Living Within the Seasons - Buying in Bulk to Preserve Fruits and Vegetables

Where have I been, you ask?
 It's summer. I've been busy!
 Here's why...


Sean and I are taking part in a grand life experiment, in which we eat lots of organic, locally grown food throughout the year. Most folks think that we're a little bit "funny" for opting to live and eat within the seasons. If you think about it, though, living within the growing cycle is how humans survived and stocked their pantry (and ice house, and spring house) for centuries.

Our process is simple.

Over the last few years we've formed great relationships with a number of local farmers and farmer's markets in the Lansing area. All you have to do is be a friendly customer, and you'll reap the rewards! When a crop is ripe for the picking, we buy a few bushels (on average) at a great bulk price from one of these local growers.

There's no way we could eat a bushel or two of cucumbers before they go bad, so Sean and I preserve the over-abundance to enjoy for the rest of the year. It's may seem like a lot of work, but it's well worth it. The food always tastes better than what you'd find in the grocery store, and it's healthier and cheaper.

We preserve our food in a few different ways. The three main methods are canning, dehydrating and freezing. (We also dabble in lacto-fermentation, but that's a story for another day.)

Every vegetable and fruit has a preferred preservation method.

It's easiest to dehydrate squash and zucchini, which will keep for about a year. You can also dehydrate peppers, tomatoes, strawberries, apples, venison and beef jerky and a myriad of other tasty treats. Dehydrated vegetables are great to cook with, and are extra-delicious in stir fry, soup and sauces.

Never, ever try to dehydrate raspberries or blackberries. We learned this the hard way, and they turned into crunchy, crispy little nuggets. It was like eating a bug's cocoon. 

With ample freezer space, you can freeze just about anything. Strawberries, asparagus and corn are relatively easy to freeze, and they keep for at least a year. Another neat trick is to cook dishes and soups in BIG batches, and freeze the left-overs. If you cook a big pot of cream of asparagus soup, for example, you'll have enough left over for soup and sandwiches in the winter.

Blueberries are easy - you just toss them in a gallon-size freezer bag and tuck it into your icebox. Or, you can vacuum seal them. Don't bother rinsing the blueberries before freezing, as that will wash away their natural wax-like coating. (Rinse them before you eat or cook with them, though!)

You can also save food in glass jars, which is called "canning". To be honest, canning is my least favorite method of preservation. I just can't get excited about sweating over a big pot of boiling water. Still, it's worth the hard, hot work. Tomatoes, green beans, pickled cucumbers,  jellies and jams are commonly canned. Meats, homemade soup and other strange things can also be canned, but that requires a pressure canner.

Right now, it's cucumber season.
We've been pickling.

Sean and I have spent many a romantic evening in our kitchen, this month. There were no lit candles, but we cranked up the classical music while we sweating over our cans (and cans, and cans!) of pickled cucumbers.

Also, it's zucchini season. Green pepper season, too. And green beans. It's nearly tomato season, and it would be corn season if we'd gotten more rain.

If you think we're nuts for doing all of this hard work, you're not alone.

Most of our friends view us with a mixture of skepticism and awe (but mostly skepticism) when the conversation circles around to our strange food practices. We're not ashamed of it. In fact, we're pretty darn proud, but we tend to keep quiet about it because we feel as though we're bragging when we list off the benefits of our proclivity to preserve.

We're not the only food savers in town. Today at Curious I talked with my new friend Ken, a fellow pickle lover and novice canner. We bragged to one another about our freezers full of Michigan blueberries and the benefits of a probiotic diet. Bonding with a stranger over the joys of preserving food helped me gain confidence, and convinced me that what Sean and I are doing isn't completely insane.

If you think you're up for a rewarding challenge, I'd be pleased as punch to answer your questions.

If you want to jump in feet first... STOP!

First, do some research. Make sure you're going about this the right way. If you don't know what you're doing, you'll likely lose all of that fresh food you want to save.  

Courtesy of U-Pick.org

Feeling Fruity: Michigan U-Pick Experiences

In the past month, Sean and I have picked fruit at three very different U-Pick operations in Mid-Michigan.

We picked strawberries at a large production farm, blueberries at a popular cider mill and entertainment-focused farm, and currants from a back yard garden in Lansing. At each location the end result was fresh, delicious fruit that costs far less than buying lesser-quality fruit from the grocery store or farmers' market.

