Canning, Pickling, and Dehydrating!

[Scooby308]

After 25 years of homesteading, we have finally gotten to the point where we only go to the grocery store for toilet paper and ingredients to make our own cleaning, laundry and health/hygiene products. Step by step, loving the learning all the way. We grow our own meats, dairy, eggs and veggies. I do purchase spelt berries for flour, and dry beans and grains in bulk. It is indeed a wonderful feeling this time of year when the freezers, pantry, and canning room are full.

More specifically, this year
Canned:
40 quarts lacto-picked cucumbers
12 quarts lacto-sauer kraut (so far, planning at least another 35 when cabbages are ready)
15 pints lacto-kohlrabi
20 pints salsa
35 quarts tomato chunks
14 quarts tomato sauce
18 half pints tomato paste
25 quarts apple sauce (so far)
100 quarts peaches
35 quarts pear slices
21 pints pear sauce
40 half pints assorted jams
14 quarts blueberries
50 pints sweet corn
18 pints chicken broth

Frozen:
30 quart bags blueberries
2 gallon bags wild and domestic raspberries
2 gallon bags sweet cherries
8 quart bags canteloupe
10 gallon bags summer squash (zucchini and trumpet)
3 gallon bags chunked yellow summer squash
20 quart bags sweet corn
4 gallons corn on the cob
10 gallon bags kale
6 gallon bags (5lb each) green beans
4 gallon bags broccoli
6 quarts bags swiss chard so far
40 chickens including hearts, livers, necks and feet (for broth)
13 ducks and parts

Dehydrated:
2 bushels pears = 4 gallon bags
2 gallon bags parsley
3 quarts dill weed
1 quart sage
1 gallon basil
will do apple slices yet

Butchering time is coming. Up on deck waiting for cold weather:
1 beef steer
1 hog
1 turkey
2 geese
12 old laying hens to be canned for soup (once the young pullets start laying)

Still in the garden, waiting for frost:
Winter squash, Acorn, butternut, delicatta, carnival, Musque de Province, crookneck, Rouge Vif d'Etampes, and what looks like hubbard, but not sure.
popcorn
brussels sprouts
leeks

Root cellar storage:
4 bushels assorted potatoes
1 bushel onions
200 bulbs garlic
1/4 bushel beets
Carrots still in the garden

Not to mention over 20 varieties of hard, soft, and blue cheeses in various stages of ripeness in the "cheese cave" refrigerator down basement, and unlimited milk, yogurt, kefir and ice cream.

WOW! writing it all out makes me tired just thinking of all the work we did, but step by step, it really is not unpleasant. I am convinced, however, that it is much more enjoyable puttering in the garden and kitchen, than having to go to some mundane job, just to earn the money to pay for the food, if even food of this quality were available for purchase, which I doubt.

Good luck and keep on going, step by step. Homesteading has its ups and downs for sure, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

So sounds like my parents. Every year since I can remember we had gardens that were the envy of most folks. Always used a hotbbath canner. I kept telling them to try a pressure cooker, no dice too dangerous. 10 years ago they got one and haven't looked back.

Let me tell you about the year dad decided to raise 300 tomatoes plants...tomatoes soup, katsup, salsa, diced, whole, spiced tomatoes, paste, sauce...on top of the regular garden.

Did I add there were just the 4 of us in the family and my lil brother is lazy? That was over 20 years ago and I bet they still have a jar or 20 of something tomatoes from that year on a shelf somewhere.

 

[Poka_Doodle]

What do people do with their zucchini?

 

[norseofcourse]

What do people do with their zucchini?

I love zucchini! I cut them in chunks, add onion and herbs, and bake in the oven till tender. Cut in chunks and grill as shishkabob, with meat and other veggies. Zucchini bread, yum.

I've also taken them in to work to give away, did that quite a bit this year and never had any left to take back home. I give them to friends who stop over, and take them to meetings to pass out. I haven't yet had to resort to leaving them in unlocked cars... If the frost hadn't already killed my plants, I'd probably be giving them out to Halloween trick-or-treaters

 

[Hens and Roos]

What do people do with their zucchini?

we grated and frozen in 2 cup packages so that we can make zucchini bread

 

[Baymule]

What do people do with their zucchini?

PLAY ZUCCHINI BASEBALL!! Use the really big ones, play ball! Yes they splatter on contact, just pick up the biggest piece and SWING!!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Pamela - Whoa, you have a lot of thing canned and stored! I am very curious as to your canning of applesauce. We recently were gifted a bunch of fresh apples, and I found a simple recipe that I used them with and canned. Not sure how it will taste. What recipe do you use for yours?

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Hens and Roos - I noticed that you said that you make zucchini bread. I have thoroughly enjoyed eating it, but never tried my hand at making it. Do you have any recipes, tips, or tricks for this? I would really love to make some up next year, as we grow a few with each garden (but are looking to double the size of our garden next year).

 

[Baymule]

I have used grated zucchini in chili. It cooks to nothing, put in frige overnight and it is dissolved when heated back up.

Zucchini cobbler

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/zuchinni-cobbler.13418/

Zucchini lasagna

http://www.theeasygarden.com/threads/squash-lasagna.13443/

 

[Hens and Roos]

@Hens and Roos - I noticed that you said that you make zucchini bread. I have thoroughly enjoyed eating it, but never tried my hand at making it. Do you have any recipes, tips, or tricks for this? I would really love to make some up next year, as we grow a few with each garden (but are looking to double the size of our garden next year).

Here is the recipe that we use(handed down from my mom):

1st Mixture
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup salad oil

Combine and Beat this together until mixed good. Then add 1 cup peeled and grated zucchini to the mixture.

2nd Mixture
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Add to 1st mixture beating well

(1/2 cups chopped nuts- optional)- we don't put nuts in

Put mixture into 2 small or 1 large greased and floured loaf pan

Bake 1 hour at 325 *F

Cool and remove from loaf pan(s); Enjoy!

 

[Latestarter]

Cubed Zuchinni is also excellent in stir fry