First, for the record, I have been cooking - I've just been having a lot of problems getting time to post recipes. Today, I've given the older child to my mom and ditched my cleaning responsibilities so that I can post here while the little girl is sleeping. I'll regret this later, but oh well. Moving on...
Since the community garden is underway again, my CSA starts this weekend, and I've already been in the kitchen prepping and freezing lovely produce, I figured I had hit the end of one year of local eating. Last year, I joined our community garden, bought a full share in a CSA, and did my best with my own pitiful garden with the goal of buying no veggies from the grocery for an entire year. Here's how it went:
- I hear you saying, "Surely you didn't actually go all year without buying anything!" Well, you're right. I ran out of frozen carrots incredibly quick, so I had to buy a few of those. Also, there's no way to freeze lettuce and I can't go too long without salads. And, of course, I have a little munchkin who loves bananas and cucumbers. So, yes, I was in the produce store for things, but the majority of our stuff came from my frozen local supply.
- The Good:
- Zucchini. Who knew? The folks at the garden told me to shred it and freeze it. I also took a stab at slicing and freezing. Both worked great.
- Tomatoes. I knew the plum tomatoes would work, but I also froze some cherry tomatoes and some of my heirlooms. They all worked out fine.
- The Bad: Butternut and Acorn Squash... at least the batches that I tried to freeze cubed. The stuff I pureed was awesome.
- The Ugly: The freezer. So disorganized. So bad. So cold. So very, very cold. Since it was disorganized, it took forever to find things and my fingers froze. Must organize and wear gloves next year!
- What's left: Two bags of zucchini, one container of peppers, one container of blueberries, some basil, and some beans. Two bags of cubed squash got composted. Not too bad.
I'm not looking forward to another summer of blanching veggies every weekend, but it's worth it!
5 comments:
Have you guys started with local meat and dairy? We started that about 3 years ago and have been really happy with the products we get.
I am excited to freeze local produce for winter rather than buy at the store all winter. I always get sad when farmers market season is over so the idea of extending it is great. Like you I know there will be things we still need though like bananas and lettuce. And I love avocado and pineapple. Too bad we cannot grow them here!
Forgot to ask, how do you freeze your basil?
Yes, we've been getting all of our meat for a few years from Springfield Farms in Sparks and it's amazing. Best hot dogs ever! All of our dairy is local, with the exception of a few cheeses I pick up at Atwaters.
I chop the basil in the food processor and then put it in a one cup container and cover it with olive oil. I've also frozen pesto with everything but the cheese and the last bit of oil and that has worked well.
I'll have to try that with the basil. I only make batches of pesto to freeze but Dennis is not a big pesto fan so I am happy to try just freezing the chopped basil.
I am in search of hot dogs which do not use trimmings so I will have to check those out.
Awesome to hear how it went! I may turn to you for freezing advice as the season goes on, now that we're doing a full share.
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