Food Preservation Finished for the Year!

Those of you who have followed my blogs in the past know that my husband puts out a large garden each summer.  You also know how I enjoy preserving that food for our use over the next year.  It's something we have always done since we were married.  We both grew up in homes where gardening and preserving were essential to provide food for the family.  I guess you could say that it just comes naturally for us.

This year has been no different than the past 51 years of our marriage.  Some have asked why we do it and we think to ourselves, "Why wouldn't we?"  :)

When I took inventory of what we still had on the shelves in the spring, before Strong Heart ordered his seeds, I discovered that we had plenty of the staples that we depend on such as several types of canned beans, applesauce, tomatoes in different forms and such.  I really enjoyed what canning I did this year because it was all what I call the "fun stuff".

I made a LOT of different types of jams...blueberry, currant, and gooseberry.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of any of them.

I also canned 30 quarts of pickled beets, which I did not photograph.

I only did 4 quarts of tomato juice because I still had a good bit left from previous years.  I guess I didn't make enough chili and soups last year. :)

Then I did just five pints of diced tomatoes, which apparently I didn't photograph either.

Strong Heart and I did 25 quarts of corn for the freezer...again, no picture. 

Then there was 15 pints of pizza sauce...only photographed five of them here.  The half of a pint you see also pictured was used that evening for making pizza!

I froze 7 pints of Lima beans...no picture.  Can you tell that I haven't been blogging for a while?  Otherwise,  I would have had pictures of everything! l0l

Also had 12 pintsof salsa that I made.

And 10 quarts of spaghetti sauce

And the last of the "tried and true" things that I have done before was 14 quarts of apple pie filling, which I neglected to photograph.

Then it got really fun!  I tried some things that I hadn't done before, such as....

6 pints of Corn Relish

7 pints of Pickled Carrots

9 pints of Spiced Apples

 6 pints of Spiced Pears

6 half pint jars of apple butter that I did in the crock pot

My last endeavor was freezing 9 pints of pumpkin puree.  

By the time that the first of September comes around I am usually wishing for the end.  This year was no exception to that, but I have to admit that once the preserving is finished, I actually miss having it to do.

Then God said, "Behold, I have given to you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth,

 and every tree which has the fruit of the tree yielding seed;

 it shall be food for you.

Genesis 1:29 

Legacy Standard Bible