Thanksgiving Squirrel

I have been waiting to post because I love to have pictures, and the cold storage has so much in it that I really have lots to share. However, Mike has been about to leave, gone, sick and now camera-less, so I need to suck it up, be a big girl and post all on my own. I have so much stored up at this point that I am just bursting.

This weekend we dug the last of our potatoes (making nearly four 20 gallon pails), dug some beets and carrots and picked the last of the kohlrabi and peppers. We also canned 8 liters of tomatoes and processed three of our pumpkins. For Thanksgiving we were in charge of dessert at Liz's. Leo made gingerbread cake with our raspberry sauce, Mike made pumpkin cheesecake, I made carrot cake with our carrots, and Leo cranberry mousse. Anwyn made whip cream for everything. Mike also made homemade pasta so I could use up pumpkin as a filling and we used our last zucchini in apple/zucchini muffins.
 
Late breaking news: spurred on by my blogging and unwilling to see things undocumented by images, Mike has stopped by with his new iPhone to take pics. Here is one - the rest can be seen here.  Some are a bit dark due to lack of good camera. Just makes me appreciate Mike all the more....








Each year I do a post at this time  (view last year's for harvest comparison) with all of the food we have to support us through the winter. We already started eating, but here is what we have at the moment:

Canned

• 6 250 mls of raspberry jam (still 5 from last year)
• 8 500 mls raspberry sauce
• 5 125 mls of cherry syrup
• 9 125 mls of apple sauce, plus 8 500 mls
• 3 500 mls of chutney
• 9 125 mls pizza sauce
• 10 125 mls tomato sauce
• 8 liters pureed tomatoes
• 4 liters cooked pumpkin
• 15 liters of salsa, plus 5 125 mls in smaller containers
• 19 liters of pickles

Fresh

• 7 pumpkins
• 1 butternut
• 4 acorn squash
• 5 spaghetti squash
• 4 20 gallon pails of potatoes
• 1 gallon pail of beets (many more in garden)
• 6 cups carrots in fridge (many more in garden)
•  1 meter by 1 meter of green tomatoes still ripening

Frozen

• 13 cups green beans
• 14 cups zucchini
• 12 cups rhubarb
• 13 cups strawberries
• 9 cups cherries
• 30 cups raspberries
• 13 cups apples
• 4 cups saskatoons (left over from last year)

One exciting new addition is a food dehydrator. We used it to make apple slices and fruit leather, and we spent a lot of time doing spices. Right now Mike is working on basil. We have already dried dill, sage, oregano, and mint. I have transplanted some spices into our kitchen window for the winter, and we'll enjoy those fresh for another 6 weeks at least. However, the dried spices are a big saver over the frozen fresh that we usually do. I'll still freeze mint and have about 8 cups of basil, but am really excited about the dried spices. As usual I have a variety of small spicy peppers

From last year, harvest is pretty similar. There were few local saskatoons this year due to much rain, but cherries will be a good substitute. We have a record tomato harvest that will really keep us going, and we made substantially more pickles. I froze less raspberries and made less jam because we still have leftovers from last year.

We use our fruit for breakfast breads, smoothies, pies and crisps. Most of the other food we eat as side dishes, spices or sauces. As I am happily storing it all, I really feel like a Thanksgiving squirrel, happily storing for the winter while enjoying my bounty.