This summer was packed full with hard work, I am still recovering. I had the opportunity to get my hands on a large amount of great produce. This was all the stuff that is grown organically, locally, in season and in perfectly fresh, yummy condition. Mostly a lot of canning, with little bouts of dehydrating, freezing and pickling here and there. Nearly every other week I spent 2 to 3 days preserving huge loads of this gorgeous food.
Here is a list of what I preserved in the last 4 months;
Carrots
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Green Beans
Mixed Beans
Cucumbers
Grapes
Apples
Peaches
Pears
Apricots
I loved spending so much time with the bright colors, nibbling all day through and seeing the end results pile up. How satisfying it is to have well grown food preserved in glass (no bpa) with no additives. The kids were even helpful at times and those were the most glorious! They also love to eat the end product. How awesome it is when the kids are hungry for a snack and I reach for a jar of home canned green bean, which they eat with the same gusto most other have while eating a box of goldfish?
The clean up was not quite as awesome. Food and water all over the counters, stove, skink and floor, ants from the sticky fruits and fly’s in the compost bucket. The worst was the heat. The air would be on all day if it weren’t for the problem it caused with the flame on the gas stove. I would have to turn it off and sweat it out to get the pots up to temperature. After a few weeks, I was able to get a hot plate to process the jars in the backyard.
We also got out the sun oven for some winter squash that came out of my garden to save more heat from the kitchen. The plywood strip on the sawhorses behind the oven is what I used to sun dry food, with our heat, most things dried in one day. It was a pretty efficient use of a lot in the city, that’s for sure.
Links; Fight Back Fridays, Simple Lives Thursday, Things I Love Thursday, Penny wise Platter.
Kara, you give me hope and make me smile. My husband and I are so excited about the idea of raising healthy eaters, but there is a lot of negative energy out there from parents who have tried and failed. Often the parents aren't all that healthy in their own habits, which may have an effect on their ability to raise healthy eaters, but it is certainly discouraging to be told over and over again that you can only keep soda pop away from the first kid. That no matter what you do your kids will only eat PBJ on white bread. That veggies will never be as cool to kids as chicken nuggets.
ReplyDeleteI love seeing examples of parents who can and do. Oh, and I love it that your older kids can safely use kitchen knives. Often parents seem so terrified of letting their kids near anything that could be dangerous that they don't let the kids learn useful skills.
So cool you are canning. Enjoy your harvest.
WOW, Kara! You are amazing! I love this post and these sweet pictures of your boys helping you. I want to come over and take a look in your pantry at all your beautiful preserved goodness :) Glad you could use the hot plate! I've got to find out more from you about your experiences with the sun oven. You're inspiring to me. . .Hope your doing well, my friend!
ReplyDeleteErin, it is a constant battle, but with your husband on your side, it is one that is entirely endurable.
ReplyDeleteBoth this kids cut themselves with the knives, but then so did I. We are all healed now.
Becky, thanks a ton for the hot plate! You will have to talk to Jarom about the solar oven, he did all the fiddling with it to keep it facing the right way as the sun moved.
wow, you have an amazing kitchen! I bought the same pretty canner this year, love it.
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