Strawberry Picking at Felzke Farms
Some weeks ago, Sean and I had the good fortune of finding ourselves in the best strawberry plot at  Felzke Farms. It was hot out, but I was glad of my long pants while I crawled between the rows. Felzke Farms is Michigan's largest strawberry producer, and has been a local U-Pick favorite for years. Sean and I had done some reconnaissance while buying 20 lbs of asparagus in the spring, so we knew what we were up against.

We arrived relatively early - around 9 a.m. - and were the last people to score a spot in the BEST strawberry field at Felzke (according to the lovely librarian picking a few rows over). I have never tasted a better strawberry. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal, but man, these strawberries can change your perspective on life.

About an hour in the field earned us roughly 40 lbs of the ripest, reddest, juiciest Michigan strawberries on the face of the planet (probably). We dehydrated some to put in granola and oatmeal, made a big batch of strawberry jam and froze the rest. Sucking on a frozen strawberry is one the best ways to combat this outrageously dry, hot summer.

Felzke Farms is a production farm, first and foremost. They offer U-Pick strawberries on the side because they have an abundance of strawberries, and there are crazy people like us who are willing to PAY the farm to pick their berries. It's a good deal for the farm, and a good deal for us! These strawberries are WAY better than those we bought by the quart-full from Kroger 2 years ago, or the farmers' market last year. Cheaper, too.

Blueberry Picking at Uncle John's Cider Mill
 The 6-foot blueberry bushes were drooping from the weight of countless ripe berries when we pulled up to the U-Pick field last Sunday. It was a steamy afternoon - about 90 degrees - and we were the only folks there. We bought a pre-paid 10 pound U-Pick box (about $25). An hour later it was overflowing with the best blueberries I've ever tasted!

We've stocked ourselves with delicious blueberry jam, dried blueberries to snack on, frozen blueberries for my oatmeal and a few cans of berries to bake with over the next year. Last night's blueberry crumble was a beautifully violent purple-blue hue that stained our mouths. Yum!

Of course, you don't HAVE to slave away in the sun to get lots of berries for a good price. At Uncle John's you can buy a pre-filled 10 lbs. box for $25 - way cheaper than the grocery store or farmer's market. We opted to pick our own because we like it, and because the berries taste better if you work a little harder for them. The pre-filled boxes are not as fresh, but still a great deal.

Uncle John's is primarily an entertainment location and cider mill, not a production farm like Felzke. They boast sprawling orchards, a winery, a pie house, delicious donuts and cider, U-Pick pumpkins, a fun corn maze and all sorts of family-friendly attractions. They've recently expanded to offer blueberries, asparagus and strawberries to keep people coming in the mill's "off-season". It's working!

Currant Picking in Old Town, Lansing
Sean and I spent our Independence Day morning in Old Town at our friend Lisa's home, picking eight pounds of currants. I love picking currants. Currant bushes don't grow quite as tall as blueberry bushes, but they provide ample shade as I root around, plucking their fruits. Have you ever seen fresh currants? They're lovely little red gems strung together in a way similar to grape bunches.

Picking currants at Lisa's was a significant moment for the two of us - an anniversary, of sorts. Last summer we experienced our first Picking excursion in this very same same back yard on the Grand River. It was hot and dirty work, and I did not enjoy myself. Still, it held a special charm, and the fruits of our labor (pun-tastic!) were well worth a sweaty hour or two. We juiced our berries with various devices, and they will soon become clear, tasty currant jelly.

Lisa is the opposite of massive operations like Felzke Farms and Uncle John's. She's an regular person with a job and a life... a big, back-yard garden. She planted a row of currant bushes years ago, and each season she allows strangers (like us) to come and pick them for a very low price.  It's easy for her, easy for us, and we both benefit.

Since picking currants last summer, we've harvested apples from Clam Lake Orchard (near Torch Lake), a few bushels of huskcherries from Pregitzer Farm, wild raspberries from the areas surrounding "Barton's Blind", a gorgeous Douglas Fir Christmas tree at Peacock Road Tree Farm, the aforementioned strawberries, blueberries, currants and countless other crops from our own gardens.

It's pretty cool, to say the least.