How I Am Getting Ready For Winter

We planted a garden this year with plans to do a lot of canning and freezing.  I really wanted to get some fruit and veggies put away for the winter when we couldn't get what we wanted. 

I have tried to start buying as much as I can from local farmers and growing the few things that we could grow.  This years garden had tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, jalepeno peppers, and several things that didn't make it.  Our squash and zuchinni all died.  Got some good advice from an old farmer here in town so hopefully next years garden will be even better.  Lessons to be learned...

I also picked and bought lots of blueberries this year and picked blackberries that I made jam out of and also put in the freezer.  I also bought a bunch of peaches that I made peach preserves with.  Delish...

My last canning the other night was tomatoes and blueberry jam.  My next thing to do is hopefully to pick apples from a grower down the road from me and make apple butter.

Now, I want to make sure it doesn't sound like I am boasting or bragging about what I am doing.  I just wanted to let you know what has taken up a lot of my time and what I am doing to prepare for winter. 

This has been a busy yet very productive summer.  I feel very good about what I have accomplished for my family.  I can't wait to pull blueberries out of the freezer in December and think about the day the kids and I went blueberry picking in July.

Blueberry jam made with some of the best blueberries I have ever eaten.  They were organic and locally grown. 

We go through jams and jellies very quickly.  We love toast, bagels, and english muffins with jelly. 

We did green beans, potatoes, tomatoes, salsa and spaghetti sauce.

My freezer is full of strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, corn on the cob, fried corn, okra, squash, and peppers.  It's also stockpiled with other foods that I find on sale at great prices.  (mainly breads, bagels and such that I get at good prices and stock up on)  I have also started making a breakfast casserole that I put in the freezer so that I can use up some of the many many many eggs that we have.

There you have it.  My summer job in a nutshell.  I feel like the ant who was getting ready for the winter.  The difference is that I have lots of help from my three kiddos.

Do you can any of your foods?  What about freezing?    I would love to hear about some of the things you are putting away for winter.

Can I just say one more thing?  My nanny would be so proud.  She canned everything that she could possibly can.  Her shelves were always stocked with food they had grown and preserved.  I am thrilled to be following in her footsteps even just a little. 

Tell me some of your preparations.  I would love to hear about them.

Linking up over at The DIY Showoff.  It's not a craft but I did do it myself.

Also linking up over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.