This is the time of year when I stand back in the kitchen, breathe a sign of relief and think to myself, thank goodness all the food is put away for winter. Then I remember there are still carrots and other things in the garden that I've forgotten.
Just a day or two more of working with apples, carrots and other stray things and then I am free to enjoy at my leisure some of them more intricate and artful crafting of concoctions, brews and skincare. There should be a bit more time for steemit too - yay!
Anyways, I've been asking myself if all of this work is worth it when all is said and done. I thought I would share a bit about what it's been like for me and finish with my decision on the value of this type of work in my life.
No doubt about it, this year was a hard one.
Drought. Bugs. Humidity. Scorching heat. I could have killed for some blue skies and gentle breezes throughout the summer. It was truly merciless. I was starting to question my choice of lifestyle and goals a bit. Growing most of what you eat is really bloody hard. (or at least that's what I've experienced).
The garden work is of course followed by spending weeks in the kitchen scrubbing, chopping, peeling, freezing, dehydrating and bottling the food up for storage in the pantry. I ended up with tendinitis from chopping so much, constant back aches and just fatigue.
That said, every time I would unload a canner and set the jars on the counter to cool, I would feel like I've accomplished something big. That jar started with a seed that we'd lovingly saved from previous harvests. It is somehow miraculous and empowering.
A pantry like this is not romantic at all until the work is done. Then I'm like .. This. Is. So. Cool! Come look at my pantry!
I still get a big kick our of looking at all of the colourful jars lined up in the pantry. It feels like I've warped back in time every time I step into this room. I feel like a real kitchen witch. It was worth all of the work and you know what? Every year we get more efficient and better at what we do.
I know what's inside those jars. Organic food, preservative and chemical free. Pure and good. Also, as winter arrives I'll be planning and itching to get back at it again. It is a passion, perhaps even an obsession, and a great life challenge. I learn each year, and adapt so that we garden easier and produce more food.
We have so many herbs and natural medicines lined up on these shelves. These shelves make my heart sing.
The bounty of garlic we've harvested is so rewarding. I remember the days of buying only one bulb from the store and it being so expensive. We've got well over 100 bulbs in the house.
We have some onions and squash as well and the windfall apples that must be transformed into apple butter, wine and apple cider ASAP. They've got bruises and bumps and wont keep long.
These tomatoes were picked green weeks ago and we've kept them in a cool dark place to slowly ripe. The freezer is filled with bags of tomatoes that I have not had time to turn into sauce yet.
OMG! The beans, I have a serious fascination with beans! Beans are so amazing. You can eat them young,fresh and green or let them dry into protein packed, shelf stable dried beans. So much nutrition and diversity not to mention beauty.
I though we would have buckets of dried beans with the rows we had planted and in the end ... we did not. A lot of articles talk about how much food you can grow in a small space but reality is, sometimes you need space and land to grow a LOT of food - like beans.
The fridge is our cold storage and I'll pack it with carrots and food we've fermented such as cabbage, grape leaves, pickles and garlic scapes. There's always some pro-biotic stinkiness going on in my kitchen.
The freezer is packed with berries and I've started freezing food in wide mouth jars. I use a special food saver jar attachment to suck the air out and it works really well. This shelf is lines with pumpkin purée and cubed up beets. The trick is to use wide mouth jars - according to the foodsaver website they've been designed to be freezer safe.
The freezer bags we wash and re-use. There's just too many berries to efficiently use jars so I confess - we do use plastic but we'll wash it and use it again and again.
We still have wine, apple cider vinegar and other ferments bubbling and burping around the house. There's a lot of life in the kitchen.
Our home brew wine rack. A lot of this wine needs to age a year at least for the best enjoyment. We've discovered that patience really does improve these wild crafted home brews. This rack should be full soon.
When you take that seemingly massive pile of food from the garden, clean it up, pack it into jars and discover that you've ended up with a mere 7 quarts of food for all that work - it really puts things into perspective. It is a bit reality check about how much food and work goes into all those jars we buy from the store. This awareness humbles me and fills me with gratitude.
We haven't got full control yet. We still buy salt, pepper and other spices that we love, I think we always will. We aren't doing this to suffer. We do this to empower ourselves.
