Friday, October 15, 2010

Preparing to Live without the Farmers Markets

The weather changed, I looked at my calendar, and I realized that I really do have to face the fact the local offerings are about to become greatly reduced. Since my tomatoes are ripening at a maddening snail's pace, and my winter squashes are only the size of little apples, I decided that I must hit the downtown farmers market tomorrow to pick up items that I can either can or put into cold storage.
Here's my shopping list and what I plan to do with the bounty:
Apples:
freeze as pie filling
dry (mostly for oatmeal)
cold storage
Tomatoes
can
can as sauce
Potatoes
cold storage
puree and freeze for baby food
Carrots
puree and freeze for baby food
Winter Squash
Do I trust my garden to come through or not?
If I do buy this, I'll can using a pressure canner, freeze, and store.
Bell Peppers
Eat them!
Freeze
Dry
Green Beans
Freeze
Dry
Pressure Can

I have never really tried cold storage before, but I figured that I have successfully managed to keep my winter squash for 5 months in my pantry, so finding a little more controlled space for my apples should be doable. Here is a write-up by Wasatch Community Gardens that includes all types of food storage techniques. Scroll almost all the way down to find Cold Storage.

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