Gardening and Preserving

 You know I like these "day in the life" posts. It's always a great way for me to look back and see what our life looked like during a season. Today's post is a little different though, in that, it's a "day in the life as a gardener". Someone mentioned to me the other day that gardening and preserving is cool, but they just don't know much about it. I thought it would be fun (for me) to walk through what a day in the summer garden looks like. 

And if you don't like garden talk or find this extremely boring, you can skip this blog entirely :) You won't be missing much. But this is what I'm passionate about and interested in.

Mornings for me this summer have started at 6:15. I get up to my alarm, sneak into the bathroom to get ready, and head out for a morning walk. I really have been trying to incorporate more movement into my day, especially walking. It's such a good exercise for your body and your brain.

I love waking up before the busyness of the world. It's quiet and calm. I spend my walk in prayer, then I listen to a chapter of the Bible, before ending with listening to bird song all around me :) I especially love the view right over the hill that looks down over the corn fields. Illinois really can be pretty sometimes.

When I get home, I always look up at those windows, knowing my sleeping children are in there. I feel a sense of love and gratitude for my life and my people. Then I do a quick check of the garden before heading inside to start breakfast for everyone. 

I used to think one of my good mama friends was crazy for making a fresh baked good every morning. But as time has gone on, baking something for breakfast is more practical than anything. Now I find myself baking something breakfasty, maybe not every day, but a few times a week. So today it was homemade strawberry muffins with the strawberries we picked in June!

While breakfast is cooling, I plan out my gardening and preserving day, knowing it's going to be a full one! Our summer days are busy, busy, busy. But at least once a week we have a "home day" and that's usually reserved for my garden. So, here I am planning out all the ways I can use up my peppers, cucumbers, and zucchini. I LOVE the Ball Book of Canning and Preserving. I usually use only their recipes. The Ball company has reliable, lab-tested, safe recipes. You have to be cautious with canning for shelf stability and I trust Ball recipes for that.

The first little piglet awoke (she's usually the first one up!). So she received her breakfast and a snuggle and then I set the table for the other children. I wanted to get out in my garden, so this way breakfast was already waiting for them!

First up, watering! I was interrupted by a toddler who needed help getting dressed, but then she was right out there with me watering the garden too.

I often find God and beauty in the simplest things in life. I truly enjoy all the little wonders in the garden, to the extent of having conversations with the little buzzing bees or smelling all the pretty flowers. What is life, if we don't see these things??

You can often find bees asleep in the squash flowers. It's a good little spot for a nap after all their hard work!

Someone else woke up and stopped outside to say "hello" and to also complain about the breakfast that was left for him. So we had a little situation to fix before I continued.

This bug, however, is not beautiful and should just die. Japanese Beetles are my nemesis.

I looked over to see someone already got started on eating the cucumbers :) I stand by the fact that there is nothing better than a fresh veggie straight from the earth.

I have never had much luck with peppers, but this year they are thriving!! I'm not sure why...

It's so fun that each gardening year can be so different. It's all flexible and ever-changing, there are no hard rules or definites in gardening. It's a good life lesson, but also a fun way to enjoy the garden each season.

Our first tomato of the season!! I saved it for Isla to have :)

By the time I finished watering, weeding, and harvesting, I was a sweaty mess! I came in to two little girls that very much wanted to help their hot mama! Isla did all the washing for me.

Then the processing began! After cleaning the veggies, it is time to cut, cook, or prepare whatever needs to be done for preserving. Today I was planning on water bath canning, so I needed to get all my ingredients ready. If we can eat it fresh, that's my first choice, but if not I like to preserve it as quickly as we harvest it.

The other day someone told me canning just seems too hard. I felt that way too until a dear friend walked me through it. It really is not that hard at all, just slightly time consuming. And you want to make sure you are using a tried and true recipe because the acidity and measurements really matter in order to make it safe. But once you do it a few times, it's easy as cake.

1. First things first, you need clean and sterilized jars. I have a big pot of water heating up my jars on the right. 

2. The second thing you do to water bath can is make whatever the mixture is that is going in the jar. If it's jam, you will cook that down according to the recipe. If it's a pickling product, you usually have to make a brine (which is what I was doing in the pot on the left). If it's a tomato product, you usually will simmer, cook, or stew whatever the recipe calls for. 

The first thing I canned today was pickled peppers and onions.

3. You will fill your jars with the product, including the liquid or brine up until a certain point on the jar called the "headspace". There is a handy dandy tool that helps you measure this. Most recipes call for a 1/4 or 1/2 inch headspace, meaning you will fill the jar until there is only a 1/4 or 1/2 inch space before the top. This is to ensure a proper seal and to avoid room for bacteria growth.

(These pictures are of pepperoncinis. I can't wait to make italian beef with these this winter!)

4. When all the jars are full and the tops are tightly twisted, you will put the jars into hot water and bring it to a boil. You will cover and boil for the time the recipe calls for, usually 10-15 minutes for pickling, but up to 30 minutes or more for fruit products. 

