In The Garden

You don’t need a huge space for a cold cellar. A refrigerator fits the bill just fine. Ideally you want a cold place between 33 and 40 degrees. You can keep just about anything in a cold cellar. All the methods we discussed have different uses and advantages. Use them all to keep your harvest all year round.

Dehydration is one of the oldest methods of food preservation dating back thousands of years. There are endless possibilities when it comes to using a dehydrator. Some of our favorites are dried cantaloupe and strawberry rhubarb fruit leather. There are many dehydrators on the market so find the one you like best, any will do. You can also use a dehydrator to preserve your mints and herbs for homemade tea.

Why Drying is Effective To continue our series on Preserving the harvest let explore using a dehydrator. Drying foods is one of the oldest methods of food preservation dating back literally thousands of years.  Foods like grains and beans have long been a staple food for humankind dried to last not just one season but over many seasons.  Fruits, vegetables and meats can be preserved as well.  We found a few surprises when we started experimenting with a dehydrator; one of those surprises was dried cantaloupe.  The dried cantaloupe pieces delicious, chewy, exotic flavor and it actually didn’t take that long to dehydrate. My wife loves dried cantaloupe with cashews.  Another surprise was Strawberry-Rhubarb fruit leather.  We can’t make enough of it for the kids and we are always passing it to friends too.  It is simple and easy to make, we use 12 Rhubarb spears to make a batch so it is a great way to store, long term, a large amount of Rhubarb.  Drying Tips We found out that you can store 20 standard sized tom

Original Air Date: July 28, 2018 Why Freeze? Freezing your harvest is easy and rewarding.  I recommend it for everyone.  My own personal favorite is freezing Pesto; I make and freeze 30 - 1 cup containers for the winter from 16 plants that fill a 4x4 bed.  It is simple to make and freeze and get rewarded every week throughout the winter. Tomatoes are ridiculously easy to freeze.  I wash them, fill a gallon bag and throw them in the freezer.  When I’m ready to use them as soon as they begin to thaw I slip off the skins so there is no peeling.  In this case freezing is temporary storage until I use the tomatoes to can Salsa in a big batch.  What to Freeze We freeze soup stocks, apple cider, shitake mushrooms and tons of greens from kale, collards and swiss chard and some years when we have plenty we freeze spinach too. We also freeze peppers, beans, broccoli, and cauliflower when we have a good harvest (but dry our hot peppers). Most vegetables need to be ‘blanched’ before they are frozen.  Blanching is a quic

Original Air Date: July 21, 2018 To preserve the harvest, you a have a few options. Canning, Freezing, Cold Storage, Fermentation/Pickling, and Dehydration. Let’s start with canning. What is Canning? Canning is called ‘canning because it originally was done in, you guessed it, tin cans.  Today home canning is done solely in glass jars, Mason or Ball jars.  The glass jar with the metal insert with a rubber gasket and metal sealing ring has been in used since the early 1900’s and it is still the standard.  The heat and the rubber seal creates a vacuum in the jar that prevents any air from contaminating the food inside the jar. High Acid vs. Low Acid Foods There are two ways to ‘process’ canning jars and it is extremely important note the difference.  Hot Water Bath canning is only for high acid foods (4.6pH or lower) like fruits, jelly, tomatoes, and veggies in a vinegar brine like pickles.  Low acid vegetable like beans and corn (4.6 pH or high) must be processed in a pressure canner - MUST be done with th

Fermentation and pickling are different in that fermentation is when the veggies make a brine of it’s own juices where pickling uses a brine made from vinegar. They’re similar in that they preserve using a brine to store the veggies. Sandor Katz has a great book on fermenting called Wild Fermentation. I also recommend taking a class as well as reading a book on fermentation to get started.

Freezing is fairly easy and rewarding. Tomatoes are ridiculously easy to freeze, for example, I wash them, put them in a gallon bag in the freezer, then remove the skin when I thaw them to prevent peeling. This is perfect for soups and sauces in the winter. Most vegetables need to be blanched before freezing so do some research on what you’re freezing and make sure it doesn’t end up going to waste.

Today, home canning is done almost exclusively in glass Mason or Ball jars. There are 2 ways to process canning jars and it’s extremely important to note the difference. The hot water bath method is for high-acid foods like fruit, jams, and tomatoes or vegetables with a vinegar brine like pickles or dilly beans. Low-acid vegetables like beans or corn should be processed in a pressure canner. I recommend getting a book or searching online for the best method specific to the crop you’re trying to can.

One of the best things about gardening is having a steady supply of home-grown foods throughout the year. The objective of storing your harvest is having enough crops through the winter until next year’s crops come in.

Original Air Date: July 7, 2018  - Lawn Care There was a question last week about lawns, so I thought I would run through lawn basics.  The first thing is to test your soil.  It probably is on the acid side and needs lime but the test will answer tha...