Resilience in the months ahead

Gladiola, Aug 2019

Though the Vegetable Challenge ends at the beginning of November, there is some uncertainty about national food security for the coming autumn/winter here in this country.  I'm trying to grow and preserve what I can to help assuage that uncertainty for my own family;  depending on the national situation, we may not have much choice of fruit and vegetables at the store when the Challenge runs out.  If we want to keep eating vegetables, it's entirely possible they'll have to come from our own garden or allotment.

I mentioned before that the whole food growing engine I caretake has overwhelmed me this summer.  However, now the houseguests have left, and I'm feeling a bit better (though still not fully), I luckily can now do some light gardening, and have even been to the allotment once or twice.  I'm trying to put by a little of the harvest every day, using as little effort as possible:  dehydrating, freezing, salting.

It's true the freezer is pretty full now, and I don't actually freeze many vegetables;  but this summer I've added a bag of mixed berries, along with half a bag of cherries and a bag of chard stems (leaves were dehydrated or eaten as salads).

I've finally got the first jar of salted runner beans going.  It's not a big jar.  I didn't get many runner or French beans last summer (too hot and dry), but I've had better luck this year;  I just need to remember to keep skimming a few off the top for salting and not eat them all.

And dehydrating some cherry tomatoes and figs.  Small batches.  I was given a sack of beets and considered pickling them, but decided to go the easy route and dry them--they filled up a small jar once dehydrated.  The dry peas are all threshed now; we'll probably get only a couple meals off them, but they represent the future:  this year I had two rows of peas, next year I want four rows at least, and the year after maybe eight rows.