I was talking with a gardening friend and lamenting our dismal cucumber harvest this year. We have enough for eating fresh but not enough for freezing. She asked, “Can you freeze cucumbers?” Yes, you can absolutely freeze cucumbers and it’s super easy and useful. By the way, she’s bring me some of her excess cucumbers […]
Preserving the Harvest…Zucchini
We are in the height of zucchini and summer squash season right now and while it is overwhelming at times, it’s also a huge blessing. My grocery budget is happy! Because we often have a problem with vine borers, I try to begin preserving zucchini and yellow squash at the beginning of the season. Anything […]
Preserving the Harvest….Apples
It is almost apple season and my family is so excited. While I will buy apples out of season for eating fresh, I won’t buy them out of season for anything else. Apples make a great snack on the go or to pack in a lunch so I buy the year round. I like preserving apples […]
Tips for Water Bath Canning
Water bath canning is usually the first canning someone does, and for good reason. With water bath canning you don’t really need any special equipment, you can usually make due with what you already have. But not everything can be preserved with a water bath, low acid foods need to be processed using a pressure […]
Preserving the Harvest…Peaches
We got seven peaches off our peach tree this year. Oh my, they were so very good! But obviously, with only seven we just ate them and didn’t even think about preserving them. So, I did what I do every year. I purchased peaches so I could actually preserve peaches for the rest of the […]
Canning Chili con Carne {ultimate meal in a jar}
I know, who can think of soups, especially heavy soups like chili in this heat? I do. In fact, every summer I spend a couple of days canning chili con carne and beef (or venison) stew for the winter. Why? Because it helps me feed the family home cooked meals even during the busy school […]
Tips for Using a Pressure Canner
We’ve been canning up a storm lately and most of has been done using a pressure canner. We ordered extra meat from our meat co-op and canned some with onions and garlic like we do venison. We also canned some chili con carne (recipe will be on the blog next week). A friend gave us […]
Tips for Preserving the Harvest
Many years ago, I canned about 30 quarts of pear chutney. I had never tried pear chutney, in fact I had never even heard the word “chutney” before that day. But our pear tree was producing a bumper crop that year and I decided it would be fun to try something new. {ahem} No one liked it…not […]
Preserving the Harvest….Blueberries
We kicked off July 4th weekend by going blueberry picking . Yes, we have blueberry bushes but they are not producing. Last year fire ants got into the pots and destroyed the roots. We bought new plants but they are still young. Normally, we would just go without but because of all the rain we […]
Preserving the Harvest…Tomatoes
Preserving tomatoes is a summer tradition in many homes. But preserving tomatoes can be more than spaghetti sauce and salsa. There are so many ways of preserving tomatoes and really, you need to do what is best for your family. Because I’m pretty simple, I mainly can tomatoes with onions and garlic and dehydrate tomatoes […]