Last year I harvested lots of veggies. I stored enough for winter by blanching/freezing and by canning. I am now, last parts of March, getting low on some supply like spaghetti sauce (yes, really if you haven't tried mine it is FABULOUS! I sell out every market of this wonderful Sicilian blend from my garden), frozen veggies- broccoli, mixed veggies, peas, frozen fruits - berries & canned tomatoes. I have, however canned additional items throughout the winter as well- like chicken stock and jams just to keep up with using of all my homemade goodies to make room for next year's harvest.
I still have lots of canned green beans, pickled beets (because we LOVE them, I did enough for a small army), pickles, pickled beans, carrots, potatoes, squash, applesauce, honey, chicken, pork (cuts, sausage, etc.), venison, and elk. Those items will need to last me until fall butchering, except the chickens in which I will be doing a spring butcher with those as well.
I have started my plants for the garden this year -YAY! And have a great idea of how many plants it will take to get us through the winter (family of 5 here). I used to buy wilted veggies from the store all winter and feel so fortunate that I don't have to do that anymore- I do however buy lettuce and some other veggies or fruit (like pineapple or bananas or olives) from the store during the winter that I can't grow...hey, I would if I could.
Growing lettuce in a high tunnel is a project I will try this spring and fall- there is nothing like a home grown salad. In fact, so much so that it is hard to make a store bought salad now and enjoy it. I find myself getting annoyed that the quality is haaaaawrable.
So, here's to a kickoff of another self-reliant year with GREAT food while helping to provide others with GREAT food too
