Pick, process, preserve
Pick, process, preserve
The mantra of my summer days is
Pick, process, preserve
While our August weather is signalling the approaching end of summer, the
garden is not. Even heat loving vegetables don't like our intense southern
summers. When it begins to cool down to the upper 80s°F (upper 20s°C),
things tend to make a renewed effort at production. That means that picking,
processing, and preserving are all still in high gear. With the
goat kids now
sold or weaned off their mothers, I have lots of milk to deal with too, which
means cheese making season is in full swing.
Our day starts early. We eat breakfast before sunrise and get out to the barn
as it's getting light. Dan tends to the poultry and feeds the bucks while I
feed the does and do the milking. Once the dishes are done and the milk
strained and refrigerated, I'm off to the garden with two buckets. I try to
finish my picking by 9 a.m., because once the sun hits the garden in full
force, it's too hot to enjoy it. The rest of the day is spent processing and preserving the
mornings pickings for winter eating.
People tell me gardening and home food preservation are a lot of work. I
calculate that during the months of July and August, I put in a good 40-hour
week preserving our harvest and making cheese. That doesn't include regular
critter chores, meal preparation, and an hour lunch break. I don't think that's too
bad. And if I wasn't preserving our own food myself, I'd have to go work for
someone else so I could buy all our food! Considering how prices keep
going up and availability keeps going down (I almost dread going shopping
nowadays!), I'm very happy to spend the time working for myself. It's a
satisfying endeavor.
I think the key to not feeling overwhelmed is in coordinating my time. Some
things, like figs, need to be canned as soon as possible after picking, but
tomato sauce and pearsauce need slow cooking time. They don't demand constant
stirring, just an occasional stir. For dehydrating, the produce must sliced or diced before going
into the dehydrator, then there's a long wait time while it's drying. Cheese making
too, needs time for the milk to culture and form curds. Pressing the cheese is another time chunk, and brining requires I keep track of the time. All of these jobs
require keeping an eye on, but while I'm waiting for the next step, I can work
on something else.
How much to preserve is a concept that's evolved for me over the years. In the
beginning, I did a lot of calculating. Then experience taught me that nothing
about living, growing things is predictable.
"Even though we're working toward year-round food production, I still
preserve quite a bit. That hasn't changed, although I've given up on
specific goals for food preservation.
'Initially, my method . . . was a pretty simple one. I considered how
much of a particular food we eat each week, and then figured out how much
we'd need on hand until next year's harvest.'
“Food Self-Sufficiency: Feeding Ourselves,”
5 Acres & A Dream The Book (p. 67)
Now, we eat our fill of fresh foods and the remainder are preserved.
I may end up with more than I need for the upcoming winter, but if
the next summer's yield is poor, I'll have extra for the following
winter too. Between that and expanding our fall and winter garden, we
have the best variety we are able."
“Food Self-Sufficiency: Feeding Ourselves,”
5 Acres & A Dream The Sequel
So, as long as the garden is producing, I'll keep on putting as much of it by as possible. It will slow down as soon as the pears are done, but I'll probably have tomatoes until we get a good frost. Some years I only get enough to make pizza sauce, but this year I'm able to do some other things like tomato ketchup and tomato juice. It's nice to see the pantry filling up again.
How about you? What have you been up to this summer?