We still buy wheat, rice, and other basic staples. We are not hardcore - we'd like to be, but we would be quite hungry by spring if we were to live off what we've grown. We are still learning.
Gosh, I feel quite proud. It wasn't that long ago that I was a business professional. A corporate chick. A clacking heels and perfectly fitted suit type of gal. I always gardened and hiked and wandered in nature with a tarp and backpack to camp with my family because it was my calling. I yearned for this homestead life since ...always.
I grew up in a place where it was too cold for agriculture (although there has been some exciting advances in this area in the past decade) and had no one to teach me the ways of a more self sufficient life. This was all new to me and my husband and here we are, figuring it out.
Making a difference however small...
... because we are doing our part in this small way to reduce our footprint on the earth. We grow organically, nurturing the land, we reuse jars and containers over and over again. We aren't using much fuel or transportation, most of the work is man powered and carried from the garden to house and we feel empowered and capable of learning and doing ANYTHING! We all are. We just have to believe in ourselves.
You truly have reason to feel proud, your hard work has paid off in a plentiful bounty of real food, and real medicine.. Hats off to you my friend.. #abolishcorporations
Thanks so much @primal-buddhist! I really appreciate you saying this.
That is seriously so cool. I know that's a ton of work, making it even more of a beautiful sight! I'm still working through our orchard apples, too. And I'm happy to say I've also got my first batch of sauerkraut getting happy, as well. Thank you for being an inspiration to encourage people like me to do even just a little more to empower ourselves! #pantrygoals 😉
This is such a lovely comment @plantstoplanks, thank you. It warmed my heart to read it. What are you planning for your apples?
I do always enjoy your posts, so it makes it easy to write nice comments. :)
We have been working our way through the apples with lots of daily munching, but I've also been putting them in my cooking everywhere, haha! I made a slaw yesterday with kohlrabi, daikon and apple with some of the lemon balm that is starting to explode in our garden again. I do need to make a few more batches of applesauce to save for later as my boyfriend is already making it through what I had already made. He also likes a little bourbon in his tea on occasion during cold weather, so I have some apple peels infusing in a bottle of that for extra flavor. I've already made some apple muffins to pop in the freezer, but I may do a few more batches of those. I think that's most of what I have planned, but perhaps I'll come up with a few more things before the dwindling haul is totally gone. :)
my husband likes a drop or two of bourbon in his tea also (on occasion) I will have to try infusing some peels in one of his bottles - that sounds lovely and I would have never thought of it! The muffins would also be very practical. I am weaning my husband off sugar and trying to replace it with apple sauce and other naturally sweet things but he isn't easily converted. You've given me some more ideas - thank you!!
What an amazing pantry, the food looks delicious and healthy and it is also so pretty, you did a fantastic job. My grandmother used to grow a huge garden, I wish I would have payed more attention to what she was doing.
That is one of my regrets as well, I wish I had become interested in these things when I had the opportunity to learn from my gran.
Hi walkerland,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thank you so much @curie, your support brightened my day and is truly appreciated!
Congratulations on achieving your dreams! Corporate chick who can do this. WOW! I know how much work it is as I am from a farmers family. All those hours spent on fields during hot days. Oh, how much I hated that. I do appreciate it now and I would love to have a garden to grow things for my own pantry. I love the balance that you found. That you are not hardcore but just do what you believe is the best. I don't find it strange to buy basic staples even though you have your own homestead. It's up to everyone to find out what works for them. I see that you found your way of life and I'm happy for you!
Your pantry is the best looking pantry that I have ever seen! It's perfect! After all that work you can proudly share it with us :)
Thank you for sharing! I wish you could share your actual products with us ;)
I would gladly share!
I've experienced that same thing where I resented being made to do certain things as a child but look back now and appreciate them in a completely different light. I suppose we are free to choose and that makes all the difference.
Thank you for the thoughtful and encouraging comment @delishtreats, It brightened my day and I really do appreciate it.
You should absolutely be proud of your hard work on your homestead.. your pantry is a thing of beauty!
I am only in my second year of homesteading and it's certainly baby steps, but reading and seeing posts like yours is super inspiring to me. I hope to one day have half the knowledge and will power that you do to create all of this homemade goodness.
