Woot! 1 Month Til National "Can It Forward Day"!

That's right, National Can It Forward Day is August 13th. With the recent increased awareness and excitement in home canning, Can It Forward Day is a great excuse for those of us who already know how to can and those of us who just want to learn to get together and have a canning party. Many of the fears of canning stem around preparing large amounts of fruit or veggies, sterilizing a ton of jars, and the potential waste of hours and pounds of hard work and delicious produce. Small batch canning is a great way to get into canning and Ball is selling products specifically to facilitate smaller batches. No more math equations to pare down a large recipe just to test a batch. Now you can start with as few as 6 large tomatoes and can 2 jars of salsa! How easy is that?

I'll be posting more about Can It Forward Day and Ball products, but for now i'd like to announce a special giveaway! Ball sent me a great package full of canning supplies and literature. I'd like to offer sample sizes of their pectin and salsa mix, along with some party ideas and other 'how to can' literature to one lucky reader.

Ball RealFruit Pectin captures the freshness and flavor of fresh fruit. The small batch pouch makes 2 jars of jam or jelly, perfect for folks who don"t have a ton of produce on hand or just want to try a small batch.
Ball's Salsa and Pickle mixes are made with natural spices and seasonings and can be customized to be as hot or not as you'd like. The small batch pouch makes 2 jars of salsa.

I'll choose the winner next Wednesday to get your goodies to you in time for you to host your own canning party! This is a great chance to try out some of Ball's products and to test a small batch of goodies.

To win:

4 chances and 4 chances only. You may enter with all the requirements, but please no extras

1. Submit a comment below or at our Facebook Fan Page (or both!) with a link to or brief description of your favorite jam or other canned good.
Not a canner yet? No worries, let us know what you'd like to try and can first, or what fruit/veg you have a current abundance of.

2. If you're not already a fan or a follower of An Austin Homestead, please become one! If you are, please post/tweet/or mention this giveaway. Comment back with the link or your follower info for your second chance to win!

3. Check out Ball's super lovely site and comment back with a tasty sounding recipe, or a tantalizing product you'd like as part of your canning arsenal!

4. Shameless self promotion: For one last chance to win, please become a fan of Nude Soap, my all natural soap company, on Facebook and comment back with any feedback. I'll be promoting my brand new website soon, but it's still under construction.

That's it! Happy entering. Tell your friends. Let's have a canning party together in August!