Putting Food By: What We Preserved in 2021
“How great soever our abundance may be, however well filled our cellars and granaries, we must still ask for daily bread, for we must feel assured that all substance is nothing, unless so far as the Lord, by pouring out his blessing, make it fruitful during its whole progress. For even that which is in our hand is not ours except in so far as he every hour portions it out and permits us to use it.”
Hello friends! November has arrived in all its crimson glory and I thought it would be fun to share what all we preserved this harvest season. My mom and I work together May through October to put by small amounts of homegrown and local foods. We are homesteading on a small suburban lot until the Lord leads us to the country in His good timing! You can read more of our story and my thoughts on homesteading in this post here.
We don’t have a lot of space but we make do and grow as much as we can, supplementing what we need from local farmers. We do not preserve enough for all of our winter needs, but it’s enough that it cuts down on our groceries significantly and that makes it worth it to us.
Knowing where our food comes from is extremely important to me. I will pay extra money to support local farmers and put in extra work if it means I can play a part in getting that food to our table. That means buying in bulk and only having access to things when they are in season. We then use different methods of preservation to enjoy those foods all year long. In the words of Gladys Taber, “I wonder how much we ever really enjoy anything we have put no personal effort into.” It is true that the food we eat is certainly more appreciated, meaningful and nutrient-dense when we take the time to work with our hands to get it.
Along with the local pasture raised meat we buy, the fifty pounds of potatoes we stocked up on from a local farm, many pounds of red and yellow onions from Azure Standard, the garlic and butternut squash we grew in our garden, and the pantry staples (like beans, flour and rice) we keep on hand, these little tidbits will give us plenty of variety throughout the winter months.
Freezer
Freezing is one of my favorite methods of preservation because it’s easy and the fruits and vegetables remain as close to their fresh-form as possible. Canned vegetables like carrots or corn is something I would never waste my time on because we simply won’t eat it, so we freeze it instead! Freezing also leaves more options open when it comes to using up the produce. Instead of turning our blueberries into jam or peaches into pie filling and then canning it, thus leaving us only one way to use them up, we freeze them and are able to make jam if we’d like, but can also put them whole in oatmeal or pies. The carrots, corn, and green beans will be used in soups, stir fries, and the like. We also have well over 3 gallons of tomatoes from our garden that we have simply put into the freezer until we have time to process them and can them. When things slow down after the holidays, those will be made into something shelf stable like pizza sauce or salsa. Keep in mind that if freezing is a preservation method you invest in, it is wise to ensure a backup form of power in the case of any outages.
Blueberries: 3 quart bags (locally picked)
Raspberries: 3 quart bags (homegrown)
Peaches: 1 gallon and 2.5 quart bags (homegrown)
Green beans: 3.5 quart bags (local and homegrown)
Corn: 3 quart bags (local)
Carrots: 1 quart (homegrown)
Spinach: 1/2 quart bag (homegrown)
Snap peas: 1/2 quart bag (homegrown)
Peach sauce: 3 pint jars (homegrown)
Strawberry preserves: 6 half pint jars (locally picked)
Pear juice: 1 pint jar (local)
Tomatoes: over 3 gallons (homegrown)
Canning
In this season of life, canning is more of a hobby than anything for us. We aren’t in a getting-so much-produce-that-we-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-and-so-we-must-can-it situation with our tiny gardens. Some of our pickles and tomatoes are homegrown, but the fruit is from local farms. Different fruits are ready at different times during the summer. In our zone, Strawberries are the first to arrive in May or June, then raspberries, blackberries, peaches, pears, and then apples finishing the season in September. While each fruit is having their moment, we either do pick-your-own at our favorite no-spray farms or we purchase in bulk and preserve them to have a small taste of summer in the winter when fruit is not available. We do not purchase any fresh fruit aside from citrus throughout the winter thanks to our efforts!
