Putting Up with the Fuzzies

No, I don't mean Mr. Fuzzy's anti-humor or Mrs. Fuzzy's housekeeping... I mean putting up food! Plans are in the works for a proper cellar but the lack of one has not stopped us from starting to preserve food for winter. I hear you saying...

"What on earth are you putting up, missy?
Your garden isn't even in yet!"

Well, if you look on the sidebar you'll see the preserving list and a list of edibles we've actually put in the ground. (There's a whole lot more waiting to go in as soon as I get those beds finished!) So far, the preserving has been little experiments to see how we like these new foods. Next year I'll make larger quantities.

Our farm is blessed with many native edibles, especially nuts, some of which Mr. Fuzzy collected in December. Having recently discovered two more food trees - chinquapin and paw paw - on our property means we're going to be putting on the miles and muscles gathering wild foods this autumn.

I've also been learning much of late about which garden flowers can be preserved. Somewhere I have a cookbook on the subject but it's all for fresh use. Got started late on this project but I did manage to make a little lilac jelly and I've got the first batch of rose petal jam started. There are tons of buds on the scented climbing rose so I expect to be making this every few days for a wee while. Enough, at least, to keep us in this manna. Maybe even plenty to share.