outdoors

Obsession is my word for the day, and obsessive I have become. After staying out of my kitchen for close to three months, I seem determined to end this season with as many jars of veggies, soups, jams and butters as is possible to make. I am not sure if this is part of my second trimester nesting (with one pregnancy I planted an entire English garden, and another I knit 11 sweaters), or if I am just truly this crazy every harvest season.

It has become a yearly tradition to gather in mid-September with a group of friends to visit a local farm and pick veggies and fruits. The generosity of this family of farmers is incredible, for your entire picking experience and an abundance of fresh food is only $10. This was a special year as well because a friend’s husband watched our kiddos while she and I boarded the hay truck to begin a 4 hour process of picking (the kiddos had a blast playing with snakes, frogs, tractors, and corn mazes). We had needed some girlfriend time, and the hours in 96 degree heat digging in the earth for onions, tomatoes, carrots, etc. went by in a flash.

We left the farm with over 70 lbs each of vegetables, and again my husband’s eyes rolled back into his head when he asked me just what I planned to do with this much food. This year I had a plan, and one that I am sure to stick to. I want to freeze such things as the green beans, and make fresh poppers with my jalapenos, but for the most part, I want to make stocks and soups.

I love autumn and winter soups and stews, but I a not a fan of the price of boxed stock. I felt like having the opportunity to make fresh stock was worth every onion and carrot that I picked, and yesterday saw 13 hours of doing just that.

20 quarts of vegetable stock were made, 22 bags of green beans and 13 bags of carrots were frozen, and 6 different soups were made and frozen for the coming cool months ahead. Tuscan white bean and sage, tomato and carrot, savannah bisque, broccoli, chicken stew and corn chowder have all been put up, and I have a growing list of new soups to try in the coming weeks.

I am only half way through the bounty we picked, and I am trying to keep the momentum going. I have to say that I am glad that canning season only lasts a couple of weeks, and that we are coming up on the end. The only thing that I can think of that is left are apples, and those will be ready to begin next week. Perhaps then I can get back to sewing and knitting.

These first few weeks of school have been spent almost entirely out of doors, and I realize that so much of this summer was spent in a blur of nausea and morning sickness that I fear my boys may not remember it too fondly. I am trying to make up for that with as many late summer picnics, hikes, and star watching moments as I can manage. The weather has stayed very warm as we approach early autumn, and I secretly hope for a few more weeks of this perfection before the cool weather truly sets in.

Picnics with the Elk, fresh soups, a slow moving river and the slightest tinge of gold in the trees. Autumn is shaping up to be a very good season indeed.

Veggie Stock

1 onion cut into quarters
4 carrots peeled and cut into huge chunks
1 apple cored and cut into large chunks
2 celery stocks cut into large chunks
10 pepper corns
1 bay leaf
2 cloves of garlic chopped

Put everything into pot and cover with 10 cups of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour. Strain and place in a clean jar to either use, freeze of process at 10 lbs pressure for 35 minutes in your pressure canner.

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