The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Harvest, harvest, harvest

Bowl of berries

Monday is usually the day to catch up on pressing issues that caught my eye over the weekend. This week, that meant harvest, harvest, harvest!

Cooking from the garden

In addition to picking the butternuts Mark posted about yesterday, I froze just shy of three quarts of tomatoes and basil, picked some mung and scarlet runner beans, and served us fresh berries and blackened okra with our lunch. We're now up to 18 gallons of veggies in the freezer, which is a little less than we'd put away at this time last year but which is still on track for socking away our winter stores in a timely manner.

There are few more satisfying times of the year for a gardener than preservation season. Don't forget to enjoy the bounty!



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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comment 1
How do you freeze your basil.? And have you ever tried freezing celery? I have lots of both. I planted a small patch of okra, but late, so time will tell if it will mature before frost.
Comment by Deb — Tue Aug 18 13:45:00 2015
Freezing herbs
Deb --- I've found that herbs are better frozen in things. For basil, I either make pesto and freeze that or I make a cooked-down tomato with basil (soup/sauce base) and freeze that. We don't grow celery, but use parsley in similar situations. For parsley, I double down on soups with parsley as the base all summer --- that makes up the majority of our frozen vegetables for the year. I'll be curious to hear what you come up with!
Comment by anna — Tue Aug 18 16:21:03 2015
Preserving herbs
Years ago when I did some gardening, especially herbs, I found that picking, washing, and drying with a towel I could then put them into the microwave to dry. I do not remember how much time in the microwave, and of course that would vary by herb, but it was quick, easy, and very good. Put them into a jar and you have all the herbs you need during the winter.
Comment by Sheila — Tue Aug 18 21:31:49 2015
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