Home Grown Goodness

My 2013 Canning Experiences:

 

Apples

The transparent apple tree grew a ton of apples this year! So much so, I knew I couldn't use them all. I advertised it for free picking, and a few people came by and got some...but I was still left with lots!

I made apple butter...my first experience making that. And I dehydrated a bunch, too!

The apple butter was even more time consuming than applesauce, but it's sooo delicious!

 

The red apple tree grew a lot less apples, and they were ripe in September & October, which is later than the Transparent type in August. I ate a lot of these fresh, and included them in baking recipes, but didn't end up canning any of them like I have in previous years.

 

 

Rhubarb

I made one batch of a new kind of rhubarb freezer jam that includes canned pineapple and strawberry jello. I love rhubarb flavors and the new recipe didn't disappoint me! Our rhubarb plants did so much better this year, and I was grateful to have enough to include in fresh baking throughout the summer as well as this freezer jam.

 

Apricots

Our neighbor and friend Frank had lots of apricots on his trees, and offered me the chance to come pick some. I gladly did! I just LOVE apricots and I wish I had a tree of my own! The apricots were in abundance this year, and I was so glad to eat some fresh! I also made some apricot syrup and some apricot freezer jam with what I picked.

 

Corn

 We didn't plant as much corn this year as we have in years' past. We ate a lot of corn-on-the cob when it was fresh. Some of our corn dried out before I had the chance to pick it all, though.

However, I did still manage to make a batch of some freezer corn! Definitely not as much as I did last year, but I still have some left over from last year, so I think it will all balance out by the end of this coming year.

 

Tomatoes

This was my first year ever growing tomatoes. I planted them with the thought that I would make salsa, but that never came to pass. I planted three varieties: regular, roma, and cherry. I ate a lot of the cherry tomatoes, and just loved them! I will definitely be planting them again! This photo was one day's picking from the garden by our house, which includes cherry tomatoes, red raspberries, and white raspberries:

Using some of the roma and regular tomatoes, I made a batch of tomato sauce, and was surprised at how easy it was. I've already used all these homemade sauces, and was very pleased with their flavor.

 Pears

Our pear tree has never been so overwhelmed!!! It grew so many pears this year that the branches were touching the ground! I also advertised free picking on this tree, and a few people came and picked some of its produce. I have never liked pears, and I didn't want all the fruit to go to waste. I kept about one basket full of them for our family, and I intended to slice and dehydrate them, but the fall went by so fast that they ended up rotting before I could get that chance, which I felt bad about.

I have never liked the placement of this tree in our yard--it competes for sunlight with a nearby shade tree and the hedge that borders the ditch. Also, every year I feel guilty that I don't do more with this fruit. So, I've convinced Josh to remove the pear tree from our yard this winter, which I'm so glad for!

 

Pumpkins

So far, I've canned 9 small orange pumpkins. I have a few blue pumpkins left over from the patch that I will be making into puree, too. I always have people question if the blue ones are good (which I hear that they are), so I'm glad to finally have the chance to cook them for myself and find out because we've never had any blue ones left over after the patch has closed before.

We also grew two kind of potatoes this year: Yukon Gold and Red, as well as two kind of onions: yellow and red. I dried out the onions and placed them all in nylons like I did last year--which worked out super! We've been eating a lot of the potatoes, and the rest are in burlap bags.

It was a good garden year, and I feel blessed that our food grew so well. I love eating fresh food straight from the garden and I've enjoyed learning how to can my own produce!