I’m not going to lie: we’re feeling a little impressed with ourselves right now. We took the opportunity, on this first and perfect snow day, to assess how much food we have accumulated, frozen and canned over the summer and fall and to try to strategize about how best to make it last until next spring.We succeeded with the first task, but will happily take advice on the second. (Particularly: Rutabagas? We know nothing. Some of our carrots are a little damp. Is this OK? Is it a good thing?)
Here’s the final tally from our fridge, freezer, kitchen shelves and our foyer, which is very cold and very dark and serving as an excellent root cellar. The fruit and veggies herein came largely from our CSA through Red Fire Farm, which ended this week, and our winter CSA from Shared Harvest, which delivered three loads of mostly storage crop once a month, October, November and December. The rest came from assorted farmers’ markets, pick-your-own farms and our fish share through Cape Ann Fresh Catch.
In the fridge/foyer
• 50 lbs of potatoes
• 15 lbs of carrots
• 15 heads of garlic
• 8 rutabagas
• 7 lbs of parsnips
• 5 butternut squash
• 4 celeriac
• 4 turnips
• 3 popcorn cobs
• 2 large red cabbage
• 1 pie pumpkin
• 1 large green cabbage
• 1/2 bushel of onion
• 1/2 bushel of sweet potatoes
What we* preserved
• 12 qts of dilly beans
• 8 qts pickled cukes
• 8 qts of peaches
• 4 qts pickled carrots
• 4 pints of pepper jelly
• 4 qts peach chutney
• 3 qts of tomatilloes
• 3 jam jars of ground cherry jam
• 3 qts of tomatoes
• 3 pints of simple syrup•
• 2 pints of mediterranean chutney
• 2 qts pickled peppers
• 2 qts applesauce
• 1 qt + 2 pints of salsa
• 1 qt of brined tomatoes
In the freezer
• 7 cod fillets
• 7 lbs of beef (the meat is from Stillman’s)
• 6 quarts of strawberries
• 5 quarts of blueberies
• 5 lbs of spinach
• 4 qts applesauce
• 4 quarts of assorted hot peppers
• 1 qt garlic scape pesto
• 1 qt basil pesto
• 2 bags of green beans
• 2 qts of tomato sauce
• 2 pieces of mozzarella (from Fiore di Nonno)
• 2 lbs of cranberries (from Cranberry Hill)
• 1 quart of corn
• 1 qt of cod stock
• 1 chicken
• coupla smelts
Our preserving was rarely a solo act. We had generous support from Team Pickle.
Holy crap. Impressive! I’d say you’re in great shape. In other news, that’s a lovely color on your walls.
You beat me to it! A daunting task, no doubt, but indeed worth noting. Between our two homes, we can survive any upcoming zombers attack, yes??
This is super awesome and impressive!
As a non-localvore, but someone who likes to eat well and grows some of her own food (not as much as I’d like) I wanted to say thanks for all the info I get from this site and wish you a Happy New Year. I don’t know anyone irl who thinks it is normal to have a basement area set off for winter squashes, potatoes, apples, onions, etc that I grew myself and want to feed the family through out the winter. Keep up the good work!