I've been trying to preserve as much as I can. My morning sickness and early pregnancy sleepiness put a dent in my anticipated schedule but I'm still pushing through to see what I can get done now that I'm feeling better. Here's my preservation count so far:
12 jelly jars of blueberry preserves
12 pints blackberry preserves
12 pints creamed corn
12 quarts green beans
8 quarts dill pickles
I have applesauce in progress right now and hope over the next few weeks to get 24-36 pints of that done. I also hope to get at least 12 quarts of chicken stock/broth canned and possibly 12 quarts of mixed beans that I could easily throw into chili or soups this winter. I have three very small amounts of dried/dehydrated zucchini and beans that will also be used for soups.
In my freezer I have 9 quarts of tomato sauce, 4 quarts of mixed beans and loads of frozen whole tomatoes waiting to be made into something...I'm thinking diced tomatoes or spaghetti sauce or something similar. I have 4 quarts of chicken stock, 4 pints of chicken stock, plus about 8 cups worth of chicken stock that I froze in ice cube trays.
I also have my meats worked out and will be picking up our next chicken/turkey order in November to get us through the winter. We're still good on beef. I have some cheese frozen. I also have a bag of locally grown asparagus and two huge bags of local blackberries and one huge bag of local blueberries in the freezer.
After I get my applesauce canned tonight I'm hoping to work on chicken stock this week.
Working on learning preserving methods this year has given me a vision for next year. I've been debating on joining our CSA next year but I'm leaning toward not joining and just visiting more farmer's markets instead. I also want to go blueberry picking at least once or twice next year as well as blackberry picking, maybe strawberry picking, but some of that will depend on life with a newborn. I figure I could just strap the baby to my back and head out but we'll see how life is at that point.
My garden plans for next year include strawberries (hopefully the squirrels will leave them alone), transfer raspberries to another plot and trellis them (hopefully squirrels will leave those alone too), tomatoes - probably Riesentraube, Amish paste and Roma, zucchini, and green beans. I think I'm going to put the green beans where the raspberries are this year so they can grow all over the place and have good supports. My supports this year weren't strong enough for the production. This plan will allow me to plant a little later since I'll have a little person attached to me. My berries won't take much work as they'll just blossom and grow and the rest won't have to be planted until June.
Of course, any of that could change with life but I'm hopeful to have a productive and simple year next year.
Excellent! And I'm glad you're feeling better and ready to get preserving again.
ReplyDeleteDo you think farmer's markets are more expensive, less expensive or about the same price as a CSA? I am thinking about just doing a CSA next year so am wondering about prices...
Hmm. I say if you want to try new variety go with a CSA. Ours cost $375 for one share which wasn't enough for us to get through a week. The reason I'm thinking about going with farmer's markets next year is because some of the veggies we either didn't eat, they were passed on to other people or I forgot about them and they ended up in the compost. With farmer's markets I think I'd be more prone to buy what we eat and try a few random things here and there, therefore saving us money. Also, this way I can keep up with what's in season and the specific markets and what they're offering so I know what to buy when for preserving/canning/freezing next year. I didn't really keep up with the markets this year as I depended alot on our CSA to tell me what was in season...but then I'd miss a particular market that I wanted to visit because it was too late in that week.
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