Pantry Inventory

Peaches from last year's trip to BC

There are only a few full jars on my shelves:

2 salsa

1plum

2 peaches

2 apricot

12 pears

 (over-estimated on that one)

3 sauerkraut

8 relish

0 beet relish

(that was a hit!)

2 raspberry jam

Definitely time to plan another trip 

and work hard to restock!

Saturday in the Greenhouse

For something completely different today, here's a look at the middle of October in our yard.  I did a quick walk one afternoon and captured a last look at autumn.

Cranberries still hanging

I love the textures in the dried zinnias

1 pumpkin still hiding in the grass

Bright green mint crawling everywhere

Dried sunflower heads

And by the next morning, this had happened -

Which meant that I had to get into the greenhouse for a final picking and cleanup!

Things were still growing

and slowly ripening

which meant I had all these tomatoes to pick!

Greenhouse almost ready for winter  

and my very dark chlorophyll-stained hand

at the end of the day!

And that's all she wrote for gardening this year!

In just 4 months it will be time to plant seeds again!

I'm not quite excited about that yet -

maybe after 4 more months of winter I'll feel different :)

Gratitude Gifts Today

#4795 - #4832

- safety while storms rage all over the continent
- cocooning at home and avoiding icy roads
- empty chicken house, just in time
- cleaned out deep freeze
- room enough for all

- little trick-or-treaters
- great big 'thanks' shouted back at me
- imagination - of littles and parents
- candles burning bright in pumpkins
- "This Little Light of Mine"

- sewing
- iPhone photos - amazing technology
- slow cooker ready meals
- garlic smashed potatoes
- leftovers

- chicken stock cooking after supper
- fresh pears
- mint green tea
- rescheduling visits
- little ones playing in the sandbox

- cords and sweaters
- down-filled jacket
- warm gloves and boots
- hot dogs for lunch at school
- colours of the rainbow

- sun shining while snow diamonds twinkle
- chickadees outside my kitchen window
- fourteen cups of pumpkin for the freezer
- first batch of poppycock
- filling shoeboxes to send

- 3 gifts that begin with 'N' - our daugher Naomi, nuts and nachos

- quiet night times

- gifts that only He can give

- words of hymns that speak straight to me

- my Saviour and His unfailing love for me

Five on Friday

1.

“Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart.”

Khalil Gibran (1883-1931);

2.  Only 80 days until Christmas!!

3.  We've had two nights in a row of frigid (like -6 degrees C) nighttime temperatures - summer is definitely over.  I hoped my sunflowers would make it to Thanksgiving but they are droopy and finished.   It's supposed to warm up a bit NEXT week - I really need to get the garden root vegetables pulled out and put away.

4.  I canned my first batch of sauerkraut this week!  I made this one all by myself for the first time :)  I will need to make one more batch so I have enough to share around the family.  My pantry shelves are getting very full!

5.  Photo of the week:

In Nose Creek Park

Five on Friday In Photos

1.  Lake Okanagan and orchards seen from Wind Rosa

2.  Red Haven peaches

3.   Loaded to the rafters!

4.  My friend and travel companion

5.  Boxes of goodness :)

Dear Little Jar

Dear Little Jar,

You are the last bit of apricot salsa left on my pantry shelf!  You have lasted 10 whole months, squeezed in between your cousins, the tomato salsa and the apricot syrup.   I was thrilled to find you today and bring you up to add to the taco meat I was prepping for supper.

You started out as just an idea when Heather and I were in BC last September and saw shelves and shelves full of fruit salsas.  We sampled the nectarine type and thought it might be worth creating some for ourselves.  When we came home, the apricots were ready to be canned right away and after doing 14 quarts of fruit, I decided to use some of the rest and try my hand at salsa.

I couldn't find a recipe so I just modified my favourite tomato salsa recipe and went from there.  Personally I find you a bit tart and think a little sugar might make you taste better.  I love your orange colour though and definitely think you have a place on my list of preserving.

You'll always have a special place in my heart since you were my first non-tomato baby in this salsa making adventure that happens every summer.  Thanks for turning out and for keeping in your sealed jar all winter.  It's been a slice? a scoop? a blast?  Whatever - I'm so glad you came into our lives - and that you will soon be ready for filling again!

Love,
Crystal

Canning Inventory

On the first weekend in September, Heather and I drove to the Okanagan Valley in BC to pick up fruit and bring it home to preserve.  It's been a busy, busy month but I have so much goodness stored up from that trip - and our garden - for a long, cold winter.

For the first time ever, I had to expand to 3 shelves on the right hand side to get everything in!  I still want to make one more batch of salsa, some sauerkraut and there are lots of green tomatoes that need to ripen.

Inventory List of Jars 

6 nectarines

7 plums

21 apricots

52 peaches

21 pears

34 tomatoes

13 tomato salsa

10 apricot salsa

3 tomato sauce

12 zucchini relish

5 raspberry jam

10 apricot syrup

9 beet relish

7 applesauce

10 dill pickles

9 dill slices/spears

I have plans to share some of this bounty with other families too.   What a gracious God that has provided all this food!

P.S.  There are several bags of berries, containers of applesauce and bags of kernel corn in the freezer too :)

Five on Friday

1.  The weather this week has been so gorgeous that I just had to pump up the tires on my bike and go for a ride along the lake yesterday.  When I drove home, this is what it looked like going up our road.  The leaves have really changed color now and the sun was at that perfect point in the western sky to give a beautiful warm hue to everything.

2.  After breaking my glasses nearly three weeks ago, I finally have new ones to wear!

3.  Today was the day to make beet relish - it's going to be so good on the deep, dark days of winter.

4.  If you are looking for home decor projects that you can sew, the Sew4Home site is amazing!

(photo from Sew4Home)

5.  Do you have some apples that need to be taken care of?  Then you should try this Apple Pie Filling In A Jar.  Naomi gave me some two years ago and it is absolutely delicious!  It's still on my to-do list for this year.

