Its 5:00 somewhere but just 4:00 here at the lake; nevertheless, I am treating myself to a bloody mary made with homemade tomato juice as I wait for my chili tomato sauce to reduce enough to process. We will make the Italian tomato sauce tomorrow with only apples remaining before we shut the operation down for the season. After last year’s 200 jar marathon I thought we might cut back a bit this year but not sure it’s going to work out that way when the final tally is made. I think I will blame it on the 40 jars of pear product that emerged from this year’s pear tree windfall. In addition, we probably only needed 20 of the 40 pounds of beets Paul sourced so ended up with 21 jars of pickled beets. It’s a good thing I have two siblings hankering for them but they will have to wait until we see them at Christmas. Plus, we had an overabundance of large cucumbers I kept pulling out of the compost bin that made some delicious relish. I still plan to experiment with a ginger-pear jam using the pear juice we made and froze from pear peels and cores. Finally, with seven plus quarts of rhubarb in the freezer, I thought I might try a rhubarb barbeque sauce with end of the season tomatoes so I guess all bets are off on cutting back this year.
Beyond gift giving which accounts for half of our bounty, the next challenge becomes how to use all of our frozen produce and canned products? I have taken an inventory of what is in the freezer and posted it on the front of the refrigerator. So far, I have done well modifying it as we take things out and use them. I will do the same with our canned goods in both Arizona and South Dakota. Then we have to start meal planning around our product which is new for us. Historically, we have been same day meal planners so this is going to take some discipline. Being a carnivore, Paul always has a good supply of meat in the freezer so along with our vegetable products and mutual interest in cooking we should be well equipped to make this happen. I think the search for new recipes will be fun but I see a lot of stir fry’s, frittatas and one dish meals ahead. Stay tuned for how this works out for us.
I must admit that after 5 years of learning to preserve the garden bounty the novelty has worn off, but maybe everyone feels that way at the end of the canning season. Paul and I have finally found our rhythm in the process but it really is a lot of hard work during the hottest month of the year. I can see why people give it up and settle for a few containers of their favorite donated produce stored in the freezer for use during the winter months. I guess we have time to recover and reassess over the winter months and, somehow, I will probably be “gung ho” again when next year’s planting season arrives! There is something to be said for the seasonal nature of “coming home” to the heartland!