Tag Archives: independence days

Independence Days Update

independancedays20091It’s been quite a while since my last update on the Independence Days Challenge, so this post will include everything I can remember from fall and early winter, since my last post about the challenge was in July.

Plant:

  • Back in the fall, I planted succession lettuce and peas. Nothing recently, though. 

Harvest:

  • lettuce, scallions, dill, parsley, chives, sage, thyme, snap peas, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, leeks, basil

Preserve:

  • applesauce, cranberry applesauce, fall fruit chutney, apple pie filling
  • pork, beef, turkey in the freezer

Reduce Waste:

  • continue to carry water bottle, reusable bags, reusable containers, cloth napkins, etc.
  • compost
  • use salvaged building materials for our projects

Preparation and Storage:

  • buying canned and dry goods when on sale
  • processing and freezing the pigs and turkeys (our freezer is FULL!!!)
  • making a list of preservation goals for next year

Build Community Food Systems:

  • visited our town’s Potato and Corn Festival and visited local agricultural fairs in the fall
  • gave some lesson plans and labs to a member of my town’s agricultural commission, since he’s trying to promote agriculture in the classroom
  • handed out snap pea seeds as favors at my baby shower, since they can be planted right around when our baby should arrive

Eat the Food:

  • um, check! I can’t link to specific recipes, but take a visit to my Cookbook if you want to see what I’ve been making

I do have to say that I’m getting tired again in the third trimester, and I’ve been slacking off on the from scratch cooking.  I’ve stopped making bagels, tortillas, and bread, and have been buying them instead.  I don’t feel guilty, though, I’m too tired!  Plus I still cook most nights, but have been taking some help on items like these that most people buy instead of make.

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Preservation Goals

I’m reading through Sharon Astyk’s Independence Days, and she suggests making a plan for food preservation for the year.  Since we’re already out of strawberry jelly and tomatoes, I thought it might be a nice time to get together a list of the minimum amounts I’d like to get put away in the coming year.

apple week 007

June

  • 2 dozen half-pints strawberry jam

July/August

  • 1 dozen half-pints peach jam
  • 2 dozen pints canned peaches
  • freeze 10 lbs Maine blueberries
  • 3 dozen quarts canned tomatoes
  • freeze 5 dozen ears of corn
  • freeze as many raspberries as possible

September/October

  • 3 dozen pints applesauce
  • 6 quarts apple pie filling
  • 6 pints cranberry-applesauce
  • 6 half-pints cider jelly

So that’s a minimum of what I’d like to get preserved this summer, and anything else will be bonus.  I have no idea if this is realistic to think I’ll get it done with a baby, but I guess we’ll see.  

We’ve still got a long winter to go, and I guess that’s why I’m thinking of this now! Plus when it’s chilly and icy here, it’s nice to think about standing over a pot of boiling water.

Has your pantry run out of anything yet? Do you have goals for the next growing season?

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Independence Days Update

OK, it’s only been a few days since I signed up for Sharon’s Independence Days Challenge, but here’s an update.

  1. Plant something.  I planted some lettuce seeds, another row of carrots, some more peas and some more green beans.
  2. Harvest something.  Basil, the last of the peas, the first of the green beans.
  3. Preserve something.  I made and froze pesto with the basil and garlic from Chris and Melissa.  I also blanched and froze 1 bag of peas and 2 bags of green beans.
  4. Prep something.  I pulled out the bolted lettuce and the dying pea plants, weeded and got the ground ready to plant seeds.
  5. Cook something new.  green beans (new recipe)
  6. Manage your reserves.  I cleaned all of the clutter out of the pantry.
  7. Reduce waste. (Sharon added this one from the original.)  I tossed all of the bolted lettuce, ends of the beans, shells of the peas, and corn husks in the woods for the animals.  Does that count?
  8. Work on local food systems.  Got native corn from my family’s farm.  Got onions and garlic from Chris and Melissa’s garden.  Spreading the corn word through Corn Week posts!
  9. Learn a new skill. (Also added)- None that I can think of.  But I did learn that Ed and I can’t possibly eat 24 heads of lettuce when they’re all ready at the same time… so I think that counts.  I learned from all the bolted lettuce and will succession plant from now til the end of the lettuce season.

OK, OK, Corn Week will continue later today…

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