Remember September? Where did the rest of that month? I had a birthday, it turned from summer to fall, school started, I kept bringing home buckets of produce from the Urban Farm, and I made multiple trips to the store to buy more canning jars. That sums up how the last two or three weeks have been for me. According to some local farmers, it
Holy Tomatoes
Almost every evening since I’ve been back in Oregon has revolved around some sort of food preservation. The produce… it waits for no one! The canner assumed the position on the stove next to my copper stockpot, where they have been actively bubbling away since. The tomatoes started ripening in late August, so when we got into town we graciously accepted about 40 pounds of
Home Sweet Home
We made it back safe and sound to Oregon! Look for a couple more posts in the next week or two about the fun road trip we had heading back West. We are renting a 1930’s bungalow just a few blocks from campus this year and I am excited to get settled. It has been over a year since we have seen some of our
Winter Provisions
Food preservation is a lot of work at the time – you won’t find much disagreement with that statement. There are a few things you can do to lighten the mood, like canning with friends or enjoying a beer while you make your own homebrew. Due to my hard work this fall, my winter cupboards are still stocked with the delicious flavors of summer. The
These Jars Need Filling
Winter waits for no one as I make a mad dash to fill these remaining canning jars. Sure there is school work, freelance work, writing projects, travel plans, Halloween costumes… But the canning season comes to an abrupt halt and I can’t bear to see those jars sit there empty all winter. I’m busy canning some questionable tomatoes this morning. I bought them from the
Welcome Fall
It doesn’t feel like Fall today, and yet today it officially begins. The temperature is suppose to climb to the 90’s this afternoon and yet I get an unexplainable itch every year at this time to stock my cupboards and prepare for old man winter. To date, my cupboards are stocked with the following: 10 quarts marinara sauce 2 quarts canned tomatoes 8 pints blackberry
Tomato Sauce = Fail
My eyes are still wet with tears and I can’t believe I am making myself write this post. I had a huge bucket of Roma tomatoes from the Urban Farm I have been planning to can into marinara sauce. I waited a week for them to ripen to the perfect level. You don’t want them overripe, but I wanted them really red. Finally, they were
Endless Squash
So much summer squash… so much zucchini… so many patty pans… Saturday was a really raining morning, the kind I actually prefer to work outside in. That meant fewer volunteers showed up, but the summer squash waits for no one – it still needed to be picked. If we decided to put it off a few more days, we would end up with baseball bat
Canning Season
Canning season has begun at my house, although I was trying to hold off until later in the month to really get into things. It dawned on me the other day though when I reached into the cupboard and found one last, lonely jar of jam that berry season would be gone if I waited too long. Since then, I have put up a couple