Jamie Jackson

@MacGyver is right. You need to be really meticulous and strictly follow pressure canning procedures with meat. But it's not really difficult. I'll try an add some pics below. I was given around 20 pounds of chicken gizzards and hearts earlier this year. These are great canned for Gizzards & Rice and worked really well in giblet gravy at Thanksgiving. There's a lot of fat to cut off a brisket. I just rendered the fat into beef tallow and put it up in jars. I did not pressure can the tallow. I keep one jar in the fridge and another jar out to cook with. I have canned Hot chicken wings before even. The bones even get tender. FWIW I have a glass top stove and it's rated Safe for canning both in the owners manual and the manufactures website.

Venison was the first meat I pressure canned. Very tender, even the tougher cuts, and delicious. Alas, I no longer hunt nor have family that do so, but I pressure canned a couple of very low priced briskets this past March. The brisket was/is extremely tender and tasty and great to have for quick meals. The same for turkey, chicken, and pork. Those jar look great Greg!

Yes, absolutely. Perhaps even more-so is Lethal Weapon from 1987. Lethal Weapon even opens with the song Jingle Bell Rock and an Angel falling several stories to her death. Well there's a great shootout in a Christmas Tree lot anyway... But what the heck. I'll be watching both of these fine films this week. But first I have to finish off season one of True Detective which has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas but is a bad ass series nonetheless...

What a beautiful voice. I've been a fan since the early 70's and was fortunate enough to catch the Romors tour in London in 77. RIP

Heretic! Now you've raised expectations for the rest of us... and it's appreciated.

Prayers for her family. She will be missed. RIP

R.I.P. Prayers and condolences to the family and friends.

$4.12 when I filled up on Kingston Pike on Saturday. Still painful...

Welcome aboard. West Knoxville here.

Thank you @peejman! I looked at each of those farm's websites. Nice! I live less than 4 miles from Dixie Lee Junction (West Knox) so I may just hit their farmer's market this weekend. Lived here for 16 years and never been. I guess it's about time. The farms you listed are all with 25 or so miles from me, so they may be in my future. Much obliged.

You know, I think there's a Farmer's Market in Dixie Lee Junction. I may well go next Saturday and see what the produce and prices are like. It's pretty close to my home. Thanks for the idea. Are there any good farmer's markets out your way?

I know that feeling, from previous experiences, it sucks. Have you replanted beans yet?

My green beans struggled particularly hard with this past hot dry spell. Hope it's past anyway as we've been getting daily rain this past week. I was only able to get about 1 pot of green beans... <sigh> I've never had such a low production of green beans before... I replanted bush bean and pole beans on June 22nd and they are really coming up well now. (Fingers crossed and a Prayer). My carrots were planted in a 4x4 bed. I picked them Tuesday, only got about 3 pounds. So I purchased an additional 3 pounds and pressure canned them using a mixture of orange juice and brown sugar and this made 9 pints of quite delicious "Glazed" carrots. The 4x8 bed I planted in okra June 22nd is coming up well also. With a lot of luck I'll be able to can some pickled okra. LOve that stuff. Good luck everyone. Strange times these are.

I had chicory growing in my herb box...but a fat rabbit decided it was too temping a delicacy. Ate them down to the ground! <sigh> I need to add sage and cilantro and have recently placed an order to Victory Seeds. I've had great luck with their seeds. https://www.victoryseeds.com/ My Dill is bolting and has apparently done so in a couple of beds because I've harvested dill from 2 beds already. I just cut it, toss in a gallon ziplock bag and toss in the freezer. Works well for canning in my experience. I've had rosemary grow into a damn small tree before. Hardy plant!

Sorry for the bad run of luck @Ronald_55! Wishing a speedy recovery to your Missus as well! Hopefully we'll all catch a bit of rain here and there. My beds seem to do much better with rain water than the garden hose.

This heat has been a challenge for my raised beds, meaning frequent watering. I've been eating out of my garden for over a month, like 6 cuttings of Swiss Chard and 2 of Turnips, lettuce and cherry tomatoes. My regular tomatoes are coming in now. A fresh tomato sandwich is a rite of summer! Zucchini and yellow squash are finally producing and butternut squash is finally setting. Carrots are doing well and about ready to pick. I have a rack of onions drying and they are about ready to bag... been eating them and cooking with them for several weeks. Sure beats store bought! My small green bean bed didn't do well, but they've been replanted (bush beans) and I planted some pole beans. They're coming up well. Okra plants are coming up good as well. Hoping to catch the okra right and pickle some. Sure would love a couple of days of slow soaking rain... Oh yeah, planted a cuke from seed in a pot and it's producing well. I have a quart of refrigerator sweet pickle mix ready in the fridge right now.

