I thought I would share a few pictures that I have taken along the way.
I don't have a separate post on each of these, but I just wanted to share some of what I have been up to quickly.
These pictures of my garden beds were taken back in June. The squash plants that you can see in this picture were volunteer. I wasn't sure what type of squash they would be, but I was pretty sure that they would be a cross. They turned out to be something like a pink banana squash. The squash beetles ended killing the plants, but only after they had produced several mature squash for us.
My tomato plants were just babies back then. :) Now they have exploded to be taller than me in some places! And, they are producing some good yields. I have been able to can a few batches of plain tomato sauce this past week.
This sink full of tomatoes came from a neighbor's garden. They were not able to use them and kindly offered some to me. I turned them into 30 pints of salsa.
I am so happy to see my cupboard filling up with canning jars. :)
A relative gave me lots of homegrown cabbage. I don't remember how many pounds I was able to make into sauerkraut. In the end I had a gallon size jar and a quart jar. It is sure to last me a while.
I have also learned how to ferment cumbers into pickles, and have made a few quarts of those with cucumbers from the garden. Sorry I don't have an pictures of that.
These are some tubs of washed and drained kale from the garden. I froze these and got 9 serving sized (maybe 2 cups each) bags in the freezer.
That's a wrap!
Have any of you been preserving Summer's bounty? What types of food do you put up for your family? What preservation methods do you employ the most?
Let me know in the comment section! :)
I haven't done any canning since getting married, someday, when our children are older and able to help out more, I'd love to can. Growing up we'd can tons on tomatos, apple sauce and sometimes peaches. I have such good memories of canning days, it was fun to help out and the satisfaction of seeing all the canned produce we'd put up was great. :)
ReplyDeleteDuring summer I have been preserving fruits, mostly. Jams and fruits in syrup. Throughout summer we've also pickled cucumbers in brine.
ReplyDeleteAround this time of the year, though, the preserving for winter starts. Everything gets pickled! This Saturday I will get together with my in-laws for some tomato canning and a Romanian spread sauce named "zacusca" made out of onion, aubergine, pepper and tomato (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zacusc%C4%83).
My favourite is cauliflower and red cherry pepper pickles. My husband loves pickled hot thai peppers! He usually eats them with soup during winter. I'm not a fan of hot so they are exclusively for him.