[Yorkie]

Thought you might - the cellar reference seemed to fit better 

Feel free to pop your general location into your forum profile so that we remember 

[Beekissed]

   What do you call them over there? 

[Yorkie]

Oh we call them cellars too, it's just that very few houses have them 

[mumofstig]

Or if they're old houses they will be coal cellars 

[LotuSeed]

Oh we call them cellars too, it's just that very few houses have them 

The house next door to my grandmother's place had a traditional cellar that was entered through metal double doors attached to the house at an angle.  Kinda like the one in the Wizard of Oz. I think they're more common in older houses in the Midwestern United States.

[Beekissed]

Those are called storm cellars because they do double duty.  When I was young we lived in houses that had those.  Cellars are more and more becoming extinct here also.  I think people have forgotten how very useful they are. 

Same with outhouses/privies....when the power goes out, those with outhouses still are barely inconvenienced.  Those without have some real issues.   

[LotuSeed]

Those are called storm cellars because they do double duty.  When I was young we lived in houses that had those.  Cellars are more and more becoming extinct here also.  I think people have forgotten how very useful they are. 

Same with outhouses/privies....when the power goes out, those with outhouses still are barely inconvenienced.  Those without have some real issues.   

Growing up we always had tornado drills in school, it was a common thing and bc of that everyone knew what to do in case of one. Same is not true for here. One day a tornado ripped through the university campus and people were just standing around watching. They didn't know to head for a basement. Tornadoes aren't a common occurrence in these parts and I'd assume storm cellars are more common in areas where they are. My Grandmother who grew up in Iowa had a root cellar where they stored food.

[Kate and her Ducks]

I grew up in a house with a cellar and always wanted to live in a house with one when when I grew up. Sadly they are just not that common as has been said and our house doesn't have one. Not really a surprise given I live on a flood plain and it would probably be an indoor swimming pool half the year! Interestingly our neighbours have a cellar but don't use it much due to all the frogs in it!

I have put up pickled squash, courgettes and cucumbers, beans, piccalilli, jalapeños, apple sauce, duck confit, duck stock, raspberry vodka and cordial, cherry vodka (last year we had about 40kgs and had cherry jam, cordial, bottled and pickled cherries, cherry vodka, cherry brandy... thought we would never get through it all. This year the birds ate most of them  ).  Pickled turnips (much nicer than they sound like they should be), tomatoes and tomato sauce, red cabbage and pears. Also made a load of pickled walnuts and vin de noix as some of my neighbours have walnut trees and will be definitely be making both of them again having never tried either of them before. 

[Durgan]

Preserving Garden Produce.

My comment is somewhat philosophical. This is when I began preserving in earnest. In 2014 I have about 500 litres of pressure canned produce, much consumed by now.

Utilizing the bounty of Summer for off season use is the aim. People preserve produce and the product is only desirable for short periods. I know a lady who has a basement with many jars of preserves that never get used. They preserve (keep) but are palatable in small amounts. For example, How much sauerkraut, dill pickles, salsa, etc. can your eat and is it sufficient?

After musing about this issue for some time I decided to experiment with juicing and pressure canning. I find the end product to be desirable and it is probably nutritional. I add nothing to the produce except water. Preparation time is minimal, since I basically take the produce as is and process. This year (2011)I have about 150 litres of wholesome food and ingest about a litre or more per day.

[Durgan]

15 October 2014 Cranberry Juice  http://www.durgan.org/2014/October%202014/15%20October%202014%20Cranberry%20Juice/HTML/

About 25 pounds of cranberries was ordered from Johnstone’s Cranberries in Bala, Ontario. Cost was $60.00 plus $30.00 shipping. This was made into 25 liters of juice. Each liter has about a liter of berries or about one pound. Cranberries have almost no juice so each cooking pot had 12 liters of water added to create juice. Method: A liter of water per pound added,cooked for about 20 minutes until soft, beat into a slurry with the hand blender, strained in 2mm screen food mill, placed in liter jars and pressure cooked at 15 PSI for 15 minutes for storage at room temperature. Pictures depict the process.

[Mrs Bee]

How many jars of pickles and bread and butter pickles can one person eat? in our case one hell of a lot.

My nickname as a child was sour belly because of my love for pickles. And Mr Bee will eat my bread and butter pickle by the jar full if allowed.

We prefer to freeze the fruit and some of the veg but like to eat mainly what is in season and fresh or stored in the garage.

We are still eating kale, parsnips, leeks and carrots fresh from the allotment as well as the winter squash stored in the garage.

[mumofstig]

I thought I had run out of chutney until I found 2 jars at the back of the larder - from 2012 

It's still very nice 

[LotuSeed]

I thought I had run out of chutney until I found 2 jars at the back of the larder - from 2012 

It's still very nice 

Id rather eat 3 year old stuff I bottled myself as opposed to 3 year old store-bought canned food 😊
That's a nice little find there Mum !

Mrs Bee I loooovvee pickles, but only a certain "brand" (weird) Maybe I'll experiment and do a jar or two myself next season.

Durgan where do you source most of the produce you can? Those cranberries look gorgeous. I was thinking about a steam juicer this year so I can do my own juice.

[Beekissed]

In the thick of canning...or bottling, as you folks call it.  Have already canned the peppers, half of the amount of corn we like to put up but will be doing that amount again next week.  Finishing up tomatoes this week and will finally use the last of those still coming ripe in the garden by juicing them, most likely...hope to be done with that next week also. 

Items bottled so far are sweet corn, hot pepper butter, salsa, stewed tomatoes, tomato juice, a few qt. of spaghetti sauce, chicken, green beans, a medley of veggies we like to call slumgulleon, peaches.  Next week, more corn and more tomatoes. 

Things to come:  Apple sauce and butter, chicken and, hopefully, deer meat.

A few pics of this year's canning....

[mumofstig]

I've not really got enough tomatoes to start yet, the season is soooooo late this year 

I wish I had a larder full like you