping to make some jam next week. We are also going to prep everything for freezing so we have fruit until Xmas.

MNM_ The Complete Book of Home Preserving by Ball and Keeping the Harvest by Chioffi and Mead.

For heat preserved jams I to just use the recipes and directions that come in the pectin box. It calls for a ton of sugar, but you can decrease the sugar amount easily enough to suit your taste. I usually cart to kids to various farms around the area to pick berries during the summer months and freeze the berries till we are ready to use them. When I am ready, then I do a few days of jam making ( I'll make 3 or 4 kinds) to last us a while.

I like making wood toys and now I'm trying to make rattles / shakers.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rustedhammer/2669537374/

Canning is pretty fun, last year Kathy and I made enough apple sauce to last us almost a year.

Alan- Holy Shit! Those so friggin' cool. Do you sell your toys?

I make candles. Last year's christmas presents to my in-laws were 3 candles with pictures of their dogs imbedded int he wax. Then you put another, smaller candle inside and it glows through the picture. I've also made dozens of container candles for friends and family.

I'm going to try doing some preserves, either strawberry or blackberry.

Sassy - Thanks! Once I
a) figure out how to make these things in a more timely fashion
b) have more time to make them
then yes, I hope to.

Mike - Cool, do you have pictures?

I don't have them here but I'll post them after I get home.

Alan those are awesome!

I make jam, which I like because I can throw it in a basket with a fresh loaf of bread or some cookies and homemade herbal tea bags for gifts. Candles, too, from gel ones with stuff inside to molded candles and dipped tapers. I mess around with making toys kids would have used in medieval and Renaissance times because of reenactment sort of group I'm in.

What I really want to do, though, is learn to make cheese. Unfortunately, I don't like to eat cheese. I just think it would be uber cool to make it. My non-cheese-loving husband just thinks I'm crazy. I want to make my own spaghetti and pizza sauce from homegrown tomatos, too, especially since otherwise I just grow tomatoes and beg people to take them off my hands. I think I'll be the only person in the world that will have fresh tomatoes and homemade mozzarella balls and not eat either.

Just wanted to say that I LOVE Mother Earth magazine. I feel all "green" when I use their ideas.

We didn't start a garden because we're only here for so long but I'd love to can my own jellies, jams, tomato sauces, and salsas.

My mom taught me to knit which I don't do so much any more but I've got all the supplies if I want to pick it up again. It's something I usually do if there is a baby to knit for. I've got a pregnant friend who is due in August. I'll start a blanket soon.

My dad is the crafty food one. He is always cooking and baking. He makes Irish Soda Bread from his grandmother's recipe, shortbread, salsa, apple butter, tomato sauce, and cans everything. He's also an avid rose gardener. This is the man who looks like a lumber jack most days.

Canning isn't hard, but it is a lot of work and it's HOT work. I need someone to can WITH, also, it's a lot easier that way. It's been a few years since I've been able to do it though. I'm considering investing in one of those mill things for the top of my stand mixer to expediate the process. With (soon to be) 3 kids 6 and under (one of whom will be nursing) underfoot? It's just been more than I can handle.

My favourites for canning are salsa, canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, peaches, pears, jams (blueberry, strawberry, apricot and strawberry-rhubarb).