Just last week, I had 30 people over for a garden tour/class to learn more about gardening.

Broccoli and cauliflower are winter crops for us, planted in the fall (I’m in a zone 9). What a wonderful harvest you had!

Home canning of food is important as well. In a power outage, you can just open the can and eat it. Variety is a huge deal; we got tired of just peaches, pears, mandarin oranges, corn and green beans on our first year of living on our food storage (we did have dried raisins and cranberries as well, but we really wanted some other fruits and vegetables that year). Thankfully, our trees are now big enough to produce some variety, but even last year (our second year of living on our food storage) I was able to glean fruit from others who didn’t want it, and I canned apricots, pomegranate jelly, pear butter, and green tomato pickles from gleaned fruit.

Our garden has been a huge blessing to us as we’ve lived on our food storage. This year we had asparagus, artichokes, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, apricots, green onions, turnips, parsnips and more, fresh from our garden.

Just last week, I had 30 people over for a garden tour/class to learn more about gardening.

Broccoli and cauliflower are winter crops for us, planted in the fall (I’m in a zone 9). What a wonderful harvest you had!

Home canning of food is important as well. In a power outage, you can just open the can and eat it. Variety is a huge deal; we got tired of just peaches, pears, mandarin oranges, corn and green beans on our first year of living on our food storage (we did have dried raisins and cranberries as well, but we really wanted some other fruits and vegetables that year). Thankfully, our trees are now big enough to produce some variety, but even last year (our second year of living on our food storage) I was able to glean fruit from others who didn’t want it, and I canned apricots, pomegranate jelly, pear butter, and green tomato pickles from gleaned fruit.

Our garden has been a huge blessing to us as we’ve lived on our food storage. This year we had asparagus, artichokes, swiss chard, spinach, lettuce, tomatoes, apricots, green onions, turnips, parsnips and more, fresh from our garden.

Most people immediately think “alcohol” when they see “fermented”, but common fermented foods also include yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, some varieties of pickles, and several non-alcoholic beverages (kvass and kombucha come immediately to mind). Most condiments (ketchup, mustard, chutney, relish, fish sauce, soy sauce, …) were originally fermented foods, though their modern commercial versions generally aren’t. (A side note unrelated to food preservation specifically: All bread is fermented, and those who have or can create a sourdough starter can use their 900 lbs. of stored wheat without having to buy yeast packets every three months.)

Many vegetables can be safely fermented without special equipment or innoculants; for best results, use them straight from the garden, as commercial produce is often under- or over-ripe, and damaged. Sauerkraut and yogurt recipes are just a Google search away, as are instructions for pickled beans, cucumbers, beets, carrots, and many others. http://is.gd/17z6U has a place of honor on my bookshelf for exactly this sort of thing (I’m not associated with it in any way other than owning a copy — this is not a plug :). Historical cookbooks (those that haven’t been stripped all the good stuff in the name of modernity) are also good sources.

Most people immediately think “alcohol” when they see “fermented”, but common fermented foods also include yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, some varieties of pickles, and several non-alcoholic beverages (kvass and kombucha come immediately to mind). Most condiments (ketchup, mustard, chutney, relish, fish sauce, soy sauce, …) were originally fermented foods, though their modern commercial versions generally aren’t. (A side note unrelated to food preservation specifically: All bread is fermented, and those who have or can create a sourdough starter can use their 900 lbs. of stored wheat without having to buy yeast packets every three months.)

Many vegetables can be safely fermented without special equipment or innoculants; for best results, use them straight from the garden, as commercial produce is often under- or over-ripe, and damaged. Sauerkraut and yogurt recipes are just a Google search away, as are instructions for pickled beans, cucumbers, beets, carrots, and many others. http://is.gd/17z6U has a place of honor on my bookshelf for exactly this sort of thing (I’m not associated with it in any way other than owning a copy — this is not a plug :). Historical cookbooks (those that haven’t been stripped all the good stuff in the name of modernity) are also good sources.