Preserving for Winter

As I said in an earlier post I have spent the better part of the last couple months canning and preserving.  While a lot of people struggled with their gardens this year due to the weather, I was surprised that mine did so good.  Everything I planted produced well for me with the exception of the bell peppers.  I have a few on but they are small and bitter tasting.

As usual the canning season started off with sweet corn.  I put up 27 quarts and 40 pints of corn. 

From my own garden I was able to preserve:

27 quarts and 12 pints of tomatoes
12 quarts and 56 pints of green beans
11 pints of pickles
9 half pints of hot peppers
7 pints and 9 half pints of salsa (got some of the peppers and tomatoes from a friend, everything else was from our garden)
86 quarts of peaches (not all were off our trees.  Some of these were given to us and some I bought at a produce auction)

I also  found a lot of free sources for produce.  Apples were a big one for us this year.  I found a couple different places that had apple trees that the owners weren't interested in having.  Yay for me!!  I was also able to find places to pick pears and grapes.  So in addition to the above I also added this to my pantry...

21 quarts and 26 pints of pears
8 quarts and 41 pints of applesauce (as well as lots of dried apple rings)
3 pints and 12 half pints of apple butter
11 pints and 19 half pints of grape jelly
1 quart and 5 pints of grape juice.  

I also attended a produce auction where I bought 100 lbs of tomatoes and with that I made 27 pints and 6 half pints of tomato sauce. I have a seperate post about that!

So as you can see, I have been a bit busy.  With grocery prices going up I am happy to have a pantry full of healthy, homegrown canned goods for my family.  

Shelling Peas

Today was another day of shelling peas.  We have been picking almost every day out of our garden.  I usually get lots of help when it comes to getting the peas out of their shells.  Some make it in the bowl, some make it on the floor and some make it into little mouths.

Tomorrow I plan to preserve the large bowl that we have collected throughout the week.  I will be blanching and freezing them.  I will share that process with you in an upcoming post.





Everyone should have this much fun shelling peas!