Even though I seem to be doing less and less food preservation each year, it still adds up.

It never ceases to amaze me!

Stats

• Strawberries (from PYO): 4 gallons, frozen whole
• Blueberries, local farm and grocery store: 10 pints
• Red Raspberries: 18 quarts, frozen
• Zucchini Relish: 4 quarts and 13 pints
• Sweet Pickles: 22 quarts 
• Spaghetti Sauce (from free heirlooms, and made by my younger daughter): 26 quarts
• Applesauce, Lodi: 37 quarts
• Pesto (walnut-butter): 12 half-pints 
• Peaches: 36 quarts, canned; 2 gallons of chunks, frozen
• Nectarines: 6 quarts, canned; 9 gallons of chunks, frozen
• Pepper-Onion Sauteed: dozens of little packs
• Roasted Tomato and Garlic Pizza Sauce: 16 pints, 1 half-pint
• Tomatoes, canned: 16 quarts, 15 pints
• Roasted Tomato Sauce: 17 pints, 1 3-cup jar
• Roasted Tomato Sauce with Garlic: 13 pints, 1 half-pint
• Salsa: 17 quarts and 6 pints, canned
• Grapes: 3 quarts sweet juice, canned
• Corn: 49 pints, frozen
• Green beans: unrecorded number of pints, frozen
• Beef: a half
• Cheeses: 71 wheels, plus feta, soft cheese, mozzarella, butter, ghee, and gallons of yogurt
• Mead: 1 5-gallon batch of Spiced chai
• Ice Cream Base: about 5 quarts

Notes
*Neither of the kids were working at the CSA this summer, so we didn’t get nearly as many fresh veggies as usual. Even so, I still felt like we had plenty from here and there. Or maybe we’re just not eating as much any more?

*Along with the apples for sauce, we got a bushel of Fuji for fresh eating, and I’m getting another bushel this weekend. Also, 10 gallons of cider for freezing.

*Our grapes did not produce this year (perhaps because my husband pruned them too hard?), so we got a few from my brother’s arbor.

*We did a family corn day again this year. Together, we bought 48 dozen ears of corn from a local farmer and of that, our family got about 12 dozen.

*I went nuts on cheese. (Just today I cut into one that may be the best cheese I’ve ever made.)

*I’m pretty sure I froze a few 1-cup bags of sour cherries from our tree, but I forgot to make note of it.

*We didn’t plant any green beans, so I was super thrilled to get Mom and Dad’s surplus. I didn’t record how much I got, but I’m pretty sure it was more than 20 very full pint bags. 

*We had Fiona butchered at T&E Meats: we got half and our friends got the other half. This is the first time we’ve eaten a Jersey, and I’m loving the meat. (We also sold Ferdinand and Remus.)  

*We are ending the year with three pregnant cows (Emma, Charlotte, and Butterscotch) and one open heifer (Gracie).

*We had way more peppers than we could use in fresh eating, so I sauteed batches of them with chopped onions and then wrapped the cooked little blobs in plastic and froze them for later. I pop these Blob Babies into anything and everything that might be benefitted by some onion-pepper goodness. 

*I have an insane amount of (untallied) butter in the freezer. Also, I started making ghee, so I have jars of that squirreled away in the barn fridge.

*We finally ran out of lard so it’s time to process more of the fat I have in the freezer. (Turns out, I tend to make more “homemade” fat than we can use up.)

*We got hundreds and hundreds of gallons of milk. In the height of milk and cream season, I froze jars of milk/cream for single batches of ice cream. It seemed kinda crazy since we often have more milk than we know what to do with, but now that two of our cows are dried off, I’m so grateful for that little stash. 

*We’ve been burning through the yogurt. Every couple weeks I make 3-4 gallons, and then about once a week I make a bulk batch of smoothies, pour it into pint jars, and then stash them in the fridge for the week’s breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. It’s good stuff.

*I’m impressed by how quickly we’re going through the mead. I don’t drink that much, but I share lots of it, and some of it — I’m looking at you, uber-dry Honey Jack — isn’t worth sharing.

This same time, years previous: Rock on, Mama!, 2016 book list, toasty oatmeal muffins, Christmas pretty, salvaged compost.

How are you holding up against the onslaught of sugar? This time of year, I often find myself cooking up massive amounts of green things to counter the glut (she says, while munching on potato chips), and all the germy bugs floating around. Sometimes I buy all the fixings for giant, out-of-season chef salads, and sometimes I make a vast pot of Italian wedding soup. This year, though, it’s been collard greens. 

About a year ago, my daughter-in-law brought a pot of collard greens to our Stone Soup small group. They were wicked good: silky smooth, salty, with little chunks of smoked turkey throughout. I got the recipe, of course, but then our local grocery store didn’t have any smoked turkey legs. We usually carry those over the holidays, the meat man explained when I inquired. 

So I waited. A whole freaking year. And then a couple weeks ago when I spied thick bundles of collard greens in the produce section, I remembered! The man in the meat department said, yes, they had smoked turkey and scuttled away in search of it. It’s not a leg, he said when he returned, but here’s a pack of turkey neck and wings. 

Perfect, I said, tossing them into my cart. 

The first time I made the greens, I didn’t have the Goya Jamón seasoning, which I figured was probably fine. But the collards weren’t like I remembered them, and when my daughter-in-law tasted them, she agreed — that ham seasoning was a necessity. 

