“The first supermarket supposedly appeared on the American landscape in 1946.
That is not very long ago.
Until then, where was all the food?
Dear folks, the food was in homes, gardens, local fields, and forests.”
– Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm
Are you busy filling your larder, mothers and wives?
Now is the time!
This summer has been such a busy one – as we expanded our garden and grew more food this year. With possible looming food shortages and inflation, it only seemed prudent to grow more and preserve more food
This year, in our garden, we are growing all the usual for us that will tide us through the winter months until the next growing season – strawberries, carrots, lettuce, spinach, garlic, onions, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, beets, potatoes, a large variety herbs, beans, peas, corn, cooking beans, along with summer and winter squash.
As August has just begun, we are in the midst of harvesting more of our vegetables, which is a wonderful feeling, although somewhat exhausting. It is such a pleasure to garden – it seems the past 10 years of gardening has been a learning curve for all of us, but especially me, as the main food organizer of a family of 11. It is a large responsibility, one I was not prepared for but became prepared over necessity.
With canning, freezing and dehydrating, our freezers, pantry and Provision Room will soon be filled to the brim. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I plant enough vegetables and food to get us through the winter – so my vegetables are on a rotation of from October-April – the vegetable rotation would be carrots, beets, squash, cabbage, corn, beans and zucchini. We also eat a lot of potatoes! When I plant the garden, I need to ensure I will have enough per week for at least seven months of the year, seeing as we live in a cooler climate than, for example, the southern states.
“Food security is not in the supermarket.
It’s not in the government.
It’s not at the emergency services division.
True food security is the historical normalcy of packing it in during the abundant times, building that in-house larder, and resting easy knowing that our little ones are not dependent on next week’s farmers’ market or the electronic cashiers at the supermarket.”
― Joel Salatin
Today, the younger girls and I pressure canned zucchini and picked cucumbers. Yesterday, we were canning and freezing green beans and making pickled beans. Tomorrow, we will probably do the same. Earlier this week, we were canning pickled beets. Next week, we will be working on dozens and dozens of corn, along with curing our onions and potatoes (which I made sure we had enough to get us through the winter – last year, we ran out of onions). Right now, my husband is drying our garlic harvest in our barn. Soon, it will also be honey harvesting time, along with butchering our meat cow and then followed by bushels and bushels of tomatoes, Lord willing. It is wonderful to know such a harvest is here and rolling in!
Of course, in our garden, we always plant flowers – as it brings beauty and joy into our gardening tasks. It also encourages the friendly bees to stop by!
We also planted a second garden -a market flower garden. The girls have been selling flowers at the local farmer’s market on the weekends. It is a wonderful addition to our gardening and it is so much fun – who doesn’t love to garden with brightly coloured flowers surrounding you? It’s rather dreamy, to be honest.
Earlier this month, we picked raspberries and strawberries as a family. I froze some, turned some into jam and am making a second batch of jam in my crockpot right now. Use all your kitchen maids, ladies – they come in handy! The dehydrator, the crockpot … all those goodies will help you out in this busy harvest time. I’m dehydrating huge batches of lemon balm for tea in the winter, as that was one of my tea harvests.
A few weeks ago, my husband stopped to look for a specific herb for me that I was missing in my garden. He came home with the trailer filled with herbs that the greenhouse was throwing away – what a gift! It immediately doubled the size of my herb garden … I cannot think of a better gift for someone! I gave some of the herbs to my neighbour, who recently planted her first garden. Herbs are a gift that keeps giving, as they come back every year. Not only are they amazing for cooking, they are a medicinal garden for the family!
With the world talking about food shortages, famines, seed shortages, meat shortages, now is the not the time to lazy and complacent, mothers.
I feel the Lord has prepared for me for this very moment, after years of gardening and trying to live off our little piece of land – I’m so glad I do not have to panic and rush about, wondering what to do. However, if you have not grown your own garden, harvests are coming into farmer’s markets and there is no excuse to go get some good food and can or preserve for your family. Here on the island, there is a bulk food produce business, as well, where you can get bags and bags of vegetables when they are in season. I have peaches on order from a local Mennonite and also plums, which I will preserve for the Provision Room. Blueberry season is approaching and we, as a family, will be picking blueberries, as well.
Be prudent, dear mothers, and you will hard work will pay off. Do not be weary in this season – encourage one another and keep working hard at providing for your families. xo
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,
Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.
Proverbs 6:6-8
by Gigi
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