Harvest Time #14: Canning Room Tally & Tour - Picture Heavy

Your pantry is a work of art. That is a lot of work but it will be so worth eating all winter. You are quite ahead of me. I have some strawberry jam, currant jelly and raspberry jelly made, but most of our non-berry crops are just starting to produce now. August will be a busy month here. You are an inspiration! My question, roughly how much of that did you grow on your own acre of land?

-- "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." M. Gandhi

1. my mouth is watering
2. I’m jealous that you have tomatoes that are ripe
3. my mouth is watering
4. I’m embarrassed by my wee little stock of canning
5. recipes. I want recipes!!!

- cherry tomato pickles
- apple pie filling (remembering the tasty stuff that I had to throw out because they all came unsealed)
- chocolate mint.

Impressive!! And you work a day job as well.
You are my hero and inspiration. Seriously.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Wow! I’m impressed, Scott.

Yes, recipes, please :)

BTW, how are the chickens these days? Any recent shots?

-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown

Yes very impressive indeed. Mouthwatering too. Great work!

-- Xploreorganics, 5b Canada, LFD 06-20 http://colorfulcanary.blogspot.com/

Very impressive Scott. Looks like you have a handle on that sustainability thing .

Bob

-- I want to believe in a lot of things but, in the meantime I have to deal with the truth

Wow I can’t even imagine doing all that canning.(lol) Looks like your set for the year though.Nice job .

-- Bon,Hastings,Ont.....zone 5a....Always room for one more

at our last bonfire breakfast we were talking about seasonal crops and how people used to eat/preserve only food that was “in season”. Today, we (as in our society) want everything now. We want to walk into a grocery store at any time of the year and buy “fresh” fruits and vegetables. That means transporting them from around the world.

Buy fresh; grow fresh; preserve fresh = healthier food, healthier people, healthier planet.

I hope to be able to get to Scott’s level of self-reliance. .. perhaps next year.

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

I remember ‘doing down’ bushels of cucs, tomatoes, peaches, pears, cherries, etc. I even used a pressure cooker canner to ‘do down meat’ like chickens and pork. We lived on a farm, had a large garden and a root cellar and equally large freezer. (also husband, wife and 3 three growing kids to eat all that stuff) :-)

Your pictures ‘take me’ back, Scott. I love the colour of all that produce lining the shelves in the storage room/root cellar. I always thought the jars look like jewels, with the bright jewel tones, shelf after shelf. You’ll never have to worry about company dropping in and catching you unprepared.

But now we know why we haven’t seen much of you on GT for the last month or so. You’ve been hard at work!

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

Blew me away with this posting!!!! That is a lot of work, but well worth it!!!

-- "A beautiful garden is a work of heart" --

Radicalfarmergal: With the exception of the blueberry (because ours are not established yet) and the Pomegranate, all of it was grown here. Oh, and the oranges.. No oranges.

Debbie: Cherry tomato pickles and the mint recipe is posted, if you’re saying you want those.. In fact you used the mint recipe for sage before I think.. ;)

jroot: Besides the apple pit filling, the other recipes are floating around. Most of the “Jelly” recipes are just adjusted from the mint one we use. Heck, even the jam ones are about the same. Alot of times we adjust the sugar anymore to make it not as tooth killing sweet though, so we might drop back a half to a cup. As for the chickens, pissed off.. They’re mad at me for not having the run finished and the roof shingled. Been raining almost constantly so I can’t get much done.

Debbie (again): I wouldn’t say we’re self reliant just yet. But we do pretty darn good at stocking stuff away.

Iris43: Oh it’s been everything in general keeping me busy and not just the garden. There’s been projects around the house and things to do left and right. This year is the first summer with my daughter down with us full time so that also adds to the mix. Plus trying to get her ready for school (transfering) and whatnot. Makes for a huge lack of time.

Ok… so anyway.. I’ve got a tip for you all.

You’re processing say pears, or apples for canning slices right? Great! You’ve got all the fruit nicely cut and shoved into jars, pour over your lite or heavy syrup and chuck them off to the side for water bathing..

What do you have left over in a pile to the side for the compost? My bet is a huge pile of cores and skins.

Instead of dumping them on the pile right away, put them into a put and dump 3 and a half cups of water onto them. Bring to a boil and then let steep for 15-20 minutes..

Poof.. You’ve got yourself an infusion ready to turn into jelly. Just strain it out and go to town. Mint jelly recipe works here.. ;)

Now go dump the spent refuse on the compost pile as there’s truly nothing more that can be done with it.

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

“chocolate mint” oh right.. I remember that now.

I don’t remember the cherry tomato pickles. I’ll have to go look that one up.
and the pie.. yes, you are right.. I remember our recipe comparison discussions….

-- - Debbie, SW Ontario Canada (USDA Hardiness Zone: 5a)

Now, that is a good idea, Scott, about using the scraps together. Reminds me of the days when I used to make rum pot using fresh fruit, sugar, and white rum. The rum killed off any bacteria and the juice makes an amazing liquer, and the rmaining fruit goes really well on ice cream.

In the interest of not turning you all into raving alchoholics, I’ll ask first. Anyone interested in a recipe?

-- jroot ....... Southern Ontario .......... grow zone 5A ...................."Gardening is an exercise in optimism." ....... . . Author Unknown

Oh man, Scott – you TOTALLY win. I used to think I ended up with quite a haul at the end of the season but this post is amazing.

FYI – I have a great preserves recipe book – by Jean Pare. One might think her books don’t have the best stuff as they are supermarket shelf books but her preserves book is amazing. Try making pickled garlic. Yowsa!

I also do the apple pie filling. It’s great to have around, for that spur of the moment “oh my goodness, I need to make a dessert for the event and have nothing!”.

-- Zone 4a or 4b... depending on where you are standing!

jroot, that recipe offer sounds interesting but I better resist. I live alone and it sounds too good, you know who would be nipping it. My neighbours have enough to talk about now. ;-)

-- 'To plant a Garden is to believe in Tomorrow'

mtkate, season isn’t over yet.. Still more pears to do.. :D

Basically all we are doing is jams and jelly.. Pickles are new this year, minus the cherry tomato pickles. DID get a pressure caner, but still have yet to make use of it.

jroot, I’d say sure but I don’t drink.. Spent so much time doing that BEFORE I was 21, got awful boring once it was legal.. ;)

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

Yes, jroot, I’d love that recipe for pot rum. Thank you in advance.

-- Erika, Hastings, ON