Although we are quite busy with blacksmithing events and the like during the summer (not to mention the kids' activities and our other jobs!), we spend a lot of time preserving the summer's bounty. Maybe it's because I grew up in the Midwest where everyone had chest freezers and pressure cookers, but I tend to consider putting up food just a normal part of the summer routine.
My garden is too small to produce everything we need so we often supplement from other sources, but we have a great time doing it. Just this morning, I froze peaches for pies in the middle of winter and yesterday, I canned whole tomatoes for future soups. Earlier this summer, we picked blueberries, which we froze. We also picked c
herries, which we froze, turned into preserves with some raspberries, and tried to make fruit leather (which I accidentally burnt -- oops!)
Tomatoes from our garden went into "bruschetta in a jar" and pizza sauce. Our garden tomatoes will also be regularly roasted and turned into sauce that I'll freeze.
And, as the jars are finished, a supper of squash starts to saute on the stove:
Our garden's cucumbers turned into a small batch of bread and butter pickles:
And, of course, I make pesto out of our basil as it ripens, and every year, I realize that I didn't plant enough basil for a year's worth of pesto!
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