No – Not with the kids while they dance around me, and try  press the buttons on my laptop while I furiously type this.

I mean putting up, like preserving…like jam and green beans, applesauce and tomatoes, sauerkraut, horseradish, strawberries…well you get the idea.

If one of my new found loves is real local food, and if I happen to live in Canada, where little grows for about half the year, then I guess I gotta become pretty good at this preserving thing. So far, we’ve got freezing down pat. I have already stored up strawberries, green beans, spinach, raspberries and snap peas in my freezer to last through the chilly winter months. I’ve got plans for swiss chard, too – which I planted a few weeks ago.

The problem is that my freezer is getting full, I have a big order of organic beef coming in next week, and I’m about the place another order for a whole pig from a mennonite family just outside of town. I won’t have space for much more produce, so what do I do?

Canning is good for tomatoes and pickles, but I am otherwise not fond of canned vegetables.

Enter the “Preserve the Bounty Challenge”  at Nourished Kitchen – just posted today by a blogger I’ve been reading regularly ( Gotta love when someone posts exactly what you need, right when you need it). I can’t wait to learn some new ways to save the harvest of summer and fall, without the freezer or the canner.

I’ll post pics of my progress as the challenge gets underway.

Oh yeah, and I’ll be writing more about our change in buying and eating habits, new recipes, a tutorial on how to freeze produce properly, and hopefully updating my blogroll. Lots to do – but right now I need a few winks.

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