I'm so jealous! I buy most of my lettuce from a local farm, but I really want to not be so dependent on them. I haven't been able to grow lettuce well. Next year, I'm going in big!
I solved one big canning problem, that of my kitchen heating up during the hottest months of the year, by getting a presto electric canner. And after twenty times, it does get less stressful. But it's still a major pain in the ass. I'm a big fan, now, of freezing food.
After doing a bit of research on canning I decided to buy another freezer!
An upright I hope. I regret getting a chest freezer - it's very hard to organize and find stuff in.
I now have 2 chest freezers and one upright but I'm an extremely organised person so everything is catalogued and colour coded!:)