Springtime Blooms and Canning Woes

Tiny bursts of color pushing their way out of the cold soil to the light above - how their arrival is enjoyed and celebrated! This lovely wild Glacier Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum) is a vibrant flower appearing just after the snow melts. They are a vital source of food for wildlife in early spring, particularly awakening hungry bears, who dine on their leaves and dig their bulbs to eat. All parts of this flower can be eaten, but with caution. I have never eaten one, as they are somewhat rare to see, and I enjoy their beauty. It takes each plant 8 years to mature. So I just enjoy their beauty when they grow in the wild. This one popped up in my garden!  

Glacier Lily growing in my garden.

This is a beautiful Anemone that I planted several years ago, and it still continues to multiply and faithfully bloom each spring, alongside the snowdrops and glacier lilies. 

My tulips are making great progress; it won't be long now! 

 

These flowers aren't growing in my garden, but aren't they pretty just the same! Danielle's precious Mother-In-Love gave me the jar some time ago, and I just love to fill it with flowers. Carnations always make me smile! 

A few daffodils are beginning to smile in the garden too! I enjoy each sweet bloom as it arrives. 

Our church was given large boxes of potatoes from farmers in southern Idaho who needed to move their stock for spring. So, the girls and I decided to can potatoes. It was a lot of work! 
First, we peeled all the potatoes, then cubed them. Then they had to be boiled for 10 minutes. 

Here are some of the potatoes we canned. 

Unfortunately, during canning, there was a terrible accident. The above lid shown in the picture was the culprit. The company that makes these lids is relatively new, starting in 2021 when there was a canning lid shortage. I have used these lids in water bath canning with some failure rate. However, it may only be one lid that fails out of a batch of 20-30. That is not terribly unusual, because sometimes jars break, too. Any of you who have canned know the various things can happen to cause incidents while canning. 



However, what happened to me was shocking, and perhaps we will never know for sure what went wrong. Our first batch of potatoes came out just fine. On the second batch, as I grasped the jar, the lid popped off the jar, and all the contents of the jar exploded out of the jar and onto me. My hand and forearm were severely burned instantly. The jar itself did not explode! It remained intact inside the canner. 

WARNING! GRAPHIC PHOTO AHEAD... if you are squeamish, close your eyes, and don't look at the next picture. This is a picture of my hand two days after it had been burnt, at the doctor's office. 

My hand was swollen and blistered, and the pain was excruciating. 

We had Silvadene cream in our medicine cabinet.  Dan was burned several years ago, and we still had a tube of it.  I cooled the burn using cool water compresses for about 3 hours. Once my skin stopped steaming, we were able to apply the Silvadene cream and bandage it. 

A picture of my dressing area for the burn. 

Several days after the burn, the wound was raw and terribly painful. Each morning and night, I doctored it, using sterile saline (I made myself), gentle debridement, then application of the Silavdene cream, and then the sterile dressing. 

I am so thankful to report that today, 10 days after the burn, I am completely pain-free, and the new skin is growing without infection or incident. Thank you, Lord! 


I was so worried about the long-term effects of this kind of 2nd degree burn. The initial pain was awful, as any of you who've had burns would know. However, the Silvadene cream was such a miracle. So many of my close family and friends prayed for me, and I know the Lord touched me, and the quick healing that has taken place! Now, the burn looks like a bad peeling sunburn, and I don't even have any itching! I have never been burned like this in my life, and so this was new for me.

FIVE PRAISES!

1. My face wasn't burnt!

2. My fingers weren't burnt, just my right thumb. 

3. It was me that was burned, and not Dan. He was with me and had offered to take the jars out of the canner, and I refused, as I was in the kitchen anyway. I can stay home in a clean environment and take care of my burn, but it would be very hard for him to work and take care of a burn. 

4. The grandkids and girls had just left when this happened. I am so grateful they were not there when the lid exploded!

5. The jar did not explode! No one has great answers for how this happened. I've talked to the company, and they wonder if the screw-on band may have failed to hold the lid in place. Dan checked each jar before placing into the canner, and they were all secure. Perhaps we will never know. 

However, I do know this one thing. I won't be using those canning lids ever again. I've had issues with them not sealing properly with water bath canning, and would just put the jar in the fridge when that happened. But having a lid blow off is just out of reason. Because it is a thicker rubber, apparently these lids do not seal well when the bands are not from that company. However, the lids are sold separately from the bands; in fact, I don't have any bands from the company to use. 

I did reach out to the company and sent them photos. They responded: 

    

Thank you for the photos.

I hope your doing a little better today.

I spoke to the owner regarding your experience.

We believe the band was the problem.

There may not have been enough contact between the thread of the rings and the tread of the jars. (Especially with the newer rings that have come in from overseas. We're experiencing a lot of variation.) Our lids have more rubber like the older lids used to have. The air that vents out of the jar that will create the vacuum to seal the jar, vents through the seal.

Please don’t use the old bands.

I will send you free of charge some new bands.

Let me know if you need regular size or wide mouth or both.

Please send your address to me and I will ship the new bands today.

However, Dan and I have decided after this traumatic experience that we won't be using those particular lids again. We will stick with the Ball or Kerr jar lids, where I have never had this kind of issue. 

In other news! We had snow last Wednesday night. Not much! Just enough to let us know winter is still hanging out! 

Riley and I walked out into our acreage to enjoy the beauty!

She and I love the snow. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make us happy!

These peas are itching to be planted! However, last week we got snow and very cold weather in the low 20's, so they will have to wait a while longer. I hope to be able to get them in the ground this week. 

I let the chickens out late in the afternoon after all eggs are laid, so they can enjoy the green grass and hopefully forage for all the bugs that we will have this year due to our mild winter. 

I created this video - the first I've done in many months (since Dan's heart attack!). I found an old audio clip of myself and two friends singing harmony with a friend playing the guitar. Our harmony isn't perfect, but I think you'll enjoy the video and our praise. 

I am singing this song on repeat in my heart today. My heart is happy that the healing hand of the Lord brought such quick healing to my body. The garden is bursting with new wonder every day, and we are enjoying beautiful spring weather. The goodness of the Lord abounds, and we give Him praise for it all! 

I hope you can find something in your world to be happy about today! Many blessings to each of you!