I’m thankful that my daughter has a birthday and family is coming, because it forces us to do something else… clean.
Our house has become a mess. I don’t think we’ve sat at a table in the last month to share a meal. We’ve literally been living off sandwiches. Although we use our own mustard, mayonnaise, pickles,and peppers… it’s the store-bought bread that is getting everyone sick of eating. It’s just not the same. I miss the days when Tina would bake four loaves of fresh bread, but there is no time.
Not only is there no time to bake the bread, but the island is also covered in today’s canning jars. The large All-American pressure canner takes up all the real estate on our stovetop and the rest of the canning ingredients are scattered throughout the kitchen.
We had to move our coffee maker to the other side of the kitchen. The countertop where the coffee maker usually is has become a place to set the mason jars, between batches.
Our laundry sink was commissioned to wash all the large pans. This meant we have stuff everywhere. When we bought the house, we thought the kitchen was exceptionally large; today however, we’re running out of room.
In one day, we canned 25 quarts of potatoes and another 50 quarts of ground beef. It’s not coordinated well, like a circus. We sure look like a bunch of clowns moving throughout the house.
We purchased commercial stockpots so we can make large batches of sauce. We try to do 50-60 quarts per batch. But by the time we finish cooking it down and it’s ready to can, we’re already behind on the berries.
We’ve picked countless buckets full of blackberries. We freeze, dehydrate and preserve some into jam.
After spending hours putting up our stores for the year, one thing is banally obvious… we need a meal plan next year. No more store-bought bread. Salads and sandwiches are nice… but we can’t live off on it for a month straight during harvest season. This year’s harvest is bigger and more successful than any other year. With all hands-on deck helping harvest, wash and preserve, it follows that we need a plan. We need a plan to allow us to have homecooked food while we’re processing.
We’re looking for ideas, if anyone has any. Canning 50 or more quarts of anything in a given day, leaves very little time or room for anything else.
But in the end, we’re growing food that we love to eat. We’re spending time with people we love and we’re forging relationships that will far outlast even the best lids. Our kids are learning to cook, they’re learning to grow vegetables. And I can’t help but wonder if they’re going to be coming back here to help harvest after they’re grown, or if they’ll be harvesting a piece of heaven with their own families. Either way, I think I’m lucky to be a part of it all.
