Preparing for winter

 

All been picked now, June 2023

The family spent a busy day on Sunday working on some garden projects:  in particular getting some more firewood cut/split and stored for the winter.  There are still some larger branches and some old fencing, but the husband and son split nearly all the last of the logs.  We are collecting a newer pile of green wood (mainly branches and larger prunings from our shrubs and trees) drying out too;  however these won't be dry enough for burning until the following winter.

We also picked the first half of the blackcurrants, and the last of the redcurrants.  I'm not quite decided if they will become jam or wine, but for now they are in the freezer until the rest of the blackcurrants ripen.  

My initial experiments with quick pickling/refrigerator pickling seem to have worked out (although the son thinks they are a little too sour):  cucumbers and beets.  I don't think these will last till actual winter, though maybe?  I hope to keep making more small batches as well as eating them.

Another pickle I have been contemplating is my green tomato salsa.  It's also a refrigerator type, and I usually make it closer to the end of the summer.  However, it's a pickle I really enjoy and I do have a lot of green toms right now (none very close to ripening yet).  If I did, I would use the cherry toms and again make smaller batches.  I'll think about it a little more;  the cherry toms are an "everbearing" plant, whereas the regular toms are a "once and done" plant.  So I could theoretically keep picking green cherry toms for the rest of the summer, and keep my fingers crossed the big toms will actually ripen.

I'm trying to keep the dehydrator going most days, even if only for a single tray.  I've been mainly focusing on the zucs and kohl rabi.  I want my cupboards (and fridge and freezer) to be full by winter, with plenty of variety.