Preserving

I've spent many hours this summer preserving a variety of foods harvested mostly from our church garden. It's lots of hard work, but as I see my pantry shelves filling up, I am so thankful for the time spent. I find it to be fun, a connection with the past, as I recall sitting at my parent's dining room table watching my mom and grandma "putting up" food for the winter. My mom came up to help with some of the preserving, too, and having Grammy Potter at our house is always a recipe for fun.

Peaches the boys and I picked from a local farm - about 50 quarts!

Tomatoes from our small garden and the church garden - about 28 quarts. Plus more in the freezer...ran out of jars!


Mildly hot peppers diced up and put in the freezer

Tomatoes covered my kitchen counters as I waited for them to ripen the rest of the way

Our pre-washing system for veggies just picked from the garden...we just love eating the carrots raw, but I'll probably blanch and freeze some as well.

We've frozen lots of green beans, grated zucchini, zucchini bread, sugar snap peas, sweet red peppers, and delicious Carrot-Tomato Soup. Plus, I canned salsa, dill pickles, bread & butter pickles, and strawberry jam.

I have plans to do more this season yet...applesauce, squash, and maybe more tomatoes!

What a harvest!