filling the larder

“That last summer, the kitchen reeked of pickling spice, anise seed and juniper berries. Watermelon jam, lavender jellies and crystalized fennel cooled on the pantry shelves. Jars with mango pickles and pickled onions, an old habit from his days in London, were set aside in the wine cellar to cure. Honeycombs were stacked in bowls on the sideboard, draining, waiting to be melted into candles mixed with olive oil and pressed into soaps. Thunderstorms were canned along with plum jam. Memories seeped onto the pine floorboards.” 

― N.M. Kelby, White Truffles in Winter

 

My larder is becoming stock full and I am so very thankful for His provision. It has taken me several months to get to this point in which I have been working hard to achieve in filling my food stores for the year.  Many foods such as wheat berries, oatmeal, popcorn and rice were ordered in bulk from Azure Standard and are now safely stored in buckets with gamma seals. Other food items have been canned, pickled or preserved. Glass mason jars are filled and are holding things such as beans and other ordinary staple items. 

I have not canned this much since the days we lived on the farm when our garden was huge with long rows of green beens and field peas, rustling  rows of tall corn, row after row of tomato plants in many varieties, and open plots of growing beets, cucumbers, squash and okra. Yes, every year we sowed and  every year we reaped. Canning and preserving food was a necessity as not to waste the fruits and homegrown vegetables; we planned our garden with the intent to preserve what we grew and our summers were busy with putting food up. Sure we got tired from the long days of hard, ongoing work, picking, washing, preparing, canning and freezing our produce, but that feeling of  observing the preserved foods on the larder's shelves was and still is extremely rewarding.  And we ate from its stores all winter. Our children too had the added benefit of helping and learning gardening and preserving foods. Witt even entered some of his canning efforts in the state fair.

Since our garden this year is small due to space limits from living in town, most of the food have been bought at local Farmers Markets or ordered from Azure Standard. The evening I came home with 20#s of cucumbers, 25#s of carrots, 20#s of beets and several cabbages it was like the house was on fire as we wasted no time in beginning our preserving, especially the cucumbers which were the most perishable. But we are already feasting on opened jars of bread and butter, spicy sweet, and fermented dill pickles.

And with all the jams and jellies put up, homemade buttermilk biscuits spread thick with them with be a literal feast this winter. I had been wistfully mentioning to my husband that I would love to have some pears in order to make a batch of pear preserves. Remember the fig story? I was wanting to gift the owner of the figs a jar of the fig preserves one afternoon last week. She said, "I have pears too, help yourself." 

He does hear, which makes me think I must remember He also hears my grumbling and complaining. How patient He is, and how kind and good. 

sun tea

 

This is the summer of sun tea brewing. It has become habit forming.

About every other day I fill a gallon sized Fido jar halfway with water, add about 1/2 cup of sugar, and plop in one large black tea bag. It brews outside in the sun for at least 5- 6 hours. We have discovered it has the most mellow yet vibrant taste of  Just Right Sweet Tea, the kind even I enjoy drinking. I have thought of that special  jar my mother had years ago when this was "the thing" to do! Do you perhaps have memories of those jars too?

cooking on a rocket stove

Camping essentials, and that must most certainly include cooking campsite, have never lagged around in my thoughts if ever at all. I camped once when I was in high school and that was enough for me to make a personal decision that camping would not be one of my pursuits in the present or future. And I married a man that while he had camped more than once, it was not exactly something he would be disappointed to leave behind if necessary. Maybe I just gave him the excuse not to camp, that one I will leave alone.

But I do delight in the joy of cooking outside either around a fire or on some other sort of burning wood stove. Enter the rocket stove...I'm inveigled. How did I ever live this long without one? It is super cheap to build, quick to assemble, and it takes only bits of twigs and small wood pieces to keep it roaring; hence the name, rocket stove. 

Last night we christened our backyard model by first heating water in a kettle, which took about five minutes to get to the boiling point, with that success under our belts we were on to frying bacon and eggs, eaten outside just before dusk. 

You can have one for your very self  by just watching a few videos on YouTube. As the season changes and autumn brings the cooler weather I plan to be frequently outside enjoying my rocket stove, stirring meat and vegetable soups, simmering pots of beans, flipping sourdough pancakes, and boiling kettles of water for coffee and steaming mugs of tea.