When Lunch Came from the Cellar

This week I spent several hours washing, drying, and freezing 29 pounds of local blueberries; as well as washing and pickling several pounds of green, purple, and white beans from our own garden.

It felt instinctive to run my hands through a sink full of water and bright blueberries, letting their plump flesh bounce off my fingers and swim around like little synchronized berry swimmers. It felt intuitive to pinch my thumb and index finger together around the tops of deep purple beans to pluck the stems off. And as I screwed on metal tops over glass jars of those beautiful beans submerged in a salty vinegar brine, it felt rustic.

This week a friend posted on Facebook a quote I love from a well-known whole food author, Joel Stalin, it read:

“Little House in the Suburb”

Now I realize this is a bit ideal and unrealistic for today’s day and age. Unless you really want to devote most of your life to growing plants and livestock, slaughtering, harvesting, gathering, preserving, and preparing food in a completely self-sustainable way, you will need a grocery store from time to time.

I visit local Farmers’ Markets two times a week. I am also beginning to grow some of our own food. But I also shop at a regular grocery store at least once a week. We are not the Little House on the Prairie.

But I do have to stop and appreciate just how natural, therapeutic, and remedial it feels to grow our own food, or at least purchase it from local farmers, and then store it away so that we can enjoy fresh summer flavors all through the winter, until the sun rises on next year’s growing season–and we begin it all again.

More Messy than it Seems

It is a picturesque scene: me calmly and collectively sorting berries and beans over a clean counter top, the sun shining in the kitchen window, Pandora singing soft melodies in the background. But please don’t get me wrong–preserving food is hard work.

After all the hours and physical toil of tending a garden and growing and harvesting the food, or picking it out in a local field, or browsing through the Farmers’ Market; you now have to figure out what to do with it all, and then spend hours storing it away in the freezer or pantry, and all while it is still fresh.

Lessons Amidst the Mess

And then there are the kids. You see–the sweet melodies of Jack Johnson’s calming tunes floating through the kitchen were lost to the whining of the three year old and wailing of the one year old pulling at my leg.

And then the phone rang. And then the water lost its boil. And then the boys needed food–now–not in 5 minutes. And then the dog needed out. And then the jars needed to be lifted out of the water before the beans lost their crunch. My kitchen is a hectic place some days.

But I would have it no other way. The kitchen teaches me patience, and preserving food is a lesson in delayed gratification. And when my boys watch me milling about–sometimes with my hair tossed in a messy pony tail and still in my pajamas–pacing from the counter to the fridge to the garden to the trash can to the table and back to the counter working on countless food projects at once–they see something beyond the mess. They see me making the kitchen a priority. They see me making good, real food a staple of our household. They see me taking care of them.

And they may never know that it’s unique, special, or rare in this day and age. I kind of hope they won’t figure that out, but instead that they’ll just grow up knowing that food takes time, respect, patience, and work; and then when they are grown that they will treat food the same way–or at least marry a woman who does!

Giving Food the Work it Deserves

This is why I spend afternoons over a boiling water canning  bath, or running pans of fresh blueberries down to the basement freezer, then back up into bags hours later, over, and over, and over. Because I want us to give food the work it deserves.

And because come those dreary, bitter cold winter months, I want to cuddle up with my three men in front of our fire place with a warm blueberry crisp, made with berries grown from a farmer in our community. And when friends come over I want to sit and chat over glasses of red wine and a plate of artisan cheese, crackers, sausage, and pickled beans that we grew and preserved ourselves.

These are the things that cultivate fellowship. These are the things that create a culture in a home. That is something worth investing my time and energy into.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind When Preserving the Fresh Flavors of Summer

Make a Plan

Do a little research and understand what ingredients come into season at what times in your region. Don’t miss out on pickling asparagus or making strawberry jam because you didn’t realize how short their seasons are!

Have the time and money set aside to purchase all the ingredients and any equipment you may need to accomplish all of your preservation projects.

Budgeting for Preservation

It doesn’t take a production kitchen to preserve summer’s harvest, but you may need some basic equipment. Whether a large pot and some mason jars for pickling, a pressure-canner, a dehydrator, or simply some freezer bags for preserving berries, you should expect to spend a little bit of money up front. Anticipate your expenses by planning ahead for what you want to preserve, how you want to preserve it, and the equipment necessary to do so.

If you are not growing the food yourself, you will also have to budget for purchasing ingredients.

Where to Get Your Ingredients

This is our first year preserving food from our very own garden, but some ingredients, like blueberries, we are not growing, and must find other sources for. On Monday I will share how we came about a wonderful deal on local blueberries, but for now just keep a few things in mind:

• Always buy local whenever possible — check your Farmers’ Market. (Click here to find a Farmers’ Market near you)
• Look up local U-Pick farms in your area. (Click here to find one near you) It’s a little (or a lot…) more work, but a lot of fun and often very cheap!
• Don’t be afraid to ask for a deal when buying bulk. I saved $33 last week on blueberries by purchasing 29 pounds of them at once.
• Only buy the ingredients once you are ready to get to work. These ingredients are not laden with preservatives; they will go bad quickly, and need to be preserved soon after bringing them home.
• Consider any extra ingredients you may need. For example, when I am pickling, I need to make sure that beyond the vegetable I am pickling, I also need vinegar, pickling salt, fresh dill, peppercorns, and hot pepper flakes.

To get yourself started, here are a few ideas of things we have enjoyed preserving:

• How to Pickle Asparagus step-by-step with Photos (Our favorite by far!)
• Pickled Dilly Beans
• Quick, Easy, and Fresh Strawberry Rhubarb Syrup (for Pancakes or Ice Cream!)

Stay tuned on Monday when I will share how to freeze berries in bulk! As well as how to buy in bulk at the Farmers’ Market, and a recipe for Healthy Sugar-Free Grain-Free Blueberry Breakfast Crisp!}

Please share your thoughts! What is your favorite thing to preserve, whether by canning, freezing, pickling, or drying??