I think we ran out of frozen peaches in April 2019. Corn even sooner.
May was tough. That transition between enjoying the previous seasons’ harvest and the new harvest felt like eons. Even though, I do tend to allow myself asparagus from California and Mexico in the spring, it’s not the same as eating local fruits and vegetables grown by people you know and care about.
By June, I had promised that I would work even harder to preserve 2019’s delectables and make it past May 2020 in good shape.
I started by canning pickled garlic scapes. It was fast and easy, but I’m a canning chicken, so it was stressful to try a new recipe. A resulting complication of my chicken-ness was that I decided to eat all the scapes before they would have a chance to go off – it was likely a completely unnecessary panic and the reason we have none in storage.
When late July arrived, I was certain I was ready for the pending influx of goods. But food started coming at me faster than ever — it was a very good growing season after all.
Peaches, blueberries, green beans, corn and tomatoes.
As we carried case after case through the door, I started to feel overwhelmed. Do work that pays the bills or process food became a dilemma that I just didn’t have an answer to.
And, while I figure therocketnarcissist and I processed more than 300 pounds of food, all of it grown by people we know, I’m feeling like our freezer stockpile is dwindling. We’ve had a busy and mentally draining fall, so the freezer has been raided close to every day.
Spaghetti sauce gone, tomato curries gone, corn stash cut by half.
This year, I spent extra time looking for a good freezer salsa. I made about 60 cups mild or hot salsa – but the supply is shrinking – and fast. It’s just so damn good. And is incredibly useful as a base for a Mexican themed fried rice.
All this makes me think that rather than take a biking vacation, an August 2020 processing vacation might be in order. I’m curious, have you ever taken a processing vacation?
Of note, I can’t even begin to imagine what it would have been like to farm with such abundance coming our way this past summer. Kudos to all the farmers that worked hard to keep up and feed us the best fruits and vegetables that the Squamish-Lillooet region has to offer.
In case tomatoes are a plenty next year too, here’s a link to the salsa recipe.
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