I live in West Knoxville and do the majority of my pistol shooting at RangeUSA ( 1-2xwk ) and have nothing but positive things to say about it and the good folks there. I've been a member at ORSA since I relocated here in '06. You can read about ORSA and download an application from their website. There are multiple ranges and iirc there are some hoops to jump (orientations) for such as access to the Action Pistol Range and the 1000 yd range. But there is a 200 yd bench range and a 100 yd (?) steel target rifle range, as well as an indoor range that's primarily open on the weekends. Windrock is a good range within it's space limitations and is run by good folks. Norris used to have a decent range but I haven't been up there in several years. Members used to post about Norris here on TGO... it may, or may not, be searchable. I was used to shooting on public ranges, as well as member only, back in the SW MS/ NE LA area prior to moving here. We're pretty fortunate to have so many opportunities open to us these days. Just my inflation adjusted $0.02 worth...

Target Sports has been keeping them in stock for several weeks now. Very expensive, I agree. Midway has been getting CCI primers on a pretty regular basis and the price is high there as well. and IIRC Midway limits you to only 1000 per order. But... at least we are seeing them staying around for a bit. Hopefully things will eventually get better. IDK, hope isn't a great plan. Time will tell...

Welcome aboard and Welcome to TN.

Totally agree. As the saying goes... "The Devil is in the details"

If this is addressed to me, no everything is as it should be, except the smaller than standard primer holes I encountered. I routinely handload at least 5000 9mm rounds per year, usually more and as many as 14K a few years back..same setup and of course, well maintained. That's why this press will probably outlast me. As I mentioned upthread, apparently a few on the 9mm Norma cases passed through without a hitch... unfortunately not all. I read the same complaint or issue on Brian Enos and several other forums... once I found it to be as issue for me, I discovered I wasn't alone in this. I just sort my range brass and cull out the 9mm Norma cases. But Hey, it's free, I have no right to complain...I guess

Welcome aboard!

If I'm reading correctly you are referencing ORSA (Oak Ridge)? If so, I am a member at ORSA. I've been a member since 2006. I primarily shoot at Range USA simply because it's so close. But we meet as a small group at least 2 times a month and shoot on the Action Pistol Range at ORSA. There are a lot of hoops to jump through as in attending General orientation class and a specific orientation class for the Action Pistol Range (ACP). AS best I can recall no rifles or shotguns on the ACP and you must use only competition approved targets like USPSA and IDPA targets. But you can work from the holster, set up and run scenario based targeting, can run pistol caliber carbines and .22 rifles (I shoot my RDS 10/22 frequently), and shoot steel as long as no aren't destroying things or missing up stages set for matches. As long as a person is safe and responsible you have a lot of leeway. There are various matches pretty much every weekend on the ACP...so plan your trips accordingly. IDPA-USPSA-Cowboy-Steel-3 Gun etc. There are multiple rifle and pistol ranges as well as a 15 yard indoor range (I S.O. there once a month). Nothing fancy in the Indoor range and much more restrictive than it once was. Lots of cameras Big Brother style ...probably one of the negative aspects you mentioned. It is what it is... I've met a lot of great people at ORSA...a lot of great people at Range USA as well. ORSA has an application at their website. Price has increased, the new application mentions a background check and carry permit...I just skimmed over it. And you need a sponsor which is easy. Windrock is another good place to shoot up in Oliver Springs. I think they have a website and "book-face" thing. Randy Harris and AJ hold training classes there periodically and I understand Windrock has a great Back-up Gun Match. I'm getting too old and gimpy to run and gun anymore but still make frequent use of ORSA and Range USA. Hope you guys find what you are looking for. Jamie

This is probably one of the most challenging times to get into handloading, unfortunately. I've been handloading for more than 35 years and I just slowly accumulated the items I needed starting with a Lee single stage press. I loaded with it around 5 years before purchasing my Dillon 550. I've only just replaced the Lee (with another Lee) this past year... they eventually wear out. Midway and Titan periodically still have sales (and free shipping), so picking up an item here and there spreads the initial investment pain out. Components... well this is no doubt the most difficult time since I started to find components, especially primers. I last purchased primers in 2017. I see and read that folks are periodically finding primers but at significantly higher prices than times past. And they sell out fast... but at least they are periodically available. If stored properly they last a very long time. I used some CCI primers within the past couple of years I purchased in the early '90's for example. A couple of good loading manuals are a good place to get started. I hope we'll see greater availability of all components within the next couple of years, but Lord only knows what the new normal price will be. Good luck on your venture.

It's been crazy. I've got onions, Swiss Chard, beets and spinach coming up. But I'm afraid to plant anything else yet. Want to, just waiting for better weather.