The freezer will be delivered this afternoon

[lizziegrace]

I'm blanching and freezing all kinds of produce. Can't wait for the pears on the tree to finally ripen. There will be hundreds of them. :-)

[here_is_to_hope]

1. I am doing applesauce this year...

We recently purchased this home and it came with a Gravenstein apple tree, so many apples that the tree limbs are sagging as much as four feet from where they were when we moved in!
Congrats on your freezer, we are hoping to get a garden on next year and do some real canning!

[bvar22]

2. Congrats on the Deep Freeze.

We got our first one two seasons ago, and it changed our life.
Starkraven is canning Green Beans as I type this.

So far, fruit production here has been disappointing, but our trees are only 3 years old so we are still hopeful. Many of our neighbors did get good apples and peaches.

Berries have been good, and the BlueBerries freeze well.
Our frozen BlueBerries from last year are still as firm and tart as when we froze them.
They are a delight in mid-Winter.

We still want to explore drying.
We were going to experiment with dried tomatoes this year, but low tomato porduction forced us to postpone.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=246&topic_id=9732

[lizziegrace]

3. There was a thread a couple years ago about drying tomatoes

I'll see if I can find it. It involved your oven and a long time.

The freezer should be at the correct temp now, so I'll be blanching squash and beans today to freeze. :)

[bvar22]

5. What kind of squash are you freezing?

Our squash did well this year...Zucchini and Butternut.
This is the first year we have gotten any squash....the squash bugs always beat us to it.
But this year, the squash did good....don't know if it was the unusual weather or maybe we did something right. :shrug:

We've eaten all the zucchini, but still have a ton of butternut in the garden.

[lizziegrace]

6. Just zuchini and yellow

I'm blanching them and freezing. :)

Good deal on the butternut. I'll be planting some of that next year.

[InternalDialogue]

4. Cool! You'll be set for the winter with what you're growing.

My sister-in-law told me she's been sun-drying tomatoes with great success. No equipment other than a piece of clean window screen folded over and taped around the edge to keep the bigger insects out of the food.

[lizziegrace]

7. Cool!

I love sun-dried tomatoes. I'm going to make a few batches of spaghetti sauce and see what's left to dry and freeze.

:-)

I hate to be an alarmist, but if the flu runs rampant this year, it could kill me. I want to be able to stay put in the house this winter if I have to.

[lizziegrace]

8. The freezer was made with sheet metal that had ripples in it

on all four sides. I have a $50 refund check coming because it was damaged. Not bad, huh? I'll put it aside for seeds for next year. :)

[InternalDialogue]

9. Random bonus for you, lizzie!

You deserve those small things, what with all the big things you've had to wrestle.

:hug:

[lizziegrace]

10. As I'm getting older

I'm living for the moments and small favors. :hug: