Several Months ago we had a few little packets of seeds that we planted with Poppa in his garden in Okanagan- fast forward to last week when my dad delivered pounds and pounds of green, yellow and purple beans to us. Needless to say we ate a lot of beans last week- good thing beans are one of the Little's favourite veggies. No coercion or sneaking or hiding of vegetables needed they straight up devour beans- steamed with a little butter.
So what is a Mamma to do with several pounds of beans? Well after we have eaten our fill and moved onto our next favourite vegetable- cucumbers- also from Poppa's garden- Mamma starts stashing those delicious goodies from the garden away for a rainy winter day.
In the midst of a heat wave you could find me washing, trimming, blanching and portioning beans into freezer bags. Our kitchen is always hot anyways but this task made the kitchen a very special place to be! I'm not trying to be a martyr but blanching beans in the midst of a heat wave takes some dedication to your task at hand!
Along with the beans I have also froze 30 pounds of blue berries and 3 pounds of strawberries- now we can enjoy blueberry smoothies, and muffins and pancakes in December. We all enjoy Endless Summer Jam which I make mid winter with frozen berries and apples a little reminder of summer!
This time of year I often feel a bit frantic- like I should be storing more food away for the coming winter. I know we could easily pop down to the grocery store and we wont starve when we run out of blue berries- at this point frozen berries and beans are more of a luxury or treat in the winter- we aren't existing solely on these foods! Our dream is to one day exist off the food we have put up for the season- to live sustainably off the land and more in harmony with the seasons. Until that time comes I will frantically freeze and preserve as much of this harvest that is available to us and enjoy it all the more when it finally arrives on our table one chilly winter day!
Great work Sharilyn! It is definitely a bit of a frenzy when everything is coming at once! Have you canned dilly beans or dill carrots before? My kids love anything pickled!
ReplyDeleteMy mom just did 20 quarts of Dilly Beans- so I feel we might get some of those;) next up is canning tomatoe sauce and ketchup- exciting for me as this is a main food group for our kids!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the frantic feeling. Suddenly I realize that summer is almost over and I feel the need to save as much fruit and veggies away in jars as I can! I think blackberry jam, tomato & pepper salsa, and cucumber pickles are on the docket for the coming weeks.
ReplyDeletenice- I noticed at the Farmer's Market last week that the Blackberries are huge this year! Great for making jam!
DeleteGah...the internet ate my comment...Sharilyn I was wondering how you store your canning. My parents had a cold room and I remember how much I loved looking at all those jars at the end of the summer with their brightly coloured fruit and veggies in them, but we have a small kitchen with no pantry. Often the canning that can't be jammed into the kitchen cupboards ends up in the closets and sometime we think we're out of peaches only to discover another case behind the summer shoes or something...I'm hoping you have come up with some marvellous and ingenious way to store canning in an apartment...
ReplyDeleteAhh yes the age old question of what to do with all that canning! We are lucky & have a pantry that we can attempt (?) to organize out canning in! It always starts out with great intentions but often ends up pretty disorganized.
DeleteI think a narrow book case like the Billy bookcase from Ikea in a closet would work really well. I was also thinking of building a corner bench in our kitchen with storage underneath- then we could put the surplus of canning there.
Our current debacle is where to put the freezer!!