Getting Creative—Part I
In February, the wood pile seems to dimish as quickly as the
canned food store. At this point in the winter, I find that we are out of my
tomato basil sauce; we only have a few cans of rosemary garlic salsa left and
only one can of green dill salsa; a few pickled ginger jars remain with a whole
lot of sambal oelek (perhaps we don’t like hot food quite as much as I
thought). In the freezer, we have plenty of venison and burger (we don’t’ eat
much meat), but my stores of beans, peas, zucchini, summer squash, blackberries,
strawberries, and asparagus are almost gone.
On the other hand, I still have plenty of corn, and enough fruit
jam and bread to get us through zombie apocalypse…
I’m learning from this.
As I plan my garden for next year, I’m applying the lessons
from this winter to future production and planning. Rather then haphazardly
canning what I have (and being triumphant in having done so successfully) as in
previous years, I’m taking stock of what my family eats and when. Moreover, I’m
recording what preserves well and what does not.
Lesson #1: My Frankenstein produce:
Hoping to save on weight and space, I dehydrated and dry
oven canned potatoes, spinach, and squash—soup fixings, I thought. This has
worked okay in a crockpot with chicken broth to reanimate the dehydrated
vegetables. Not sure I would repeat this process, however—not optimal.
Dehydrated fruit, on the other hand—I dehydrated and froze
bananas and apples—works really well in hot breakfasts, like oatmeal or pancakes,
However, reanimated bananas are actually really gross on their own. I will not
do that again.
Lesson #2: Next year’s planting:
It just makes sense to gear the garden to what my family
likes. This year, there will be tons of peas, spinach, and beans—they haven’t
grown well in the big garden so my husband has built me planters near our house
that can be closely monitored and replanted every thirty days—tomatoes as
usual, more broccoli, and squash that will survive the winter intact (like
Jarradale Pumpkins and Hubbard Squash). I have discontinued planning more
exotic vegetables, like kohlrabi, which simply didn’t grow well in our plot and
which, additionally, don’t preserve well.
Our asparagus—I planted three varieties: Martha Washington, Purple Passion
and Green Giant—will produce this year, as it is their third year of growth,
and should provide plenty of produce for the freezer. I began saving seeds last
year from my favorite heirloom tomato strains and will start then next month.
In short, I have decided to focus on the possible: I will do
well what I can do well.
I have already placed my orders for the spring (more on that
later), but for now, the task at hand is creatively using what I have:
-Puff pastry becomes a pot pie shell for venison, apples,
cumin, and celery or beans;
-Corn chowder is easy with a frozen fish or two simmered
down in olive oil and cumin, some hot sauce (sambal oelek?), sautéed mushrooms and a carmelized
onion or two;
-Sandwiches, sandwiches, sandwiches—peach jam, kiwi jam,
sweet jalapeno jam, hot mango jam, or plum jam with very sharp cheddar on my
own whole wheat oatmeal bread; summer strawberry jam or elderberry with
all-natural peanut butter. Food of champions.
If my goal is truly to make it through the winter on our
produce alone, I obviously need to gear my thoughts towards our family
consumption. With that in mind, I’ve begun plans for next year’s garden, a
beehive, more orchard trees, mushrooms, and a farmers’ market circuit—more to
follow.
