Harvest Tally 2010, Video Included

I'm calling it.

While I still may freeze some swiss chard and basil, I'm going to call it and say that our harvest season is officially over and tally up.  It almost made me more tired to tally it than to actually do it.  Well, that's probably not true, but so much of the hard work is far enough behind me that the hot kitchen, sticky floors, mounds of dishes, stained t-shirts and sweat running down my back is almost a distant memory.

Before I list things off, I just want to say that there is no way I could have done all this without Jamey's help.  NO WAY.  I'm not just giving him credit for all the planting and a lot of the harvesting, but also for help with a lot of canning and freezing projects.  With three small kids, it is impossible to do all this alone.  His 5-week off block at the end of the summer fell at the most perfect time, putting-up wise.  Thank you, dear.

I want to send credit in one other direction.  Can I just say that I tear-up as I think of the amazing creation that exists because of our God?!  This stuff grows for us.  To feed us.  The vitamins and nutrients are what we need.  Not only is it what we need, it tastes good!  Most of it tastes amazing!  Thank you, Father, for loving us and feeding us well.

Here we go.  Starting back on May 24, 2010, we preserved the following...

6 packed gallon bags of frozen chopped spinach
11 quarts crushed strawberries, frozen
2  1 1/2-cup bags chopped asparagus, frozen
9 3-cup bags sour cherries, frozen
6 pints sour cherries, canned
5 quarts and 1 pint garden (English) peas, frozen
6 1/2-pint jars strawberry freezer jam, frozen
17 1/2-pints and 3 1/4-pints mint jelly, canned
10 quarts whole red raspberries, frozen
44 quarts green beans, frozen
15 pints chopped zucchini, frozen
20 heads garlic, braided
30 cups pesto, frozen
2 pesto tortes, frozen
19 quarts blueberries, frozen
18 pints corn, frozen
~ 110 onion bulbs, braided
5 1/2 gallon bags halved and 3 pints chopped bell peppers (red, yellow and green), frozen
90 pints tomato sauce, canned
24 pints tomato salsa, canned
13 1/2-pints peach jam, canned
17 2-cup bags chopped peaches, frozen
26 quarts peaches, canned
11 pints peach salsa, canned
23 quarts nectarines, canned
17 quarts tomato soup, canned
10 chickens, frozen
10 quarts roasted tomatoes, frozen
25 pints stewed tomatoes, canned
17 pints grape jam, canned
10 quarts grape juice concentrate, canned
22 quarts and 1 pint chopped broccoli, frozen
10-15 roasted red bell peppers, frozen
12 pounds Ham (mostly bulk sausage)
180 quarts applesauce (77 quarts, frozen, and 103 quarts, canned)
2 1/2 bushels sweet potatoes, stored
1/2 bushel Yukon Gold potatoes, stored
12 butternut squash, stored
1/2 bushel carrots, still in the ground
14 cups beet hummus, frozen (recipe forthcoming)
leeks, still in the ground
stevia, still drying

(We grew this food ourselves except for the blueberries, peaches, beets, some of the corn, apples, concord grapes and broccoli- all these we shared with us by neighbors, bought locally, or were purchased locally by relatives for us.)

There were a number of "crops" we were disappointed in this year.  We were able to use all our own onions for our salsa and tomato sauce projects, but beyond those, they didn't store well at all.  Our garlic crop was piddly.  We will have to buy onions and garlic this winter. We would have liked more strawberries, corn, butternut squash and garden peas as well.

For the incredibly dry summer we had, we are thrilled that so many things did well.  We had more tomatoes than we could use, our pepper crop was great (and still going), our green beans were prolific and our basil was beautiful.

We have nothing to complain about and so much to be thankful for.

One last thing...I wanted to show you what our pantry looks like this time of year and thought a little video would be fun.

The very last thing...For many of the preserving methods we use, see the "Preserving" tab at the top just under the banner.  Thanks for sticking with us through another year of preserving! Pin It