Preserving the Harvest

It's always nice to eat fresh, but sometimes you've just had your fill. Or you know you'll want a fill later. I always preserve berries, either in jams or by freezing. I used to can blueberries for a ready-made sauce, but it's way easier to freeze them whole and whip up a 5 minute sauce when you need it.

The Berry Deal

I'm a firm believer in using two hands, and I'm not a fan of blueberry rakes. I wear a 2 quart jug fastened to my front by a belt. One hand holds the branches, the other picks--it's easy and fast. No spilled berries unless you fall!

I let blueberries soak in water for a few hours to purge any worms. I clean them then spread them in a single layer on a baking sheet. I freeze them on the sheet then transfer them to gallon-sized plastic bags. (This can work for any berry). After the summer gorge of crisps, muffins, pancakes, and waffles, three gallons of blueberries does the trick for my family. Red huckleberries are frozen if I can keep from eating them all. I store salmonberries, in the form of jam, and it's our most coveted flavor. I always go crazy on jam since I want to try so many combinations of fruit and spice. Luckily, they make great gifts!

We also make fruit leather, as my son is a huge fan. Huck and I made bunch berry/blueberry leather this week that is almost gone already! Bunch berries are bland alone, but they mix in with other things wonderfully. They are easy to find, easy to pick, and are ready when most other berries are done.We used about half blues and half bunches and an old mushy banana. The trick is to not over-dry it and to roll it off the drying rack while it is still warm. Let the rolls cool then store them in an air-tight container in the fridge.

 Chicken of the Woods

I know nothing about mushroom identification. That said, you can't really misidentify chicken of the woods. It's bright orange, grows on the dead or living trunks of trees, and appears out of nowhere. When it blooms, it's all over town. It's meaty and delicious!




 I usually saute mine in oil and eat it like I do any other mushroom. I put it on pizza, in stir fries, and in burritos. I recently had some boiled, breaded, and fried by the Wabi Sabi crew at the JAHC market. SPECTACULAR! This year, I decided to try preserving it. After searching a bit on the internet I decided to try four different methods. Freezing raw, freezing after sauteing, drying raw, and drying after sauteing. The taste test will come in a month!

It's out right now, so go on a hike and find your own stash! Remember not to take all you find, and leave the bases attached to the tree trunk so they can continue to grow. 

Herbs

I can't come close to using all the herbs I have. Last year I dried oregano and rosemary. Both were great. This year, I gave flavored vinegars a try. I was inspired by a friend who gave me some apple cider nasturtium flower vinegar last year, which was phenomenal on rice. I did a trial run of 12 quarter-pint jars. I tried using white, apple cider, rice, red wine, and white wine vinegars. For the herbs I used sage, thyme, oregano, rosemary, and even nasturtium leaves. It'll be interesting to see what combinations are best.  They are all steeping in the dark for a few more weeks.

Garlic

I wash off my garlic and let it dry on a wire rack. I put a sheet of newspaper over it to keep it dark while it dries, and I have it in the living room so there's some heat from the woodstove. I usually store mine in fridge, but I've recently read that just cool and dark is best, so I'm going to try storing some in a mesh bag in the shed and some under my kitchen sink. I only have about 20 bulbs to keep, so I don't need to worry about saving them too long. At the JAHC market last week I bought 4 different types of garlic from Orsi Organic Produce to use as my planting stock. Their website has Juneau directions for planting, caring, harvesting, and drying. They recommend planting garlic 1-2 inches deep. When I dug the last of mine up yesterday they were 5-6 inches underground--opps! I guess garlic ain't tulips!

Next week I leave for a moose hunting trip, so hopefully I'll be busy wrapping, canning, and drying! What are you going to save this fall?

