Salmon’s In the Can

Do you ever read essays on this blog about the various tasks we perform here on our “homestead” and wonder if we actually do these things more than once, or if we do them one time and write about them?

I know I do!

Ever since I took the bold step of canning my own fish without Michelle’s supervision (see I Can Can!) I’ve wondered if I would ever do it again. I began to think I might have misled readers into thinking that I do that all the time, rather than trying it once.

Now, I feel better. I just canned a recent catch, and it went even better than last time.

Mark's latest effort (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

Mark’s latest effort (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).

To be honest, I’m not sure this latest canning is only my second solo effort since I first tried it in 2012. We’ve had good and bad fishing years between then and now; we canned fish most years, and I might have done some of that without help.

It feels like it has been a while, though, and I’m glad to get back to it recently.

Part of my success came from working with Michelle to can an earlier catch this summer. That experience refreshed my memory for the project. So, the afternoon I caught a good sized salmon after only a few casts, I decided to keep fishing, hoping to get more.

We had leftover pizza waiting to be reheated for that evening’s dinner, and Michelle was at work. I’m getting pretty good at timing a baked fish to align fairly closely to her unpredictable arrival at the cabin, but it takes work. I figured the pizza would make an easier meal, so I would need to can the fish I caught.

The second fish destroyed my hook, so rather than tie on a new one, I cleaned the catch and took it home to can. The long process continued well after Michelle returned home for dinner, but I didn’t need to ask her help for any of it. She went out to the garden and pulled garlic while I continued canning. When I’d finished, I added 6 fresh pints of salmon to our growing inventory, and felt the confidence to do it again the next time.

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