Taboule, livin' on the edge with those 2 colors of lids!
Looks delicious, and kudos to you for learning how to put food up in alternate ways. Good knowledge to have!
Worth, canning season to me is 1 1/2 - 2 months of high to moderate kitchen living but then it relaxes into the occasional stint after that. Right now it's eased into beans, squash, and okra (plus watching the fall crops and cleaning the tired plants out - not canning, I know, but it all feels connected).
I love that I can can! To me it feels like a sort of freedom or just self- sufficiency, even though it takes a lot of people/families to even allow a home garden. (Off topic: worth I'm sure that you could make some awesome supports for your garden even if you couldn't get good materials, but if I couldn't purchase t-posts, EMT, cattle panels and much more for my beds and trellises, life would sure be a lot harder. We could rig something up and it would probably be fun, too, but it would take a lot of time that we don't have. These things all take manufacturing and marketing, so my point is that no matter how much I get out of my garden, I'm never *really* self sufficient. Not to mention seeds to get new crops or varieties started. ) Ok, back to topic
I'll put up chicken in batches of 10-12 birds if my farmer has them - not seasonally, just once in a while.
Turkey is one of DH's favorites so I try to buy as many as I can fit in the freezer plus 4 to can during the season, so that he can enjoy it later. I don't think of it as hoarding but just stocking up; trying to buy organic turkey here outside Thanksgiving to Christmas is a non-starter, but during the season I can find it for 1.99/lb. I just checked and still have 9 pints left so I may only can 3 birds this year, we'll see. For me it will depend largely on price.
Broth: regularly, all year long as needed or when my freezer's full of bird parts and soup bones. I both freeze and can broth and use it daily ( I cook all meals and those from scratch / whole foods, but many days lunch is a salad).
I do tend to make big batches as you do, but when there is too much soup for even lunch leftovers, I'll freeze it because it's simpler.
As far as reusing jars during the year, for me that's my freezer broth jars and Fido fermenting jars, as those are always ongoing.
Overall I think that each household will be a little bit (or a lot) different but that it's good to 'put some by'. And even though we aren't preppers, it seems like common sense to be prepared for an emergency or hardship. Life happens sometimes whether we're ready or not.
