One of the challenges of a self-sustaining food system where much of the food consumed is grown yourself is that when things are ready, you have buckets full of more than you can eat, and want it to last across the year until next years crop is ready again! I’ve been doing lots of preservation of different fresh things that need to be prepared for storing through the months where they aren’t in production. At AislingQuoy, Lyndal and Steve provide much of their own diets with things they grow and only need to buy in things like bread, tortillas, flour, sugar, butter, maple syrup, tortillas, peanut butter, wine, etc., items that they either can’t make themselves or don’t have the time to make. In order to have fruits and veggies in the winter, they have to use various methods to keep them safe to eat for later consumption.

Pile of apricot pits

Putting apricots in oven to dry and save

Apricot, ginger & vanilla Jam. Recipe is 1 kilo of diced apricots, one cup water, two cups sugar, spoonful of powdered ginger, and a spoonful of vanilla

Canning apricots, sealing the jars by boiling them in water

Roasting plums with rosemary, to be frozen and used in the off-season

Making yogurt! Done by putting a tub of milk into a pot of water, monitoring temperature until it reaches 85 degrees, then letting it cool to 32.

Pounding cabbage to make sauerkraut

Shelling peas to be blanched and frozen, stopping along the way to admire the shells beautiful veins

Hazelnut sorting, picking out the hollow nuts from the full ones

Olive bottling, in a solution of 50% saltwater brine, 50% red wine vinegar