(photo from Skip to My Lou.org)

Five on Friday

1.  Tomato Salsa

2.  Roasted Tomatoes

3.  Canned Tomatoes

4.  Tomato Sauce

5.  And in other news - - - Bob had a very good week combining, finishing up all the barley!  Now there's still a little bit of oats to do and then we will be done. the. grain. harvesting.

Five on Friday

Apricot Day

1.  Tuesday - 21 jars of apricots, 11 bottles apricot syrup, 10 jars apricot salsa

2.  Wednesday - 14 jars tomatoes, 10 jars tomato salsa,

3.  Thursday - 7 jars plums, 5 lbs. blueberries frozen, 21 jars peaches, 8 cups plum pieces frozen

4.  Friday - 9 jars peaches, 14 jars tomatoes

5.  Saturday - the marathon continues with  48 cobs of corn and pears waiting for attention.

I think perhaps my eyes were bigger than my hands - but the shelves are filling up and the boxes are emptying slowly!

Gratitude Gifts Today

It's been another week filled with blessings - bounty from gardens and orchards,  bounty in relationships and love, bounty in God's protection and leading, bounty in seeing God's creation and His love in those around me.  There has been news of illness and sadness, some hard conversations and some unexpected twists in the path.   But all, all is grace, as Ann would say - and as I agree!



#2965 - #2995

- enough cucumbers to make three jars of pickles
- pea plants that keep producing
- finding potatoes deep in the ground
- pink zinnias
- watching my Dad reach high to cut sweetpeas for me

- the wonderful fragrance of those sweetpeas
- cuddling Maëlle
- hearing her coo and squeal
- beautiful baby smiles
- pudgy baby legs

- amazing roads cut through mountains
- time with my daughters - and missing the one that is far away
- seeing our children's dreams become reality, one piece at a time
- sharing apples from our trees
- heartfelt prayers spoken with new friends

- beautiful peaches and pears hanging on trees
- farmers who grow bountiful crops, on vines and trees and stalks
- signs hanging from trees in front yards
- organic apricots
- straight rows marching across the hills

- a reliable vehicle, loaded with boxes of fruit
- safety while travelling
- smooth roads that wind gently along lakes
- lofty mountains with white tops
- new clothes for their first day of kindergarten

- little boy opening presents
- celebrating three years of living
- big sister's kindness and her help to make his day special
- reading in my Bible and then seeing the very same words in an online post
- that God provides so much good in so many ways

A Summer's Worth of Jars

It's been quite the summer for me!  Preserving and capturing the tastes of summer has taken lots of my time - and a huge number of jars!

Here is the final tally:

Quart jars:

35 peaches

14 pears

7 plums

24 sauerkraut

5 applesauce

5 dill pickles

Pint jars:

30 tomatoes

10 peaches

15 applesauce

18 zucchini relish

15 salsa

9 beet relish

12 rhubarb chutney

8 peach chutney

14 raspberry jam

Plus there are lots of things in the freezer and some onions, carrots and potatoes for the cold room.  I am so very thankful that these food items are waiting to be shared and enjoyed by many this winter!  And now I am ready to do some other things.  Let it snow - wait, maybe that's a bit much!

Making Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut, a staple in Eastern European cooking,  is basically fermented cabbage.  Bob's mom is an expert in making it and she's always been generous and given us several jars each year.  After being married for 34 years, I decided it was something that I really should learn to make and Naomi wanted to learn too, so the 3 of us had a kraut making day.

We started with 16 heads of cabbage, 100 pounds in all.

After a whole lot of grating, using a grater that Bob's grandmother once used -

and lots of salting and mixing, by big hands and little hands, 

we had 2 - 5 gallon pails filled, ready to ferment and turn into delicious sauerkraut.  It should be finished fermenting in about 10 - 14 days and ready to use.  I hope to can most of it and we'll be ready for a feast of sauerkraut and pork hocks!  It seems so easy to do - hopefully it turns out - I'll keep you posted!

Making Salsa

Take 12 lbs. of ripe tomatoes -

add peppers and onions -

season and simmer -

put in jars and seal -

and you will get THE most delicious salsa ever!!

Go to Mennonite Girls Can Cook and check the canning and preserving section for their awesome recipes.

And then I decided to cost it out!  Well, well, well!!

Tomatoes - 12 lbs. @ $0.40/lb.    $12.80
Peppers - green & colored              6.50
Garlic (from BC)                             2.50
Onions (from garden)
Vinegar                                              .75
Spices (guesstimate)                        1.25
Sugar & salt                               .50

Total                                            $24.30

Divided between 12 jars   =           $2.025

That same size of jar at Superstore (the cheapest place I know to shop) is $3.99 so I saved half - had a pleasant afternoon in the kitchen AND have an awesome product with 0 preservatives, hardly any salt or sugar, and most of it (except for vinegar, sugar, salt and spices) was grown within 500 km of home.

I had heard people say that once you make your own salsa, you will never use the store-bought kind again and now I know why!  I'm on the hunt for more tomatoes!!

Apples, Apples, Apples!

My weekend in 4 easy steps!  So far I have made 25 jars of applesauce and the tree is only half empty.   Let me know if you'd like a pail or two of the little guys!

Capturing Summer

- in a jar!!

Actually - 15 of them!  

Rhubarb chutney, a year's supply, ready for the pantry shelf.

Next up - raspberries in the freezer (first 2 containers went in yesterday) and raspberry jam!

How is summer going in your little corner of the world?  Are you enjoying the season's bounty?  I sure  hope so!