Harvest Home

Summer's bounty! These vegetables came straight from my mom & dad's garden this afternoon... can't get much fresher than that! We have started harvesting some cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash, a few peas and basil from our garden, but our seeds went in a bit late and we've not been tending it regularly so it is not expected to produce mass amounts of food. We're really thankful to have the contributions!
This FoodSaver was a gift from Jen, Jason, Avery, Toby and Bryan this year and I absolutely LOVE it. It's so much easier, faster and tidier than canning. Vacuum packaging reduces storage space, and preserves the flavor and freshness.

This is the result of my afternoon and evening. The beans got snipped, washed, blanched, dried, pre-frozen and then packed with the FoodSaver. I think we have about 7 bags of assorted sizes (because I haven't exactly figured out how big to cut the bags) The zucchini got washed, shredded and packaged... it will be used in the winter for breads, muffins, and also to add to soup stock for added texture and nutrients. The smaller squash will be prepared tomorrow for dinner, as will the tomatoes and the cucumbers (which somehow didn't make it into the picture). It is a nice sense of accomplishment to put surplus food away for the winter months ahead... and a good way to reduce our grocery bill a little bit too.

Harvest Home is a hornpipe that can be found in the Fiddler's Fakebook.