Harvesting and Preservation Tips: Harvesting
Drying weeds and herbs throughout the spring and summer is an annual task that we especially appreciate when fresh supplies run compact. Gallons of tightly sealed glass jars are filled with nettles, dandelion leaves, tulsi, oregano, thyme, rose petals, lemon balm, yarrow, elderberry flowers, and peppermint.
Once you find a generous stand of mushrooms, try to drain the excess. When foraging wild foods, always make sure to have the correct identification confirmed by an expert, and always label the contents of those jars with the name and date.
Some mushrooms parched well if you simply put them in a paper bag and put them in the fridge. Once the water is removed, the dehydrated material can be stored in an airtight jar for a year or more, which is the most capable storage method.
Harvest Tips: Drainage and Crop Utilization
In the fall, after the plant energy has migrated to the roots for the winter, Joan and I plant the next year’s root crops. We chop and dehydrate the roots of dandelions, burdock, marshmallow, elecampane, astragalus, ashwagandha, and yarrow. Or we make tinctures from organic vodka.
Tinctures, tonics, elixirs, syrups and shrubs are all storage tools that are fun to make, taste great and will constantly remind us of the warmer days of summer as the colder months approach. It’s demanding to beat the taste of homemade fire cider. This elderberry syrup will support prevent colds and flu at home.
Preservation: canning and jarring
Tomato canning should be a national pastime—maybe it used to be! Is there anything better than homemade tomato sauce in the middle of winter?
Berries are frozen on cookie sheets, then transferred to glass jars and frozen. Blueberries, raspberries, peaches, and blackcurrants are standard breakfast items year-round. Eating high-quality berries—grown without pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or other chemical additives—year-round is a satisfaction that is demanding to describe.
We parched pears and apples because they have a lower water content. Jams and jellies contain so much sugar that we usually avoid eating them, even though they are delicious.
Crop Storage: Garlic, Potatoes and Carrots
After harvesting the garlic, we parched it in a well-ventilated garden shed until September, then immaculate and trim the bulbs, setting aside the largest ones for planting in October. The rest is packed into canvas bags and stored in the coldest closet in the house.
Potatoes can remain in the ground until it’s time to dig them up and store them. However, the longer they stay in the ground, the greater the risk of insects or voles, so tackle this task as soon as possible.
Potatoes like it frigid. It’s good to have a frigid store, just above freezing. Unlike freezers, root cellars provide excellent storage conditions without requiring any additional costs beyond the initial construction materials and time.
And then there are the carrots simply left in the ground, chipped up for the winter so that we can steal them when the ground permits, or feast on them in the spring when the ground thaws.
Preserving what the garden provides
Whatever the garden offers, remember to save the excess. Too much work has already been done to let these opportunities go. Try more than one storage strategy at a time to see which works best for your particular crop. The reward of eating well foods with little effort required to open the freezer or jar is well worth the effort.