Freezing Food... in Glass!

This post was long on my mind - after spending days searching the internet for ways to store food in any other containers besides plastic. It seems nuts to go through the effort of growing or buying locally grown fabulous produce and then package it in such unhealthy containers as plastic - be it bags or trays or jugs. I never though about it before, but now it dawned on me that time is ripe for change. An abundant harvest of apples in our little home orchard prompted a long-wished-for purchase of an apple press. That is one fine pricey toy!


Several years ago we determined that we prefer to convert money into things one can eat or ones that produce energy, value-added product, or decrease our dependence on industrial agriculture. Thus the press arrived and is sitting on our porch in its elegant glory. The apples were harvested, books consulted, friends invited for a juicing party when the question of how to contain all that liquid gold has arrived. We don't heat process our juice - i.e. it is "raw" with all its vitamins and enzymes and nutrients. Thus have to freeze it to keep it. My research and conversations with those in the know yielded one answer - square plastic bottles are the best. They stack well, they don't burst, they are reusable. Plastic???? We have been systematically converting everything in our house and lives into "non-plastic" - I still remember the high school organic chemistry lessons about plastic, the wonderful material with its fantastic qualities - one of them was that it did not react with its contents. That was not that long ago, when even my chemistry teacher believed in this fairy tale! Plastics leach all sorts of substances and even BPA-free containers (widely available now) are still made out of all sorts of unsavory substances! Why would I mix my organic, homegrown, raw apple juice with plastic?
Online searches for freezing food in glass yielded nothing, except for some fleeting mention that Ball/Kerr canning jars are actually made for both extreme hot and extreme cold temperatures and may be suitable for freezing liquids in. The official Ball website was mum on the subject - but the seed was planted. I consulted other sources, my common sense and arrived to the following template for using glass for freezing:
1. Quarts (1/4 gallon) wide mouth jars are the best - the volume is not too large so it allows for fast freezing and more even expansion which could possibly damage the container. Wide mouth leaves more space for expansion. I left 2" head space in my jars.
2. The item to be frozen must be chilled to the lowest temperature possible before going into the freezer. I put my juice in large (1/2 gallon) glass jugs and placed them in ice water bath for several hours. Then I poured cold juice into quarts which allowed me to keep the jars dry, and placed them into the freezer, one layer high. I added layers later once I was sure all jars froze without any problems - i.e. they were frozen in batches.
3. I did not use lid bands on my jars, lids only - to allow for more space is somehow juice expanded more than the head space I left. You can put bands on the jars later, once they are frozen.
4. I stacked jars in the original cardboard boxes, which keeps them together and avoids any banging or movement when I rummage in the freezer.

I am proud to report 100% success rate with this method and am glad to be free of plastic in my freezer. Now I need to figure out how to store grated zucchini & apple and all other smaller staff that fits nicely in zipper bags but really does not belong there!

Gardening and New Motherhood

well... it is not as easy as I pictured before I had a baby. He is one year old now, and things are still not getting done in the garden, orchard, or various other places including kitchen, house, office etc. This morning I had him in my sling and got some lavender harvested; yesterday I turned him loose in the garden while I pulled the garlic (onions are still there, ready to be harvested). Peaches he grabs from the tree on his own! I love that he knows to look in trees for food - such a natural hunter-gatherer - especially after a month and a half of eating mulberries from a kiddy-size tree. He walks now.

Potato Baskets

My garden is too small for planting any reasonable quantity of potatoes, plus they need a lot of cultivation, plus they exhaust the soil - so when I saw a solution for growing a few spuds sustainably, I knew it! Mary Zemach, a local permaculture legend, figured this out.

1. Take old leaves (ideally you stashed several bag-fulls last fall when your neighbors where removing these from their lawns and gardens with enthusiastic fervor. Maybe you came by and kindly offered your place as a depository for the neatly bagged leaves. Neighbors were thrilled and delivered their bags). If you don't have leaves, look around for some other soft biomass that may be laying around - the whole idea is to convert something unwanted into something wanted - pure alchemy in fact! Straw and chunky compost will work.