Every year we learn more and get a bit better at it all. It is certainly a labour of love. Thanks for the encouraging comment @gardeningchef, It is more innate stubbornness than willpower! Put a chocolate bar in front of me and my will power crumbles :)
It's true, we all learn more every day. I expect to pick up some tips and tricks from you now I'm following you on here!
Innate stubbornness certainly does the trick too ;) I'd find it hard to put a chocolate bar in front of anyone without having some first!
That's a SERIOUS pantry! Exactly how big is it? Mine is tiny, just 9' x 6'. Most of my canning ends up in the root cellar. When we make the addition, I am planning a bigger pantry and root cellar.
I don't can as much because I am going for the higher nutrition in frozen foods vs canned or dehydrated. So mine is mostly all in 5 freezers. I use freezer boxes and have for decades. Some of them date back to the 1960's...
Any of the straight side jars with absolutely no shoulder are made for freezing. I don't use them much because with the 2 guys in the freezers, they would get broken...
Yes, it is a compromise and I totally hear you on the slightly lower nutrition aspect. We do canning because we can't spare the energy - solar is such a balancing act and we just have one big freezer and the small one with the fridge.
It's not that large, I just know how to maximize space I think. I'll have to measure it. I struggle to get good photos because with the shelves and freezer/fridge there isn't a load of space to stand back and get a picture.
We truly wish we had a root cellar or basement in this cabin. You are so fortunate to have one!! We've been thinking of digging one out but it is easier said than done and we never seem to have the time.
You did really well with the photos. I have the same problem photographing my pantry, no room to get far enough back.
We got lucky when we were evaluated for solar. We ended up with a system much larger than they originally thought we needed. (Hmmmm, awkward sentence. Eval'd for 12,000 KW, given 10,000KW system biggest allowed.) Even with the 5 freezers, 2 dehydrators, the cold room/AC, we still make far more electric than we use.
The current root cellar was built after the foundation was put in, so it has a cement floor. The new one will have a gravel/dirt floor.
The original house was not supposed to have a basement. But it only measured 16' x 18' with a 12' x 6' shed for the pantry/entry. Just not enough room and no place for a wood stove. So we put a basement under it.
I love your spirit! Yeah, it's never as easy as it may seem to us, there is definitely a whole lot of work that goes into most of which we don't get to see. You really are an amazing woman, going after the type of life you want may not be easy but it definitely will be worth it because every little step you take is full of joy and satisfaction.
You are doing your own part in making a difference, I believe that really is great. Little drops of rain make an ocean, they say. If we all could do that small part (or maybe just a number of us) then we are gonna make a huge difference.😊
You are all ready for winter, it seems. Great work you have put into this! Hope your back is better? You will get to rest a bit once winter comes, right?
I wonder how apple cider is made, have you made a post about it?
@audreybits, this year we've woken up to the fact that we aren't 30 anymore - we've entered into a whole new decade and with the 40's comes more aches, snaps, crackles and pops. We have started a dedicated aty home stretching and fitness routine so we will be physically able to do what we love for as long as possible.
I love to optimism you share here! ?I really do believe this wholeheartedly!
Thanks for the thoughtful comment, I enjoyed and appreciated it.
A stretching and fitness routine will definitely help out in the long run. Age will come but with the right practices, we will be able to push away some of the effects it brings or keep it away for long. I read about Grandma still being strong at 86 from you right, no, the 96years old man who goes out to dance with his woman? (Not so sure, but hopefully, you will be as strong😊😀 and capable of doing all that you love years from now.)
Thank you so much🤗
That is very true -I did write about the Ukrainian couple that I met this summer, still vibrant and independent and dancing - which is so inspiring.
Thank you for the well wishes! I appreciate it.
The story stuck with me! Yeah, it is...
😊
To make apple cider you need to press the juice out of the apples. I write a little about how I do it here. We just have a juicer that we use but a cider press would be far better for the large volume that we do.
https://steemit.com/ecotrain/@walkerland/the-art-of-preserving-apples-chapter-2-making-apple-sauce-juice-hard-cider-and-vinegar-from-raw-unpasteurized-apple-juice
Oh that's awesome! I will check that post out...
