Preserving food makes me feel virtuous. It reminds me of the years when I was first married, when money was in short supply, and everything that we could hunt or grow was preserved for the winter. Canning also reminds me of my grandmother, who was a Kansas farm wife, and the times I helped her can peaches and cherries.
Now, I grow my own vegetables and herbs, but in much smaller quantities than my grandmother needed for her family and the farm workers. The large jar of greenery (above) is a garden tea blend of tansy, comfrey, and mint. It's great for sore throats in the middle of winter. The cats have an equally large jar of dried catnip waiting for them.
I doubt that Grandma ever ate or made pesto sauce. Basil is one of the few things that grows in abundance in my garden, and the best way I've found to preserve it--aside from drying--is to make pesto and freeze it in small quantities.
Ground pine nuts, minced garlic, and basil leaves keep well in the freezer, and if all I need is a little for pizza topping, I just scrape off small chunks from the frozen block. No need to defrost.
Peas take up a lot of room in my garden, but the space yields enough to satisfy my needs for the year, and I love going to the freezer for a handful of peas to add to casseroles, soups, and salads. I only wish I could grow enough peas to make a huge pot of pea soup: a blend of peas, garlic, butter, and cream. Yum!
We had a late frost last spring, which resulted in no plums and only a few apples on my little fruit trees. I let the squirrels take the remaining apples after I found one of them chewing on a piece of jute that I'd used to tie up a tomato plant. How hungry do you have to be to chew string?
Later...The answer to the above question may be found at:
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