Eating is Wonderful

Sometimes there's just so much fresh food to eat my belly never has time to growl. Here's what a plate sees on a typical day at our house:

Breakfast (6 local ingredients)

Burritos:
     Local: Eggs, kale, onions, chives, chicken of the woods mushrooms
     Purchased: butter, tortilla, hot sauce

Lunch (10 local ingredients)

Salad:
     Local: 3 or so varieties of lettuce, kale, nasturtiums, onions, peas, carrots, garlic tops, chives
     Purchased: olive oil, vinegar + flour, yeast, salt, and butter for homemade croutons

Supper ( 7 local ingredients)

Stir Fry

     Local: Moose steaks, onion, kale, garlic, garlic tops, chicken of the woods mushrooms, parsley

     Purchased: Rice and hot sauce

When I opened up the rice lid--after having prepared the colorful stir fry--I was utterly disappointed. What a bland and distant pot compared to the skillet! The only reason I made it is because Huck would have eaten moose and nothing else otherwise

Dessert (2 local ingredients)

Tea and berries

   Local: mint, nagoon berries, thimble berries, or red huckleberries, oh my!
   Purchased: optional butter, oatmeal, flour, sunflower seeds, and flax seeds if we want a crisp

25 local ingredients in one day. 

We are so lucky to eat so well! 

(and you could be this lucky too!)

Can you believe my son won't try a vegetable even when I prepare them like this?! 

At least I get a kick out of it!

 .....Now if I can only grow my own chilies to make my own hot sauce!

Despite the weather.....

...the garden has gone bazurk and is the horn of green plenty!

I'm up to my eyeballs in salad, and I think the slugs are enjoying it as much as I am! It's my first year having slugs, and what a bummer. A few weeks ago I finally resorted to putting cups of beer in my covered beds and they disgustingly filled quite quickly. I also did rounds of the garden the in the evenings to squish any munchers. Their numbers plummeted with about 2 weeks of mild diligence. And I can't help but wonder if the chickens get a little tuned up when they eat those dozens and dozens of Rainier-bloated slugs. It's great protein for them nonetheless! 

Now that summer has come and gone I thought I'd give a little report on some successes for the season:

Everything wild! Having natural landscaping really fills things in when it's a wet year!

Sorrel - cut and come again like you wouldn't believe! great for salad, soup, and even ice cream!

 All types of lettuce (I love red oakleaf!)

 Mesclun mix - I got lots of arugula early on then great greens of various colors and textures later. Planted April 11 in hoop house and still going strong.

Cascadia snap peas - sturdy, short-vined variety that  loved being out in the rain! Prolific, great tasting, eat-the-pod-and-all peas for salad. The sugar snap peas did well also, and they even out climbed their 8 foot tall trellis!

Nantes half-long carrots - Planted April 11 under hoops and they're ~3 inches long, thick, and DELICIOUS now.

Borrage - what a beautiful plant! Huge stems and leaves and lots of dainty blue flowers.  Next year I'll try pinching some so they grow bushier.

Comfrey leaves

Comfrey - I got a little bag of root pieces in the spring, and now I have a patch 3 feet wide, 6 feet long, and 4 feet high! AND it's growing where nothing else would grow! I plan on using it for chicken feed next year.

Herbs - everything except basil and cilantro (both of which I seeded) is outstanding and overgrown. I can't say enough about Don Abel's herb starts! From them I got rosemary, Vietnamese coriander, golden oregano, silver posie thyme,  golden thyme, Berggarten sage, golden delicious pineapple sage, and tangerine sage. My oregano patch that overwintered from last year has spread quite a bit, and I've seeded it elsewhere in the garden simply for ground cover. It's done the best in beds/pots with over a foot of soil.

 Kale - I couldn't live without it! I planted three varieties this year and will plant them all again.

 

•  Red Russian is the most tender and is best for salads. The patch outside has done slightly better than the one in a hoop house.
• Tuscano  is great for cooking (stir-frys and burritos) It sprouted the earliest of all the kales and is still around, though some are going to seed. I planted it in a covered bed April 15. Slugs don't touch it. 
• Dwarf curled leaf is great for cooking and kale chips.  

I've eaten so well this summer that I can hardly complain about the weather. If you pick the right crops, you can have plenty of food--even in a record wet and cold summer in a temperate rainforest!