Sweet Herbs

'Tis harvest time and we have been busy filling the pantry with all manner of food. We do a lot of food preserving here, from drying to freezing, canning to cellaring. A habit developed long ago that we see no reason to abandon. We like to eat, we like to garden, filling up the pantry is the obvious fnext step.

From fruit to green beans and tuna (OK, not from our garden), Italian style tomato sauce to Mexican style salsa we fill jars with the food from orchard and garden that will feed us through the winter and beyond.

We have always felt that anyone can grow a little fresh food for themselves. Even apartment dwellers can have a windowbox with greens or other vegetables. But of the things you can grow and save for year-round use, I would wager that herbs are the easiest.

From Basil to Oregano, Chives to Thyme, I can't imagine cooking without using herbs, fresh or dried. Many are hardy perennials and very simple to grow and save.

We recently added new raised beds to our garden. With 1/2" hardware cloth underneath, they are a gopher proof planting area. Previously we had planted gopher delectables such as carrots and garlic in cut off oil drums that are from the food grade oils we use in our soapmaking (see our business site). With the new beds, some of these barrels were now free and I saw the chance to make a new herb garden. I've planted a variety of types of Thyme, Rosemary, Oregano, Dill, Chives and Sage in these barrels, as well as a couple of Lavender plants so far.

This has worked out even better than we expected. In only two months these herbs have grown so vigorously that we are already able to harvest plenty for drying. This is fabulous - as I make herb blends for seasoning when I cook (see earlier BLOG "I'm All Mixed Up"). We also grow a variety of Basils, Tarragon, and Marjoram elsewhere.

There is absolutely nothing complicated about drying herbs, all you need is a well ventilated place to hang them. I pick bunches of herbs late in the morning after the dew has dried off of the leaves. I will pick them at pretty much any stage, but preferably before they flower (if you want Dill Seed, you must wait until after they flower and then form seeds). Bunch the cut ends of the stems together in a bundle that is not so big and tight that the center may have trouble drying and wrap securely with a rubber band. This is a hot tip! The rubber band will contract with the stems as they dry and keep your bundle from falling apart. You can tie a string or wire to the rubber band to hand the bunch from or just hook the bunch over a nail without. I save those twistie ties from store vegetables and use those. They stay rigid enough I can put a loop in them and hook them on the rafters without a ladder (or handy tall person, which I am not).

If it is a place that gets direct sunlight you can tie the bunch inside a paper bag and hang it all together. This helps preserve the color of the herbs. This also confines the fine leaves of the herbs, should they break off when dry.
Once dry, I strip the leaves off of the stems and store in airtight containers in a dry, dark place. I don't crush or crumble them until I am ready to use them or make one of my blends. They retain  flavor and aroma longer when stored as whole leaves.

And then, in the dead of winter I can relive the flavors and aromas of summer by adding these herbs to my cooking. It's as easy as that!

Deep in Harvest Season - Overabundance!

We are having a bumper crop of fruits and vegetables and between running Simmons Natural Bodycare and preparing for winter we barely have time to rest!

If you're interested in a snapshot of harvest season on our homestead with recipes & food preservation techniques, I am chronicling it closely on our Eat Local Challenge BLOG - LocalVore Challenge.
From applesauce to zuchinni, dried pears to sour cherry liqueur, you will find our culinary saga there.

Abundance... Putting Food By

Harvest season, that time of year when we are blessed with an abundance of vegetables. Sometimes it seems more like a curse as we try to stay ahead of it. If they were not so heavy I might just add a zucchini or cucumber to every soap order!
We hate to see anything go to waste so, what we cannot eat we try to get in jars to store for the winter season ahead. Only the occasional gargantuan summer squash that escaped our notice until it was over mature and such bypass us, our friends, or the canning kettle to become salad for the chickens.

It does become problematic as we try to keep the business going, do regular maintenance and preparation for winter, and keep on top of the bounty of the the garden before it turns to compost right in the garden. It is a busy time of year, running late nights just as the days are getting shorter trying to get everything done. But the garden and food are one of my passions. I am a dedicated plant-a-holic and determined to enter winter with a full pantry.

I must confess, with years of this sort of thing behind me it is not as much work as it might seem. Many things become an add on to making a regular meal, when we are in the kitchen anyway, and get processed while we eat. Some things, such as tomatoes, peaches, or making apple cider, are an all day affair and we generally have some friends or family over to share the bounty and the fun. We are truly fortunate.

But lately, watching the news, I am struck by comments on the economy and what it is doing to the price of food. Right now, worldwide, there is everything from protests about food prices to riots to rationing to famine. Some, as always, is caused by failed crops and weather related shortages. Some is caused by war and civil strife. But a lot is also caused by high energy prices. You know, energy like that spendy gallon of gasoline and the agriculture based biofuels they want to replace/ augment it with. Since 2001 overall food prices have increased by 75%!

Get used to it. Since the root cause appears to be higher energy and fertilizer prices (also often a petroleum byproduct - Buy Organic) the problem won't necessarily be solved by a better crop next year. And since 1/4 of the U.S. corn crop is now devoted to making ethanol (and more is mandated for the future) and so much food in this country is ultimately corn-based... well you see where this is going.

The good news is that, living in the U.S., chances are it will just be expense, rather than serious shortages, that plague us.

So we start vegetable seeds, garden, and fill the pantry against the year ahead. But what about the food we do not grow and people without gardens? Well, our family has been in a position both where every penny had to be accounted for and where we could not get to a store for weeks on end. As they say, necessity can be a great teacher. It taught us to buy in bulk. It taught us to learn about food preservation. It taught us to keep staples in the house at all times, especially those that do not require refrigeration. It taught us to eat in season, eat at home, and prepare our own food. The interesting aside to all that is we end up eating really, really well. For those who cook, having staples on hand can be a source of creativity and inspiration.

Everywhere I have lived I managed to make a food storage place. Sometimes we just commandeered a coat closet for food, adding shelves and bins, sometimes built bins that doubled as counters when the lids were closed. It is just a matter of creating a cool, dark, dry area. Our family long ago learned to only buy food we would actually eat. Rice, beans, cornmeal, oatmeal, flour, pasta, these long lasting staples are the backbone of our personal food economy. Airtight lidded buckets, gallon jars, small lidded trash cans are inexpensive or free containers that keep insects out and help preserve freshness. Just as important are the condiments and necessities that transform these staples into delectable meals, from dry milk and baking power, sugar and salt, to soy sauce and vinegar, herbs and spices. Keeping basics allows more flexibility when you buy the extras that make a meal.

Purchase one or two bulk items at a time, as works for you, and ultimately you find you always have the basics for what you need and your overall costs go way down. If roads close or commodities or money become scarce, you might like to know you have a culinary slush fund.

For us, the basics plus what we can and freeze, dry and store fresh in the cellar or in the garden itself, keeps us fed well, year round. Putting away food went from necessity to habit, and some might argue that, with me, it's a compulsion. But no one complains as they put in their order for their favorite jam, salsa, or pickles!

Over the years we have been doing this we've learned a lot of tricks and tips. If you have questions about anything from canning applesauce to zucchini bread, drying fruits, vegetables, or herbs, types of fresh storage, to types of equipment... post it, and I will answer all as best I can. I can always turn to my experienced neighbors for any information I may not have.

Happy Harvest!