Omg this is an amazing pantry!!!!It must have been so much work to get all of this jars ready:)And it is so well organized.
Thanks so much! :) It is the only organized room in the house to be honest. I look forward to being able to get the house in order again now that all this work is done.
It must have takes you quite some time to fill up all the pantry:)
That shelf is a piece of art and everything it contains. My grandfather loves to see that kind of collection. He also does some herbal and vegetable gardening but not on the same level as what you put into this. This post was inspiring enough to get me looking forward to my future garden.
As soon as I am done with my internship, I'll try to revive that patch of dead soil that was once called a garden back home. I support the concept of homesteading. It does a lot of benefits for the environment and the family. I just wish that concept starts trending to where I'm from.
I really appreciate your comment @adamada. For us this is a complete lifestyle, I could not do all of this plus a full time out of the house job. Gardening is so healthy and therapeutic, when I used to work my stressful career I just had a small garden but I loved it just the same. I would come home and dig in the dirt and all of the tension would ease. It really is wonderful for great nutrition and our own wellness.
When I first planted Basil in the garden, I took extra effort to make sure pests wouldn't get to it. I'd wake up in the past midnight just to crush any snails from approaching my patch. But I had school and part time jobs to attend to so the garden was left unattended. I can relate when you mentioned about coming home and dig in the dirt. That's what I did to make room for reproducing those Basil.
This makes me smile - my husband thinks I am crazy when I go out in the dark with a flashlight to catch slugs at work. You are clearly in that stage of life where you've got a lot going on - the garden will always be there ready and waiting for when your life settles down a bit.
I agree with you 100% here- I am a homemaker/housewife- however you want to say it and I have so much on my to-do list daily. There never seems to be a down time; just a rotating harvest, sow, tend to, preserve and repeat cycle.
And I ABSOLUTELY love your pantry and all your jars filled with herbs and preserved foods.
Thanks @goldendawne! It is certainly a balance getting everything done.
Vaya esta genial realmente genial. felicidades :D
You make me very envious seeing all these beautifully filled jars and bottles, you are right they are so very colorful and full of fresh own grown products. It must have been a hard job to grow all these vegetables and have good, rich harvest. Your storage looks like a real shop, your friends probably have such nice presents every time they visit you. This beauty only confirms that you are a hardworking person :)
Thank you @stef1 and you are absolutely right, visitors always end up with a basket of goodies from the pantry. I usually make a few things specific for gift giving as we don't buy commercial type gifts, only hand made.
This is a super inspiring post. The level of order here is AWESOME. It's great to see all the hard work on your homestead displayed in such a lovely way. It gives us a few ideas for pantry design as we step into the next layers of house design.
Thanks for sharing all the bountiful beautiful garden goodness. We aren't super hardcore either, it's best to not burn ourselves out. Good on you for taking the leap and following your calling.
Wow! Job well done! I can see how empowering that must be to have grown and put up all that food! It looks like you have a very productive garden and things grow very well there. Thanks for sharing! It's inspiring to keep learning and doing what we can to reduce our footprint!
Oh wow, what a beautiful pantry @walkerland. I can understand how proud and happy you must feel seeing how the jars are all lined up prettily in the shelves. I know I would :) And your harvest and collection of everything is amazing!!
Thanks @marblely! :)
:) A happy week to you!
howdy from Texas walkerland! This post is a pure joy to read, I mean the information and beautiful photos of all the healthy, organic food is amazing and inspiring! I thought it couldn't get any better and then I saw the wine rack! lol.
What kind of wine do you make and can you make it without putting alot of sugar in it?
Thanks @janton for the nice comment!
we love making wine. Our first few batches were terrible but we've gotten the hang of it now.
We experiment quite a bit using ingredients that we grow and use organic cane sugar in our recipes. I think most of the sugar is eaten by the yeast during the wine making process but I am not knowledgeable enough on the science side of it to be able to say how much sugar is left.
Our ultimate goal is to have enough honey that we can make wine/mead with that instead of sugar. We make, raspberry, blackberry, rosehip, rose petal, parsnip, carrot, dandelion, rhubarb and a summer wine variety (that has all kinds of berries and flowers in it).
oh my gosh walkerland, I had no idea that you could make wine out of all those things! Great job!