I don't know about you, but by the time September and October roll around, I am ready to put down my canning pot and take a break from food preservation. Luckily, there is a method of food preservation that requires very little effort: Root cellaring. A garden full of vegetables can be enjoyed all winter long, if stored properly. While in mild climates, you can store many vegetables just by leaving them in the ground, in our colder climate, we lift our veggies before the first hard frost and store them in our root cellar. What is a Root Cellar? A root cellar is a traditional food storage method that preserves food by controlling temperature, humidity, and light. While today’s … [Read more...]
7 Ways to Preserve Fresh Herbs to Eat and Enjoy all Winter Long
When I wander around my garden, even in these last days of summer, I still see fresh culinary herbs ready to be harvested and eaten. Some herbs, like dill and cilantro, have reseeded, making a second crop. Others, like my perennial sage, are leafy and full and ready to be harvested. The problem is, I can't possibly eat all of these herbs before a killing frost hits! I need some unique and creative ways to preserve fresh herbs to eat and enjoy all winter long. Fortunately, there are many ways to preserve herbs, from drying to fermenting to freezing. In this post we'll explore 7 ways to preserve herbs, capturing their intense, unique flavor to enjoy through the winter. 7 Delicious Ways to … [Read more...]
Vegetable Storage in a Root Cellar
This is the second winter that we are enjoying the fruit and vegetable storage capacities of our homestead root cellar. Root cellaring is my personal favorite method of food preservation because it is the least labor-intensive, and it preserves food as close to its fresh-out-of-the-garden state as possible. Whenever you are root cellaring, you want to store the freshest food possible and treat it very carefully. Whether you purchase food in bulk from the farmer’s market or dig it out of the garden, inspect it carefully to make sure there are no bruises or rotten spots. And as you dig, transport, and store the food, handle it carefully. Also, you will see below that each type of food … [Read more...]
How to Grow, Harvest, Cure, and Store Sweet Potatoes
In this post, I'll share not only how to grow sweet potatoes, but also how to harvest, cure and store them to enjoy all winter long! Over the past few years, my gardening efforts have shifted from growing a bit of everything to growing what does best in my climate and what actually fills the bellies of my family. That has meant fewer melons and more potatoes; only one trellis of cucumbers and three beds of winter squash. And because they are incredibly easy to grow in our zone 5b garden, lots and lots of sweet potatoes. In this post, I'll share how to grow sweet potatoes and how to harvest, cure and store them all winter long! How to Grow Sweet Potatoes from Slips Sweet … [Read more...]
How to Hang Onions for Storage
Many years ago, a friend taught me her method of hanging onions for storage. I tried it right away, and was hooked! This is one of the easiest and quickest ways to hang onions, because it only uses a rope, and the onions themselves. What I love most about this method is that you can easily see each and every onion, so you can keep track of any that are rotting. That is much more difficult when your onions are stored several layers deep in a basket! Before hanging, you'll want to make sure your onions are fully cured - I like to lay mine out in a shaded, covered, but well-ventilated location for two weeks or so, until the outer skins are papery and the stalks are fully dry. When you're … [Read more...]
Five Foods to Store for Winter
Stocking up on storage crops in the late summer and early fall, and storing them for winter eating is a great way to get local, organic food at a lower cost and higher quality than what you might find in supermarkets. In addition to growing many storage crops in our garden, we like to visit our CSA farmer and local orchards in October or November and come home with enough vegetables and fruit to last us through much of the early winter. In the Autumn months, food becomes our primary home interior decoration! Squash sits on top of any available surface, garlic and onions hang from the wall in long chains or braids, and sweet potatoes are piled in boxes under our bed (the coolest spot in … [Read more...]
In the Garden :: May
Late May is a time of glorious growth, beauty, and promise. After months and months of eating supermarket produce from California, suddenly we're walking into the garden and harvesting a large salad, or a broccoli, or a new pea. The excitement of growing my own food, and the beauty of the garden is what keeps me growing, year after year. A great batch of lettuce means salad every night, before the intense heat causes it to go bitter and bolt. The second year of my perennial flower and herb garden. Many of the plants in this bed were transported all the way from Oregon, and lovingly transplanted. A few, such as strawberries and rhubarb (and the fruit trees) were added last … [Read more...]