Food Preservation

Comment

Comment by Pat Johnson on April 22, 2011 at 8:21am

As my friend Harriet pointed out in an earlier post....you can't can too many tomatoes". You can use them in everything from soups to sauces. Sun dried or dehydrated tomatoes are another good way to preserve the bounty. Dehydrate the peppers and gind them up into pepper powder that will store for a long time. Try to do some bartering. Maybe you can get some help with the preserving for the cost of a few tomatoes & peppers.

Comment by Erin Mitchell on April 21, 2011 at 4:47pm

What to do with the MASS amounts of tomatoes and hot peppers we'll be getting soon... Hmmmmm

Comment by Pat Johnson on April 20, 2011 at 11:34am

That damned Peter Piper is getting on my nerves, He keeps running around telling people that he "picked a peck of pickled peppers" but I'm here to tell you they ain't pickled when you pick em. That's where I come in. But does Mr. Piper give me any credit for pickling them? No, he hogs all the glory for himself!

Comment by Harriet Fasenfest on April 20, 2011 at 9:04am

Yes, "a rash".  I agree.  Back when we first started teaching food preservation I almost couldn't convince my mentor (a retired home economist) that this movement would revive.  "Nobody wants to do this anymore", she said but I thought differently.  Of course we were city kids (or I was - she grew up in the Wisconsin farming community) and the logic of putting up your stores had long been usurped by industry.  That was back in early 2000 when we first started our business Preserve.  We went on to teach lots of folks and inspired others to start their own ventures.  Though we don't teach formally anymore, we are gratified to see the huge explosion in the home canning movement.  But one thing is sure, we did not invent a darn thing.

This is a movement that had its roots in rural american and like the farming community itself, was darn near destroyed after industry (and modernity) came to lure, and/or chase, us away from a simpler more grounded way of living.  I wish more of our elders would join this conversation.  They are the ones we should turn to.  They are the ones who can explain the system, the logic and the way it connects to rural lifestyles -- not as a think piece or hobby (which is how so many of us urbanites embrace this movement) but as part and parcel to a world few of us will ever experience.

Let us find this generation of elders before they leave us.  I know a few, have been inspired by them, humbled by them (a look at their pantries vs. my own can do it) and love hearing their stories.  And when I get all fancy ass on them with my theories and "revelations" they just look at me and say......No, it was just the way it was.  Plain and true.  Just the way it was.  Connected to a bigger logic, a rural logic.

So yes, "a rash", but let us find them Cornelia and when we throw the big Home Grown Hoe Down (which I sure hope we do) lets make sure to invite them to the party.  

Comment by Cornelia on April 20, 2011 at 8:25am

Thank you Pat and Harriet - and Torry! You have been the tireless promoter of swapping, bartering, trading and sharing here FOREVER - I'm sorry for not mentioning you (yet). I'll send what I've got to all three of you (once I have the time to put it together). I'm so looking forward to spreading this like a rash!

Comment by Pat Johnson on April 20, 2011 at 8:05am

Cornelia, Home-Gorwn give us birds of a feather a place to flock together so it's all good! Like Harriet pointed out, we only know what we know because others before us did the hard work. It's resourses like Homegrown that provide a way to spread the word. We're not "know-it-alls (although I usually sound like one), we're just passing on knowledge gathered from other resources. However, we have gained some experience in putting that research into practice and have something to add that research alone won't get you (best practices from someone who has learned the hard way). Let me know if you'd like me to do anything and I'll try to help.

By the way I started some sauerkraut yesterday from 4 large heads of cabbage and 8 tablespoons of kosher salt. My friends consumed all the last batch aready. 4 more weeks of fermenting and I'll be back in stock!

Comment by Harriet Fasenfest on April 19, 2011 at 9:35pm

Hey Cornelia,

Pat's the man.  I'm sure he can give you all the feedback you need not to mention all the other great folks in this discussion group.  But should you want me to look at it I'd be flattered.  I always feel squirrelly about these things cause of all the men and women who came before us who really knew what the hell they were doing.  Which doesn't mean we don't have heart.  Nope, we got lots of that.  

Comment by Torry on April 19, 2011 at 9:27pm

Harumph.

Comment by Cornelia on April 19, 2011 at 3:29pm

I've been watching your conversation and just want to say how happy this makes me. You folks embody so many of the values from which this site was born: collaboration, community, generosity while family farmers thrive. Thank you. I'm going to attempt to write up some kind of summary of this for the HOMEGROWN blog so that more people can be inspired - does anyone want to help me? I can take a first pass at it, then run it by Pat and Harriet to make sure I haven't missed anything. This is just too brilliant not to share widely!

Comment by Harriet Fasenfest on April 19, 2011 at 10:44am

Lovely lovely.  So excited about all your work Pat and Lynda.  I'm getting together with a woman today to discuss implementing some of these ideas and just discovered a nice swap club.  It's all happening and glad of it.

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• …
• 45
• 46
• 47
• 48
• 49
• …
• 66
• Next ›
• Page