I made a second batch of collards yesterday, this time with the ham seasoning. The flavor difference wasn’t earth shaking, but it was definitely noticeable. More robust, maybe. 

ANYWAY. I could live on these greens. The first time I made them, I served them with cornbread (and meatloaf, which wasn’t a great pairing), and then I ate the leftovers by themselves — just huge steaming bowls of velvety, meaty greens. Oh, and I added a can of white beans to some of them, too, to make them more of a complete meal. 

Last night’s collards were served alongside a pork roast, mashed potatoes, and corn. For lunch today, I just had a big old bowl of collards, and then some biscotti and those potato chips (I’m no saint, y’all). There’s still more leftovers in the fridge, but I’m already dreading when they run out.

Might need to make another visit to my meat man.

Grandma Hattie’s Collard Greens
Adapted from Grandma Hattie’s recipe, as given to me by my daughter-in-law.

Grandma Hattie’s recipe has no measurements. I’ve recorded what I do, more or less, but feel free to adapt as you go. 

Collards are more bitter than other greens; thus, the addition of sugar. The recipe calls for two 1½-pound bunches of collards; I did not weigh mine. Also, feel free to swap out a smoked ham hock in place of the smoked turkey leg, but remember: smoked turkey is not as salty as ham. 

My daughter-in-law made her collards on the stove top; I make mine in the insta pot. 

1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon bacon grease or lard
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 packet Goya Jamon seasoning
1-2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1-2 pints chicken or pork broth
2 large bunches of collards, de-stemmed, rough-chopped, and washed
1 smoked turkey leg (or neck or wing, whatever)

Saute the onion in the fat for 4-5 minutes. Add the sugar, garlic powder, red pepper, ham seasoning, salt, black pepper, and vinegar and mix well. Add the greens and cook, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes, or until they cook down. 

Transfer everything to the instapot. Add the broth and turkey neck. Pressure cook on high for 1 hour and 20 minutes — and no, that is not a typo. Vent release for about 10 minutes. (Alternatively, simmer the greens on the stove top for a couple hours.) 

This same time, years previous: the coronavirus diaries: week 198, rosemary asiago cheese, all is well, 51 pies, the quotidian (12.17.18), sour candied orange rinds, almond shortbread, brightening the dark, supper reading, fa-la-la-la-la.

Have you read any good books this year?

My book list has gotten increasingly pathetic (meaning, I haven’t been reading much), so I’ve lumped the last two years together.

• My Dyslexia, by Philip Schultz. Memoir of a dyslexic writer — has some interesting concepts. 
• The Upgrade: How the Female Brain Gets Stronger and Better in Midlife and Beyond, by Louanne Brizendine. Some valuable ideas but I got the impression that the author was not comfortable in her own skin. She made it seem that all women were upgrading from a place of weakness, and I don’t think that’s true. Perhaps too much power is being given to the concept of upgrading. Couldn’t it just be “growth”?
• The Power of Now: A Guide To Spiritual Enlightenment (the abbreviated version), by Eckhart Tolle. It didn’t make my skirt fly up but maybe that was because I read the short version.
• Remedies for Sorrow: An Extraordinary Child, A Secret Kept from Pregnant Women, and a Mother’s Pursuit of the Truth, by Megan Nix. I cruised through this one. If you’re pregnant, or thinking of getting pregnant, or a medical provider, read this. Five stars.
• Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, by Sara Miles. Surprisingly good, and the jacket photo made me ridiculously happy. Some main themes included Nicaragua, food, restaurants, and faith.
• Plain: A Memoir of Mennonite Girlhood, by Mary Alice Hostetter. I didn’t think I’d like it, but it was actually well-written and interesting. Bonus: it included some cheesemaking!
• Finding Me: A Memoir, by Viola Davis. Choppy.
• Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen, by Hannah Howard. Devoured it. (Don’t read this one if you’re struggling with an eating disorder.) 
• Expecting Adam: A True Story of Birth, Rebirth, and Everyday Magic, by Martha Beck. Well-written, but theatrical. Nugget: the purpose of life is what happens between people. 
• Friends, Lovers, and The Big Terrible Thing, by Matthew Perry. Perry did not take pains to paint himself as a likeable character. Also: addiction is boring and tedious; I ended up skimming a bunch of the book. 
• The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion. Fantastic! Comedic, and well-written. Reminiscent of A Man Called Ove. I read it out loud to my husband in just a few days.
• The Bang-Bang Club, by Greg Marinovich. Intense, dark, gory, interesting.
• The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism, by Olivia Fox Cabane. Weirdly enough, this is one of the most humanizing books on forgiveness, compassion, and relationships that I have read in a long time.
• The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Hormonal Change With Purpose, Power, and Facts, by Mary Claire Haver. Invaluable. Every woman needs to read this. (I wrote more about it here.)
• I Write What I Like: Selected Writings, by Steve Biko. A dense book about a difficult situation and a unique person.
• Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, by Anthony Bourdain. Good writing, okay book.
• Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir, by Ina Garten. Too many exclamation marks! Some good ideas, but the over all story felt shallow.
• My Traitor’s Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience, by Rian Malan. Well-written, thoughtful, complex, dense, excellent.

This same time, years previous: the quotidian (12.11.23), the quotidian (12.12.22), the fourth child, just what we needed, turkey broth jello, in praise of the local arts, Italian wedding soup.