[Trillium]

Are you saying that almost no UK houses have basements/cellars? That is SO weird. Over here, it's very rare to not have a cellar, even if it's just a smallish one in old houses. Newer homes (say in the last 40 yrs) have very large basements so that there's usually a large family room, tool room and some sort of storage area and then some, very often with a 2 pc washroom, sometimes 3pc. Houses without basements are a very hard sell here. People depend on them for extra rooms. A few folk fit them out as rental flats if they really need extra money. A good friend of mine has a curving staircase into her basement and the pool table takes pride of place, and there's 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, utility room (for furnace, etc) and a large workshop with french door walkouts from both areas. She has a lot of family over for weekends.

My office is in the basement which is almost 8 ft tall. We fitted it out properly just like a room with insulation, raised floors, plasterboard walls, trim, phone connection, door, carpet, etc. And yes, my basement larder would be very similar to that Amish one. It's not quite as large as I'd like but it's big enough for the 3 of us. I don't know where I'd store all our preserves and veg without it.
And, whenever we get tornado or hurricane warnings (yes, they can hit inland), the basement is the safest place to be.

[mumofstig]

Old houses, here, tend to have outhouses rather than cellars, I find.
Most of the old victorian housing stock used to have coal cellars, with room for other storage, but when the floor boards rotted out the thing at the time was to replace with concrete floors, so the cellars were filled and capped

Yours and American houses are a lot bigger, so end up with large cellars...lucky you Trillium.. We are just green with envy

[sunshineband]

I am green with envy too 

Sounds lush 

[sam44]

I read an article by Chrisopher Lloyd on veg gardening when he said he refused to feel oppressed by his harvest.  Daft I thought - who gets oppressed by a harvest.  Me that's who  

The freezer is crammed to busting with frozen soft fruit and tomato pasta sauce.  This is the store cupboard so far.......



and this is the result of the last 2 days of frantic squirrelling away



I didn't grow the mushrooms but they were a bargain so I shoved them in the dehydrator.  It's drying the 2nd batch now with more dried tomato slices.

And it's only August so plenty more to come yet      

WOW i am so jealous of you...i only have a pot cupboard in the dining room to store my jam and bits...your so organized...i like the sound of your dehydrator too...i am even more jealous of the lady with the huge cellar...ahh well i'll have to get sorted and find some where suitable to keep it all once it starts coming in...

[Livinhope]

I had 8 cucumbers and about 3 lb apples my daughter technically scrumped, so using Vals' recipe for cucumber and apple chutney (more or less) I now have 8 jars of a rather nice accompaniment to whatever.

[New shoot]

Wish me luck - I'm going in   

[Trillium]

Hope you'll be wearing latex gloves 

[New shoot]

  I was looking a bit Lady Macbeth by the end of that lot.  Now got beetroot relish, pickled beets and beetroot in raspberry jelly (an old recipe I found that sounded so mad I had to try it) 

[mumofstig]

That sounds quite nice, actually 

So now I need the recipe  ......something else to make 

[Val H]

Someone (possibly New Shoot under her real name) sent me the recipe and I've posted it today in the recipe section.

http://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/1746/jellied-beetroot-recipe/

[mumofstig]

ooh ta 

[New shoot]

It wasn't me Val but that's the recipe I found as well.  I used raspberry jelly and I crumbled a couple of dries chillies into the hot liquid as I fancied a spicier twist.

Do you think it will keep the beetroot in good condition longer than traditional pickling - that was my hope  

and I forgot to say...I made Sweet Green Pickle (a kind of piccalli idea with green tomatoes) as well and will send you the recipe for this as the taste I had when I put into the jars was fab and that's even before it's matured for a month  

[mumofstig]

I must admit I was surprised that it was made with jelly cubes, I expected a long drawn out recipe using homemade raspberry jelly

My son has asked me to try the mango type chutney next....so I need to buy some more spices for that

[Trillium]

I use the remaining beet juice to make a nice beet & raspberry jelly that is good on toast. My kids loved it with peanut butter and now can't eat P.B. without beet jelly  It was just beet juice, pectin, sugar and a pkt of raspberry gelatin.

[Madame Cholet]

i've got the next bext thing a good old fasioned pantry under the stairs and I've emptied out all the junk into the attic conversion and stripped down and varnished the pine shelves which the previous owner thought would look good with sticky back plastic.
Amazing I've only lived here 20 years wanted to do it all that time.

Have started try some new jam and chutney receipes now I've got more space. Also cadged some old sweet jars, which I have filled with nuts and dried fruit.

Have made redcurrent jelly for the first time too lovely.