2.Take a black plastic trash bag and cut off the bottom. Open it in out in a circle and lay on the ground. No soil preparation underneath is needed. In fact you can place your future potato tower on top of weeds, but ideally you cover weeds with a thick layer of newspaper to smother them. Fill the bottom portion of the bag with about 6" leaves and some soil and/or compost; fold the rest of the bag for now. The exact combination of filler mixture will vary from climate to climate, so treat this as a learning experiment - you will need to adjust amount of soil, water and work on all other variables. One thing stays constant - potatoes produce new tubers above mother tuber, that is why they take so much work if you grow them in the ground. By using tower you are going up and work with the plant!

3. Place your potato(s) in the mix - I think I will go with three per basket. Cover them and wait for emerging leaves. Keep adding leaves and soil/compost mix as your plants grow, raising the soil level and lifting the plastic bag. Your wire basket will keep the whole tower stable. When the season is over, pull up or open your tower and gently tip it. The leaves (now magically partially converted to potatoes) will spill into your garden, potatoes will come out easy and without digging and you can re-use the whole contraption next spring! You can also plant other things in the tower once it reached its height. Below is a photo of Mary's tower mid-season - it is at its full height and is also providing home for an eggplant.

Other gardening ideas from Mary: grow your horse radish in plastic perforated tubes, stashed in a wire tower filled with straw - the filler keeps the root zone cool and moist, and tubes make it easy to pull otherwise very deep root of this plant.
END OF SEASON WISDOM: (new insight) - potatoes like cool soils - ours did not produce well in the baskets because the soil was too warm - next time I will either use TIRES, or create a way to keep the soil bag shaded and cool

"First Lawn? First Lunch!" is the motto on the home page of the EatTheView.org website of the White House organic garden campaign. "Eat the View!" is a campaign urging the Obama's to replant a large organic Victory Garden on the First Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries.

This campaign was envisioned by Maine-based Kitchen Gardens International, a network of thousands of gardeners inspired to teach more people to grow their own food. The founder of this organization, Roger Doiron, posted the idea of “Eat the View!” on the OnDayOne.org contest where citizens are helping set a positive global agenda for president-elect Obama. It is a sign of an amazing positive change, that this proposal has won the Grand Prize of the popular vote on OnDayOne.org

The season is in its limbo days - the light is returning, yet the life juices of the land are far from awakening. Our spirits are, however, entering the state of the delicious dreaming of spring land-based activities - so consider including some Lawn-to-Lunch theme in your by-the-fireplace cozy dreams. As we say in permaculture, start small and let your success propel you forward; but dream big - and have Slow Food start its non-speedy advance from your outdoors into your indoors!
Bon appetite!

From the Dark Place

In the past few weeks we lost electricity several times. This loss of light has instantly put many things in perspective – first, how disturbing a sudden quiet and calm can be; how pleasant it becomes after a few candles are found and lit; and how much one’s focus, naturally, drifts towards wanting some time with friends… Once all electrically powered devices cease to function, the need for a warm circle of friends, for a good conversation, or for a great story grows stronger.

Spending a few hours in the dark also reminded me of the true meaning of this season – the time of short days, very dark and long nights, with cold quieting everything to suspension… time of multiple holidays, family visits, gift exchange, lots of food and partying.

I made this story for myself this winter:

