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Well, it’s that time of year again. The awesome folks at Extension have scheduled all sorts of helpful food preservation classes. Some are free talks at local libraries and some are hands-on courses at Spokane County Extension. Anna Kestell is the Food Preservation/Safety Education Coordinator and she has worked tirelessly to get the Food Preservation program up and running again after […]
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I know this topic might seem either a little late or very early, but it’s actually very relevant right now. During the growing season, I’m a big fan of freezing vegetables to preserve them. It works really great for green beans, celery, diced onions, Swiss chard, and sliced leeks. The veggies I seem to freeze the most are pole and […]
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OK, so you grew a bunch of lovely veggies this year. Now what? How about using some of them to make a big pot of yummy, homemade vegetable soup? I’m a lucky gal. My Mom was an awesome soup-maker. Some of my best memories — aside from eating them, of course — was sitting at the breakfast bar in the […]
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I know what you’re thinking. Why would anyone want to know how to make catsup when they can just buy a bottle in the grocery store? I used to think that, too. That is, until we made our own just for fun many years ago. Homemade catsup is AMAZING! It’s kind of like a gourmet steak sauce in our opinion. It […]
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‘Tis the season for picking Italian plums, isn’t it? In addition to drying them, making jam or tarts, they are awesome in spiced plum butter. We made it for the first time last year and discovered a fabulous, can’t-eat-just-one appetizer to make with it. Take a pita cracker, top with some Cambozola or other creamy cheese that has a bit […]
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My husband, Bill, and I grow three kinds of grapes: ‘Canadice’, ‘Glenora’ and ‘Vanessa’. The first to ripen is ‘Glenora’. Sometimes we use the grapes for jelly and oftentimes we make grape juice. Doing the latter is very simple, especially if you have a steamer/juicer. Let’s go through the steps: 1. Pick the grape clusters, leaving them on the […]
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I’ve been growing celery for several years now and just love how flavorful it is. The only down side is that there’s always more than we can keep up with but we certainly don’t to waste it. What’s the answer? Preserving it, of course! Today, I’m going to show you how to freeze celery. If you’re wondering why you’d want […]
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Every year, we grow a nice patch of Swiss chard because we love how tasty it is and how it doesn’t bolt to seed in the heat like spinach can. But there’s always more than we can eat at any given time. Bill and I have come up with a great method for preserving it, so I wanted to show […]
Read moreIf you’re like me, you’ve probably been scurrying around in your garden lately, trying to pick and preserve as much of the harvest as possible. After all, it’s hard to know how much longer our weather will hold, right? Today, I’ve picked most of our sweet peppers. Preserving peppers can be tricky because, unlike tomatoes that you can turn into […]
Read moreI just posted a video about curing winter squash and pumpkins before storing them on my Facebook page and YouTube channel. One thing you might be wondering about is the ideal conditions for storing them after the curing process.
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