Thoughts on Food Preservation (Published 08/05/2008)

Originally published 8/5/08

The harvest is coming along here in our little wanna-be homestead. It's coming along slowly right now. We have several Better Boy tomatoes that are in the orange stage. My husband is checking them everyday because he's dying for home grown tomatoes. Our chiles and peppers are nearly ready to be picked, but I'm going to give them a few more weeks to get sweeter. I am harvesting cucumbers like crazy and boy are we loving it! Some people would cringe at the amount of cukes we have, but we are a family of cuke lovers. What we don't eat fresh, I am pickling. Our strawberry production is minimal. I've grown strawberries before and I'm not expecting a huge outcome this year. It will be in the years to come. Pumpkin, watermelon, and cantaloupe are spreading like crazy and we have many, many of them growing. Zucchini is abundant and yellow squash is catching up. Corn is amazing and we planted 3 more rows last week for a late harvest.

I find myself walking into my canning pantry and standing in amazement of all I've canned so far and my thoughts think ahead to what I will begin to can as fall arrives. I've never in my life put this much food by. We used to be buy in bulk people at Costco and so my pantry and freezer were always filled and ready for anything. We still do buy much in bulk. Things I cannot do myself. But doing the bulk creating is new for me. The harvest food preservation count is modest yet, but is as follows:

• 3 quarts of canned oranges (yes, I had to try it, it was a pain in the butt)
• 2 pints canned blueberry/apricot jam
• 2 pints canned strawberry/apricot jam
• 3 pints canned apricot jam (I did have 4, but I gave one to my Dad!)
• 2 pints canned raspberry/apricot jam and 2-1/2 cup jars of the same.
• 7 pints spear pickles
• 5 pints pickle chips
• 1 quart, 5 pints and 4-1/2 cup jars of dill relish
• 8 quarts frozen apricots for eating
• 6 quarts frozen apricots for jamming

And that's it so far! My further plans for my crop?

• Freeze corn on and off the cob.
• Can salsa
• Can tomatoes
• Can spaghetti sauce (or rather a multi-purpose sauce for spaghetti or pizza)
• Perhaps can pumpkin....I need to check on this first before I decide
• More pickles
• More jam (this winter)
• I am thinking about canning a soup starter too...but I haven't decided yet.

It's small. It's modest. But I'm working my way up. This being my first year gardening of this level, I needed to start out small. It's a good feeling to do this and my husband literally will sit for hours in the kitchen talking to me while I can because he says he gets a comfy feeling watching me. Isn't that cute? He always tells me there is something so comforting about watching me can our crop. He's hilarious.

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The above picture is of my canning efforts that year. What a bounty!!

My first garden was a huge success. It was small, but produced a big crop. I had spent the previous winter and spring reading and learning all I could about how to garden. I'd joined several gardening groups on Yahoo (before there were FB groups!). I bought a book on food preservation and taught myself all I could. I was SO PROUD of my garden. In the years to come, I expanded the size of my garden (future posts). But when we moved into this house in 2004, we had a great spot for a future garden and an apricot tree. Later we would have raspberries, apricots, peaches, and more!

I miss my garden a lot. It was beautiful and it was special. I can't even imagine what it looks like now. The people who bought our house before we moved to Oregon were delighted to have a home where they could garden and have chickens. But who knows if they've used it or if it's overgrown. The house we live in how is a rental. The soil is VERY rocky. I made a raised garden bed out of Rubbermaid storage bins and I have 3 hens (did have 4, but a coyote got to her). I have plans to expand my garden, but since this is a rental, I don't have the heart to put so much energy into a garden I can't really take with me. I don't want to plant fruit trees, only to move. So for now, what I have is good. 

Applesauce Wars (Posted 10/20/2008)

Originally Posted 10/20/2008

Ever since my kids quit eating the ultra silky smooth loveliness that is baby food applesauce, they've refused to eat any other type of applesauce. I've tried and tried and tried and finally gave up. My husband likes it. I can take it or leave it. I usually take it.

I then figured that perhaps it was store bought applesauce they don't like. So when I began the Applesauce Marathon of 2008, I thought FOR SURE my kids would LOVE my applesauce and eat it with a vengeance (Don't you love how cocky I was?). The whole time I was making the applesauce, I kept singing it's praises to my kids:

"You're gonna love it!"
"It's way better than store bought!"
"It's like apple pie without the crust!"

And so on. Out of what can only be described as utter love and devotion toward their Mommy, all three gave it a try. All three small bowls came back full and apologies with them.

"I'm sorry Mommy, I don't like it."
"Don't be offended, but it's not my thing." (THAT was the 7 year old!)
"I don't like it."

