2018 Journal

The Year Without a Summer. A series of unfortunate events befell us in 2018 and we were unable to preserve as usual.

 

Tally for 2018

• Pickled Asparagus - 4 quarts
  Pears - 13 quarts
  Pesto - 6 half-pints
  Ribolitta - 14 quarts
  Tomatoes - 6 quarts
  Vaganza Soup - 10 quarts

 

Story of 2018

May 19, 2018

• Pickled Asparagus — 4 quarts
• Our second year for canning these as we loved them so much the first time. The asparagus came from Altonen Orchards . We are still looking for someone who can provide us bulk pricing as the retail cost of these is rising too much each year.

August 16, 2018

• Pesto — 6 half-pints
• We still have pesto from last year so most of our basil we dried. Howver, we did make and freeze some.

September 1, 2018

• Whole Tomatoes — 6 quarts
• Hubbie was unavailable so the Wife froze tomatoes rather than risk trying to can (it has always been his job).

October 20, 2018

• Ribollita — 14 quarts
• It is never too late to can this late-harvest stew. This is one of our staples and thanks to Providence Farms we were able to get everything we needed to make it.

October 28, 2018

• Pears — 13 quarts
• We missed the Peaches, Apricots and Nectarines this year but were able to get some late pears from King Orchards and can them up. A friend wanted to learn about canning and so helped in the process - pears being fairly easy to work with.

November 8, 2018

• 'Vaganza Soup — 10 quarts
• This was simply a late harvest soup. We included everything we had from our friends at Providence Farms , our local CSA using the last shares of the season. Kale, chard, caggage, miscellaneous greens, leeks, turnips, potatoes, carrots and various herbs. We made our own chicken stock and added a roasted chicken and 2 quarts of tomatoes we'd put up. More of a defensive move than a recipe! (But it is delicious!)