; Skip to Content

Harvesting and preserving

The last few weeks my kitchen has been transformed into our canning kitchen. But we’re also doing some freezing and dehydrating.

We’ve harvested 13 cantaloupes and I bet there are about 20 more on the vines. Esther was super excited to smell the first one we cut open. We’re eating one a day and have cut up a few and froze them for smoothies.

Our tomatoes keep coming in. So many are ruined from the Leaffooted bugs, it really makes me sad but it makes the chickens happy. But we’ve still managed to can 24 quarts of salsa. We’re hoping to can about 50 quarts to last the year. We’ll see if that goal gets accomplished. Our celebrity tomatoes are pretty juicy so I let them sit in a colander and drain some of the juice out before making them into salsa. Then I can that juice to use in soups and rice later on.

Our cucumbers are doing well. They seem to know that only a few of us love them and the pickles they make so they’re only giving us a few a day. I’ve made 8 pints of bread and butter pickles. That’s probably enough for us but I want to make a few to give away. I also want to make a few pints of dill pickles. So if you have a good dill pickle recipe please leave it in the comments.

A friend’s dad scored us some corn from a farmer he knows. We canned 15 pints of sweet corn. Another friend gave us some and we froze that on the cobs. We’re not huge corn eaters but we like it in soups and occasionally as a side.

We’ve also make about 3 cups of basil pesto to freeze. I freeze it in ice cube trays and then pop them out and put the frozen cubes in a ziplock bag.

Our cherry tomatoes have done really well and we’ve been dehydrating the ones we’re not eating fresh. I like to grind these up in the extra coffee grinder and use it to flavor soups and add to rice.

So that’s about all we’re harvesting right now. The wild grapes should be ready, I’m driving out to check them today. I found one last jar of grape jelly way back in the cupboard yesterday. Gabriel was pretty excited.

Recipes for these and other things to preserve are under the In the Kitchen tab at the top of the page.

What are you harvesting and/or preserving?

This post is shared at Clever Chicks blog hop, Mostly Homemade Monday, Barn Hop, Backyard Farming Connection, Beauty and Bedlam’s Tasty Tuesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Homemaking Link Up, HomeAcre Blog Hop, Simple Lives Thursday, Home and Garden Thursday,

Thanks for sharing with your friends!

Kathy A Delightsome Life

Wednesday 10th of July 2013

You really are harvesting marvelously! The corn looks beautiful - love the photo with the sweet child! The rain has definitely affected crops in our area. I do appreciate you sharing with Home and Garden Thursday,Kathy

Angi Schneider

Thursday 11th of July 2013

awww, thanks Kathy. She's all about smelling "yummy" food. Thanks for hosting, I really enjoy your blog hop.

Nancy Wolff

Tuesday 9th of July 2013

What an amazing harvest, I've only just begun to can this year's harvest. There is nothing more satisfying than a well stocked pantry. Thank you so much for sharing on The Home Acre Hop, look forward to seeing what you share this week! Nancy On The Home Front

Angi Schneider

Thursday 11th of July 2013

Thanks for hosting, Nancy. I agree about the well stocked pantry.

Gretchen Stuppy Carlson

Tuesday 9th of July 2013

Your harvest is looking amazing!

Angi Schneider

Thursday 11th of July 2013

Thanks, Gretchen.

Abbi

Wednesday 3rd of July 2013

What fun! Our canning season is not here yet (which I am rather thankful of at the moment as that sounds like a hot job) but I am always excited when it comes. We are harvesting salads and things like that though. God is good to bless us so abundantly!

Angi Schneider

Saturday 6th of July 2013

Yes, He is. I'm always amazing at how much He provides for us, even when things don't go as I've planned.

Backyard Chicken Lady

Wednesday 3rd of July 2013

All looks so yummy! Going to read the post freezing basil pesto, what a great idea!

Angi Schneider

Saturday 6th of July 2013

Thanks! We love our basil around here. If you love basil you should try to freeze some for the year. Let me know how it goes.