Ask Mavis – Weck Canning Jars, Dublin Hotels, Garden Tools for Pulling Weeds and More

It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers. As always, please pipe up if you have any input or are knowledgeable when it comes to any of the following questions:

Hello, I read your post on how to use Weck canning jars. As mason jars are pretty rare and expensive around here, these would be a great substitute! I do have a few questions though, if you wouldn’t mind. Can you use them for everything (safe for water bath canning)? How do you know the seal is good? I assume they are not to be used for pressure canning? Is everything reusable, also the rubber rings? Thank you in advance!

I’ve leased a community plot and I’m going to dig for dinner!!! Hopefully, we wont go hungry! My questions come after the harvest and about the storage. I’m considering canning. I bought Ball’s canning book and I’m taking a 1 day university extension class on the How to’s of canning. A few in-law’s keep discouraging me in this endeavor because of the fear of getting the family really sick (or worse)!!! I know you are very experienced in canning. Could you direct me to a post on your site that I’ve missed for beginning canning? Or any advice or encouragement? Thanks for your time and your posts!

~Kim

Hi Kim!

You have come to the right place for canning questions as I LOVE to can and will be doing LOADS of it this summer putting up the summer bounty from our garden.

First, to answer a few of your specific questions about the Weck Jars {which I adore!}

Can you use them for everything (safe for water bath canning)? YES

How do you know the seal is good? On the photo above you can see that the pull tab of the rubber ring on the sealed jar is facing downwards. That’s how you can tell if your jar is sealed. Also, just like with a regular Ball canning jar, once you remove the rings {clamps for Weck Jars} if the seal holds, you’re good.

I assume they are not to be used for pressure canning? You can absolutely use them for pressure canning!

Is everything reusable, also the rubber rings? The jars? Yes, of course. The rubber rings? While using the rubber seal for Weck jars more than once is not recommenced, I personally use the rubber rings until they are stretched out or begin to lose elasticity. But that’s just me. When in doubt, follow the rules, and buy new rubber rings.

Below is a post with 54 canning recipes I recent;y wrote PLUS if you scroll to the bottom of the pages there are a ton of links for things like hot water bath canning, pressure canning, jam making tips, equipment lists and so on. Canning is AWESOME!

Below you’ll find links to more of my canning posts:

• 54 Canning Recipes In Seasonal Order
• Hot Water Bath Method
• Canning on a Glass Top Stove
• 10 Tips for Making Jam
• Preserving and Canning Equipment List
• Pressure Canning 101
• Should I Remove the Rings From My Canning Jars?
• How to Make Sure Jam or Jelly Sets

Hi Mavis, I have a very grown over and weedy patio that I want to bring back to life. Not afraid of hard work, but could you recommend a good weed-ripper-outter-digger? There is grass and weeds, overgrown asparagus fern *boo* among others. 🙁 Any suggestions would be great! Also, I am getting chickens and was wondering if there are any weeds they can’t eat?

~ Thank you, Bobbi

Hi Bobbi,

I must confess, I don’t know if there are any weeds that chickens cannot eat. I’ve had chickens off an on for the past 10 years and never had one die because they ate a poisonous weed. Maybe someone else can chime in a help with this question.

I do have some favorite garden tools though and here are my four favorites:

• Flexrake – I discovered this tool a few years ago and it’s incredibly easy to use.
• Garden Guru Hori Knife – Great for getting your frustrations out in the garden, cutting sod and digging up weeds with long roots
• Tuli Fisher’s hand forged garden rake – Not only is it my favorite tool to use in the garden, it makes a wonderful gift AND it’s handmade by a human who loves what he does. And it’s freakin’ gorgeous too.
• Garden Weasel Step and Twist Hand Weeder – My mother, who has a bad back loved using this tool when she had garden to maintain. 

Hi Mavis in one of your recent post you asked if we had a greenhouse and I do and I would like to share some of my photos with you but I am not sure how to go about that. Let know if you are interested and how I would go about it.

~ Thanks Kathy

Kathy! We would love for you to share your greenhouse pictures with us! In fact, if you follow the guidelines HERE, we may even be able to send you a $20 gift card to Amazon for your submission. Send your garden, and chicken related pictures with stories via email to onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {remove the spaces} and be sure and put Mavis Mail in the subject line. Thank you.

HI Mavis! Can you recommend a hotel in Dublin, Ireland? I’m looking for a place that’s centrally located for me, my sister and my niece that won’t break the bank! Prices have gone way up since I was there in 2003!

~Thanks, Laura

Hi Laura, we have only stayed in 2 hotels in Dublin before. The first one was the Westin Hotel and it runs about 250 Euro a night {EXPENSIVE!}. We stayed there for 2 nights using our free SPG hotel points so it was a free stay for us. If you use credit cards, you may want to see if you can redeem your points for free hotel stays. The Spencer Hotel Dublin City is also a great hotel with rooms averaging 150 Euro a night and it’s centrally located as well.

If it were me looking for a place to stay in Dublin in 2018 though? I think I’d check out AirBNB locations in the city. You can find some really great places with good ratings for around 65-100 Euro a night.

Have a question for me? Submit them HERE and I’ll try to answer them.

Have a great weekend everyone,

~Mavis