[LotuSeed]

Tosca that's a lot of stuff! I'd love to see pictures when you have the chance. I hate all that work has to be kept hidden away in a dark room. I know some people will go as far as wrapping their jars in newspaper to keep the light out. Sometimes it's nice to be able to just admire all the work you've done!

Mrs Bee we do live on a fairly large lot however only a small portion of it is used for my garden. I have 8 raised beds, numerous large pots on the patio and blueberry bushes, raspberries and blackberries along the fence line. I could, in theory cover most of the property in raised beds, but my dog needs room to run lol.
I supplement what I grow with produce I can get at the farmers market and I get a lot of my produce from a pick your own farm. I love going by myself and picking in silence. I find it really peaceful.  The PYO farm is great too because I can pick large quantities at once so I'll have enough to bottle. Most of the produce I grow comes in little by little, not enough to can at once, so it gets frozen until I have enough to can a batch.
Next year I'm adding a traditional in-ground bed and was considering planted a cherry tree or two. We'll see.

Sunny that chili jam looks gorgeous!

[samjess]

Sunshineband, I like your idea of cooking up and bottling a whole range of 'cook-in' curry and herb sauces. Do you make up your own recipes or is there a book with them in?

[jaydig]

Sunny, that chilli jelly looks amazing - would it be very cheeky to ask for the recipe? There are one or two menfolk in my family that would really enjoy that!

[jaydig]

Sunny, that chilli jelly looks amazing - would it be very cheeky to ask for the recipe? There are one or two menfolk in my family that would really enjoy that!

Sorry - silly me!!!! I've just found your recipe.  I won't hurt you, honestly, I wish I could say I'm having a bad day, but I'm like this all the time lately. 

[tosca100]

Well, I've taken a few pictures of what is left. I have used about ten bottles of plum tomatoes for a chutney order recently so they are a little depleted. The top shelf has bottled apricots, pears and plums, and some jam from last year. Second shelf is chutney, the pears I did last week, jam and tomatoes various, third More tomatoes including cherry toms and sauce, and lutinitsa. Bottom shelf is the hoard of pickled veg from the neighbour.




Butternut squash, about half the crop. They were rampant!


Some that haven't made it to the cellar yet, and some in use. Chilli jelly, mincemeat (I include that as I have used some of our own dried fruit and nuts), dried garlic and onions, pickles various


Beans, borlotti, black cobra (french bean), and the local white bean


And there are about sixty assorted jams, chutneys and jellies upstairs ready for sale next year.

Everything needs sorting again, it doesn't matter how many times I tell OH which shelf they are supposed to be on, they go where there is a space if he takes them down (at least he takes them though) so I end up not really knowing what I have. I'm as bad, I bung things in cupboards as I hate the cellar!

In the freezer as well as fruit and veg, I have a large stash of walnuts and eggs for those lean months.

[LotuSeed]

Tosca, Thanks so much for taking the time to share the pictures!  I love seeing how other people organize/store their fruit and veg (and it reminds me that I should think about putting up a curtain over some of my shelves). The jars that your neighbor gave you have so many different things in them, from okra to cherry tomatoes oh my! 
Where/how/when do you sell your chutneys and things?
That is a lot of butternut squash!

[tosca100]

I sell the preserves at the two monthly car boot sales locally, but only use what I have in the garden, so a lot have a tomato base in summer, fruit base in autumn. It just about pays for the seed, compost and plants for the garden. Also sell hand made cards, any excess veg or eggs I haven't used and a few cakes. OH sells paintings. We don't make a lot but it is a social thing really and once the sales finish for winter I do bespoke cards and if anyone wants a big load of preserves and I have the ingredients I will do that for them. As I said, I used ten bottles for the last lot of chutney someone asked for

The squash surprised us. We only put half a dozen plants in, thinking we might get about 15 squash as we would in the UK, but they grow like triffids! Neighbours have had some (they don't grow the smoothe ones, just the huge curly ones) and a friend took the overgrown ones for their pigs and some for soup, and we sold a few at the sales. We love them, but you can only eat so many so anyone that comes is not allowed to leave without a couple at least!

The mixed veg are what they do here at the 'end of season' clear up of the garden and the tiny currant tomatoes are grown to pretty up the bottles. That's why there could be anything in the bottles, including any green tomatoes and small cabbage which are usually made into barrels of sauerkraut. I just make it in small bottles as OH doesn't like the smell.

[Beekissed]

It's just Mom and I here now, so we don't put up much like we did when homesteading off grid and all the family living at home.  Used to put up 100+ jars of each thing but now we just do what we will mostly eat, which isn't a large variety when you live like bachelorettes.   

About 40-50 jars of sweet corn(not pressure canned, boiling water bath method), 30 jars of salsa, 40 pints of hot pepper butter(that will last me a couple of years, thank goodness), small batches of slumgullion and spaghetti sauce.  About 25 qts of chicken and broth, and we still have some from last year.  About the same for deer and deer broth, though much of the deer was given away to family here and there. 

We just store it on shelves in a "cold" room on the back of the house.  We no longer have a cellar house and that's a pity.

Here's a few picks of prep work, produce and canned items....

[tosca100]

Love your jars Beekissed, we have used all second hand from the attics and from neighbours, many with use-once clamp lids, though we did find a crate of good German Weck bottles which need new seals and clamps before we can use them. meanwhile I use them for dry storage.

Canning meat is very popular here too. We have half a dozen given by the neighbours but are not excited as we could be as experience has shown us that there is usually a large lump of gristle in the middle, they don't waste a thing. And I am a veggie. All their veg is bottled, sauced or pickled, not much fresh in winter in the villages.

We have gone through the tomatoes and sauce, we have only five bottles of toms and a few of sauce, all the pickles, used most of the dried beans and are getting through the dehydrated garlic and jellies. Hopefully we won't have much left at the beginning of next season......except pickles. We might use those during summer.

[surbie100]

We have gone through the tomatoes and sauce, we have only five bottles of toms and a few of sauce, all the pickles, used most of the dried beans and are getting through the dehydrated garlic and jellies. Hopefully we won't have much left at the beginning of next season......except pickles. We might use those during summer.

A couple more bean stews and we'll be all out too. I need to grow A LOT more next season!

[tosca100]

I told OH we could cut down on the tomatoes this year....now I'm not so sure. Ooops, how to tell him. Will also need more borlotti. So much to learn, once we know I bet we'll have to leave and move into a terrace with yard!

[Yorkie]

Beekissed, I'm impressed not only by what you do, but also by that picture of a most fabulously, hideously, ugly tomato!   

[Beekissed]

   That tomato had two stems and, at first, I thought it was just two maters grown together but it was one whole tomato that was the size of three large ones.  I was impressed, as neither my 80 yr old mama nor I had ever seen one quite so big....or ugly!   

[Yorkie]

Do you live in the States, Beekissed?

[Beekissed]

Yes, I do.