Preparing for the New Season: Part One

If you are like most people who can or do use other methods to preserve their own garden harvests, you have probably spent a good deal of time looking at seed catalogs lately. This is not just the time of year to be thinking of planting, however; you should also be carefully planning and preparing for the foods you will put up in the coming months. As you plan your garden, and order seeds, think about how much of each type of food your family will use in a year's time. How much you will use, and how you will store it, will determine to a great extent how much you will plant. For example: Does your family eat more pickled okra, or will you eat more that has been frozen? How do you use the bulk of your tomatoes? - whole, stewed, juiced, or as spaghetti sauce? Or, will your family eat more peach preserves, or more whole canned peaches? And don't forget to plan for those crops which you can rotation plant. After the broccoli has finished producing, is there still time to plant your cucumbers in those broccoli beds? You can get more yield from your garden space with a little forethought. One of the best ways to keep track of what worked well in the garden and what preserved foods were used by your family is with the help of a diary.

Check all your food preservation equipment before the season starts. Don't get caught with a kitchen full of fresh produce, only to find out that you are out of lids, or the gasket has to be replaced on your canner!

Start by taking inventory - do you have everything you need? Was there anything you discarded after last year's season, with the intention of replacing it this year? (Or, if you are like me, did your 4-year-old take your magnetic lid wand, to "see what it will stick to" and you've never seen it again?)

Check all jars for nicks or cracks; make sure that all the rims are in perfect condition. Discard any jars that are broken, chipped, or cracked. Do not use any jars that are cloudy-looking, as they are probably scratched, and those scratches can harbor bacteria. I still use the cloudy jars, but not for canning...punch holes in the lids and use them to hold baking soda for scrubbing sinks, or save them to refrigerate homemade playdough - but do not use them for the storage of food. And, never, never use jars that are not specifically made for home canning - those old mayonnaise jars that you have saved are just not strong enough to be used; you will only wind up with a huge mess, broken jars, ruined food, and a lot of hard work all done for nothing.

Go To Page: 1 2