When it was all said and done, I had canned nearly 2 dozen quart jars of this glorious applesauce and only 2 out of the 5 people in this family will eat it. However, I am determined to win this food war. Oh yes...it is a war!
I am finding all different ways to put applesauce in things. I happen to think my kids need this nutritious food I SLAVED over for weeks! It has nothing in it but apples and cinnamon. So good for them! No sugar! They.Will.Eat.It.
I put it in pancakes last tonight. They don't know that. They think it was just regular pancakes. They gobbled them up! Wanted more!
Mommy = 1
Kids = 0
I plan to be undefeated. Oh yes I do......
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This post cracked me up when I reread it 9 years later. Ultimately, my kids began to love my applesauce and now they all eat it by the spoonfuls. So I guess I won the war? :) I've canned a lot of things in my life and my kids loved and hated different ones. Pickles? No. Pickled green beans? Yes. Applesauce? Yes. Canned peaches? No. Apple butter? Yes. Jam? No. They're so funny.

I started growing and preserving during a really bad time no our life. We were losing our business to the economy crash of 2008 and I wanted to make sure my family got fed. Sometimes it was pay the mortgage in order to keep our house and there was no money for groceries. So we ate what I had preserved. It might have felt like a chore to do all that, but I honestly loved it. I haven't canned a great deal in the past 3-4 years. Now that my kids are all grown and most of the time don't even eat at home, it's hard for me to want to can so much when it's just my husband and me. I'm sure I'll get back to it at some point when I find balance in my life. Right now, I'm trying to juggle work and home. Our rental house isn't really set up for a great garden. Most of my days off of work are spent trying to catch up on housework, errands, and such.

However, since our property has 3 acres of blackberries, we have started to think of ways to use them. My husband wants to make blackberry wine and blackberry infused vodka. Yum. I made some jam. We have a you-pick farm down the road from us and I might see what I can find there next year. My small garden this year has tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, chamomile, basil, cucumbers and carrots. But in very small quantities. I've been drying the herbs.

I do plan on canning salsa....to which all 3 of my kids licked their lips and let me know how much they approve of this! :D

Cutest 2nd grader in the world! (Posted 09/03/2008)

Originally Posted 9/3/08
One of the many reason I love homeschooling....she is just so darn cute when she's working!! :)

In 2006, I started homeschooling. I had no idea what I was doing. The picture above is of my youngest child, age 7, homeschooling 2nd grade in her little desk by the fireplace (Which incidentally, I still have that desk. My dad refurbished it and I haven't had the heart to part with it.). I nicknamed her "Duchess" for my blog in an effort to protect my children's privacy. "Duchess" is now 16 1/2 and entering into her *Junior* year of homeschool. She is 95% unschooled, unlike my 2 older kids (who are now 21 and 19) who were schooled according to their learning type and how they needed to be schooled. Duchess is the kind of person who likes to be the author of her own days. She likes to go with the flow. She likes to learn what she wants to learn, when she wants to learn it....much like all of humanity once they enter post-college adulthood. This year she wants to work as a lifeguard, teach swimming lessons to little kids, and learn to cook. I want her to learn how to manage her finances so when she enters the world, she will be able to function debt-free in a debt-full world. 

Homeschooling is quickly coming to an end for us as a family and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Last year Duchess and I wanted to travel around Oregon and visit all the state parks. We got derailed by various personal issues in our lives. Upon talking to her about picking up where we left off this school year, she wasn't too excited about it. She has her own ideas about her life and how she wants to spend her days. I sorta burst into tears during a moment of weakness - I'm so ashamed - and she felt like it was her fault I was so sad. It isn't. And I told her as much. I am sad that the little kid years are over and that they went by so quickly. I'm sad that we didn't make more of an effort to travel when we could last year. I'm sad that a HUGE part of my life (homeschooling) is coming to an end and soon I will have no chickies in my nest. It's a huge adjustment for me. 

Blackberry Brambles

To blog or not to blog....such a question. On and off again. My life has changed quit a bit since I began blogging in 2006. That's 11 years ago! I've had different blogs over the years and I can't quite figure out my motivation totally. To make a dent in the world? To have an audience? To teach something? To motivate? To speak? I've never had the heart to delete this blog, one of my first. So here I am, now, middle aged, nearing empty nest, looking back on my life thus far, and I don't really know what I have to say anymore. So I guess I will start with a new beginning.

I'm Beth - Green Thumb Mama. My children are grown and I live in Western Oregon now, after living in Idaho for 25 years. I have a very small garden in a rented house that is overrun with blackberry brambles. I have 4 dogs and 1 cat and 3 hens. I have one child left in the nest at 16 1/2 who is already quite independent and needs very little from me other than food, a lift, and hugs. My 2 adult children live at home - one returned after living on his own for a while, to save money and the other is about to move out on her own for the first time. I am still married to the love of my life and we are learning how to be with one another independently from raising kids. I work part time as a 2nd line cook at a very small cafe and I love it.

I am learning how to be a parent without parenting. A wife separate from a mother. A participant in the working world, yet still juggling home life. A quest for who I am, now that who I was is coming to a close. :)