Imagine, a long time ago people first noticed the changing of the seasons – this was probably because they were migrating from much warmer tropical climates, where there is not much difference between day and night length – and seasonal changes must have been a very frightening thing to experience. After a while, the elders began watching with much more attention, growing more and more concerned with the continuing shortening of the day light – until there came a point when no more change was noticeable and the time became still, quiet, cold, dark. Then, after a few days, they saw a few minutes of extra light push the darkness away. What a relief that was for everyone, to realize that the sun and life were returning, minute by minute extending the day, and reviving the life force in trees, soil, animals. The gain in daylight at first is so minute, that it takes several days to notice a change – and as a result, people felt the need to call in the sun, the life force, the creator during these dark ambiguous days – with food, libations, fires, lights, gatherings, and warm times with family. How else would you explain that in many parts of Europe the year’s turn/ the light’s return is celebrated for two weeks?; That traditionally there should be enough food stored in the house from the last year’s harvest to feed anybody and everybody for two weeks without much additional shopping or procurement?; That all of us, despite different life styles, health concerns, or creeds tend to put on a few extra pounds during these two weeks – as if there is some biological explanation for this, and not just unending feasting causing a heightened appetite.

While our bodies expand a little, our minds go inward, sleepy and dreamy. Wishes and resolutions are made out of this state of mind; and visions come while watching the fire, or swirling hot apple cider. Dreams of new gardens, home improvements, relationship healing, for making new friends, for restoring the health of oneself and the environment around us, for the continuous privilege of living a simple, happy, uncomplicated life in a warm house filled with a child’s laughter, with a beloved, with a few fruit trees to bear fruit and keep bees happy, with a peaceful sky, clean air and water, homegrown food, normal global climate, a multitude of birds and creatures sharing the bounty, in an unpolluted healthy world with its life force returning – out of a dark place.

A Meal Made of Thanks - Thanksgiving of the Year, Harvest

The holiday season is sneaking up on me this year. I am a new mother learning to fill my new shoes and navigate this breathtaking reality.

  Meanwhile my perceptions of the time and the calendar are oddly skewed. The cycles of my new life are defined by sunset and sunrise and followed by the vague but joyful awareness of days, weeks and, months. When it comes to dressing the little one for a walk, the concept of seasons is still with me, but not much beyond that; the calendar is just an assembly of little blue squares on the wall that my son loves to stare at.

The life cycles of surrounding land is what keeps me informed in my mommy-haze. The harvest is over; frosts wiped out our garden; the great horned owl has begun its by-nightly winter visits to the chicken house; fall garlic planting took place; the freezer is full of home-grown food. The year is winding down.

One of my greatest joys comes from being able to cook more often with the foods we grow. When I first started gardening 11 years ago, I was satisfied to see a few handfuls of tomatoes and an occasional zucchini. After a few seasons I realized we were still only making very few meals with our own vegetables; I changed my planning approach, and my gardening style, as I became more confident and experienced. Now I plant with my eye on the meals we will prepare long after the frosts of early winter, and then gather our extended family together to pay tribute to the richness of our land.

These meals I call the Meals Made of Thanks; they fill my heart with pride and gratitude for the gifts that come from the good land. Thanks be to the savory pumpkin soup made with spinach, onions, goat milk and a touch of garlic; to the goat cheese with dill weed and sundried tomatoes; to the fresh salads out of the greenhouse; to the sautéed winter greens served with Jerusalem artichoke roots; to the omelets slathered in tomato salsa; to the fresh goat milk and dried apples in my morning cereal; to zucchini pancakes with prickly pear syrup; to the pumpkin bread; to the goat stew.

As we will sit down for a meal to celebrate this holiday season, each bite will remind us of the wonderful gifts the earth has given us. Remember, how our Mama Turkey sat on someone else’s clutch and hatched eleven baby guineas? Or how the goat kids used to make a terrible ruckus every evening at milking time, protesting the loss of what was theirs? Or how a horned owl moved in and took away two guineas? And our pumpkin patch that actually formed a patch for a change, instead of a few skimpy plants – and how good the scalloped pumpkins taste with a rack of ribs? To all of them - plants and animals – we thank you at every meal, because every meal means more to all of us now, after we raised our food and shared our stories.

Pumpkin Abundance

ok, I am getting better and better at this stuff. Despite being VERY pregnant for the entire planting and  weeding seasons, somehow I managed the garden this year, with a very serious help from friends (thank you all so much!) - so as the frost is here, I am trying to find time away from my 4-months old Blessing-of-a-new-baby to can, freeze, bake.