And honestly, that's it! It really is that simple. There are a few side rules, like choosing the correct jar size and wiping the rims before putting lids on, etc., but honestly it's simple. Now pressure canning is a completely different ball game and one I have not attempted. That is for produce with a low acidity like potatoes and beans. For any vegetable that I can't make shelf stable with water bath canning, I just freeze instead. It's nice to have helpers too!

On canning days, the kids are basically abandoned independent all day. I checked on them throughout the day and they were having a grand ole time.

Of course, I had to pause for normal things like making lunch and switching laundry.

For the size of our house, I think our kitchen is small. Or maybe it's just I have too much happening at once. There's a cutting station, drying station, canning station, and a sink of dirty dishes.

One more pause while I put this ham down for a nap. Sometimes her littleness gets me and I try to treasure up all the baby-ness of our last kiddo, even on the busy days.

Around 1:00 I realized I needed lunch too. Oops. I made a quick salad and an afternoon latte before finishing up.

The last step is to clean everything up. And by 2:00 I was done!

And WOW! What a day of canning! Today I did 6 jars of sweet pickles, 5 jars of dill pickles, 1 jar of taco pickles (Michael's request), 8 jars of lemon balm jelly, 5 jars of pickled peppers and onions, 2 jars of pepperoncinis, 2 jars of banana peppers, and 1 jar of nasturtium vinegar. That's 5 hours total of canning, 2 very tired feet, and 30 jars of love prepped for storage :)

You might wonder if it's worth it. That's a lot of time, not only canning, but planting, growing, pruning, weeding, harvesting, troubleshooting, washing, cutting, and preserving. Yes, it is a lot easier to get a $.50 can of corn at the store. But there are a few reasons I value canning. 

1.) I believe the quality of food matters. I want my family eating the freshest, nutrient-richest, most organic food there is. And doing it all myself gives us that. There are no pesticides, no chemicals to extend the shelf life, no unnatural preservatives, no questioning the quality or history of the product. As soon as it is picked, it is preserved. You really can't get fresher than that. And the freshness of garden food tastes SO much better than anything you can get at the store.

2.) I believe in being self-sustaining. We can't be completely self sustaining as we don't raise animals for meat or, you know, make our own clothing; however, providing food for our family from the things we've grown and produced is a step closer to living with that mindset. I don't think I'm a crazy person for saying this, but I'd like to get to a place where we don't rely on the grocery store for produce. It's a hobby and a goal and a mindset that I'm trying to achieve here. (Besides, if the grid goes down at least we'll have shelf stable food ;))

3.) There is something to be said for the heritage of canning and preserving food. It's not only a rewarding hobby, but it's a tradition that dates way back, as well as, one that can be passed down to my children. When the convenience of a store becomes our standard, we forget about the rich history and connection to old-fashioned food traditions. Plus, there is a huge sense of accomplishment when you can your own food.

And then I finally gave my kids my attention :) Eleanor woke up from nap and everyone wanted to do some school. We practiced our letters and reading, played some fun educational games, practiced our counting and color mixing, and read together.

The absolute one chore I MUST do every day is laundry. I've talked about my laundry system here before, but I have since convinced many of my friends to follow the system too. It's one load in the morning consisting of last night's pajamas, yesterday's outfit, and any odd and ends (like a towel or dish cloth). Then I dry the load halfway through the day, and by late afternoon I am ready to put it away. It's easy though because it's only one outfit per person and their pajamas that they will wear again tonight. Try it, it works!

Then it was somehow already dinner prep, so back in the kitchen I went! I scored the bread that I made yesterday and threw it in the oven.

After work Michael usually has chores or errands. He likes to get out of the house after working in the basment all day. Today, he drove up to our trusty Farm and Fleet to get me more canning jars. It's an investment, but one I can use until I die. When he said "you need MORE jars again?" I reminded him that the tomatoes haven't even come in yet. Pasta sauce, marinara, salsa, paste, stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes... it's going to be a lot!

Dinnertime!

Tonight I had dish duty while Michael started on everyone's baths. I always pack lunches for the next day if we're going on an adventure, which is usually always in the summer :)

Then while the kids wrestled with Michael, I deep cleaned the kitchen. After I spend a whole day in it, it's nice to fully clean it because Lord knows I'll be in it again tomorrow. Maybe I should count the hours I spend in the kitchen like the hours my kids spend outside haha

Eventually it's bedtime. We all snuggle in for devotions and prayers. Isla listens to her audiobooks until later and Ewan comes to get us when he's done playing and ready for bed.

This sweet boy still struggles with bedtime and getting up in the night. But he asked me for a snuggle here, so we did that... a few times. 

Then, I finally get a bath! My feet were tired after standing in the kitchen all day. And it's off to bed after that to do it all again tomorrow.

I love my garden and I love what I can do with it. There are so many good things wrapped up in it, including lessons and traditions that my children receive too. So, now you know when I hand you a jar of something from the garden you can be assured I must truly love you :) It's not as simple as sticking it in a can, but it is worth all the sweat and sometimes tears that goes into it.