Applesauce: 9 quarts 5 pints
Apple juice: 1 pint
Pear sauce: 10 quarts 7 pints
Pear juice: 6 pints
Peach salsa: 3 pints
Dill pickles: 7 pints
Sweet relish: 7 half-pints
Crushed tomatoes: 5 pints
Peaches in water: 10 pints
Apricot butter: 8 half-pints
Apricots in light syrup: 5 pints
Strawberry preserves: 11 half-pints
Blackberry preserves: 7 half-pints
Herbs
One thing we do focus on in our gardens is herb growing. All of the herbs we dry are completely homegrown and are woven into our potager style gardens. We dry our herbs the old fashioned way on a drying racks and strung across the ceilings. If it’s really humid, we will finish them off in the oven on the lowest temp possible with a spoon in the door. We store them in glass mason jars and use them throughout the winter months for teas, cooking, soaps, and herbal salves. This was really the year for calendula, lavender, and tulsi. But unfortunately our chamomile and basil wasn’t as prolific as we had hoped. Maybe next year!
Calendula: 4 quarts 1 pint
Bee balm: 4 quarts 1 pint
Peppermint: 3 quarts
Lemon balm: 2 quarts 1 pint
Tulsi: 3 quarts
Sage: 1 quart 1 pint
Spearmint: 1 quart 1 pint
Lavender: 1/2 gallon
Catnip: 1 quart
Oregano: 1 quart
Raspberry leaf: 1 pint
Chamomile: 1 pint
Echinacea: 1 quart
Dandelion flowers: 1 quart
Dandelion leaf: 1 quart
Thyme: 1 quart
Basil: 1 pint
Fridge:
We have two items that we keep in the fridge for winter eating and that is sauerkraut and pickled banana peppers. Both of these will last months on end. We do not can our sauerkraut because the boiling would kill off all of the beneficial bacteria that the fermenting process worked so hard to create! And we also don’t can our pickled banana peppers because they keep just fine in the fridge all winter, and can maintain their crunch this way. You can find both my sauerkraut and pickled banana pepper recipe in my ebook Peace and Plenty here.
Sauerkraut: 1 gallon (homegrown)
Pickled banana peppers: 1 gallon 1 pint (local)
Preserving Frequently asked questions
Why do you store your jars without the rings?
When processed correctly, the top piece of the lid is completely attached to the jars creating a seal. The rings simply hold them in place while you process them in the canner and are no longer necessary once that seal is formed. After the jars are sealed and cooled, it is very important to remove the rings before storing. That way, if in storage the seal does break for whatever reason, you are able to notice it and dispose of the food. Whereas if the rings are still tightly on, it can cause a false seal if the food does go bad, and you may have no other indication of spoilage which can be risky business.
Why do you have fabric on some of your jars?
For beauty! Because we are canning in larger amounts now, I don’t add fabric to all of the jars, but any that I give as gifts or store in our upstairs pantry cabinet are given that little homespun touch. You can shop my pre-cut curated Canning Topper packs here!
What is the difference between pressure canning and water bath canning?
Foods have to be of a certain acidity in order to safely water bath can them. Pressure canning is for low acid foods like meat, vegetables in water, soups, etc. Water bath canning is for pickles, fruits, and salsas and is where the jars are submerged in water and boil for a certain amount of time, causing the lids to seal. When pressure canning, the food is preserved and jars sealed by intense pressure in the canner. If you are a beginner, water bath canning is a great place to start! It’s cheaper to invest in a water bath kit than a pressure canner, and the methods are far simpler if you are new to the world of canning.
Won’t you get botulism from home-canning?
While botulism is a real and dangerous thing, it’s very rare. There’s a lot of propaganda out there from the government to deter people from processing their own food. The government wants you to be dependent on their systems, their food. But luckily we live in a time where information is widely available to us and we are able to get our hands on safe methods for preserving our food at home. (I think Big Gov should keep their sticky fingers out of our food system, but I’m also not a rebel canner. I believe in following tested recipes) If you follow safe recipes from professional canners like Ball Canning and Melissa K. Norris, there is little risk involved. As always, do your own research and make this decision for yourself.
What label maker do you use?
It is listed under the “Pantry and Provisions” section of my Amazon page here.
How will you eat the food you preserved?
Follow along with my Eating From the Larder series on Youtube to see what we make out of our food storage!
“In many ways, the act of preserving food is an act of humility and trust. We freeze and can and dry and pickle our green beans because we believe God has a future for us. Winter will come and we will need them.”