The outside world was darkening. Growing food was moving mostly indoors, the focus otherwise shifted to preservation.
I switched to indoor tasks–and I had put off enough of them to fill a book.

With too few harvests from the garden to keep us fed, I had signed up for the local produce box again. During the semester, I drive past the farm regularly and pick up produce as needed. During the semester break, they deliver a weekly assortment of fresh, local produce. This time, we’d received a lot of pak choi and a celeriac root.

I was disappointed when I saw it, because the only thing I remembered about celeriac was that I didn’t like it. But now I had a root, so I was determined to give the tuber another chance. It had been years since I’d tried.

So, I asked Mastodon, the only social media I am signed up for if anyone had recommendations, especially for someone who does not like celeriac root. They did, and many of them sounded delicious. With the sudden cold temperatures, we were especially drawn to a creamy soup someone suggested.

So, I chopped up vegetables for a vegetable soup for dinner while making lunch. I often deal with multiple things at once in the kitchen–especially challenging in a tiny space.

I like getting lost in the kitchen. My thoughts or a good audiobook, and just go with the flow of the kitchen…

I sauteed the veggies, then added some flour. I hadn’t made soup in quite a while. But following a handful of recipes and improvising a bit lead to a deliciously creamy soup.

Over the past weeks, I’d saved and dried various seeds from the garden. It was time to sort and store them. Because we’d had to harvest the beans wet, we decided to dry them at a low temperature in the dehydrator. The Brunhilde, I’d shelled the night I’d harvested them. That was the better choice. Shelling them fresh was definitely easier. It took a while to shell the much smaller amount of Neckarkoenigin beans.

These giant bins are for our cover crops, in this case the field beans. They come in large bags, so I store some. Some of the seeds I’d saved would go to my mom and a friend. The rest went into my seed storage for next year.

I’d fermented the tomato seed before drying. I couldn’t get them off the kitchen paper but that’s okay. I’ll deal with it in spring when I want to plant them. I had to get these into the little storage bottle. I’ll also have to find out what they are, as I’d only labeled them by their shape, a heart. Some seeds had gotten stuck to the glass lids. But they were still fully dry, so I added them despite their stickiness.

I took some caighua seeds out of storage to send along with saved seeds. Caighua is not well known here. Next summer, it will hopefully grow in two more gardens in Southern Germany.

We didn’t have much success with melons this year. Two tiny water melons and a single cantaloupe were the result. But the fruit had held plenty of seed to give away some and save a lot for next year.

The syrup I’d made last episode had finished infusing, so I bottled it for canning. The canner was on the floor anyway. As soon as I could take out the potatoes, the syrup would go in. The canner ran a lot this fall.

During my evening stroll through the garden, I spotted these peppers putting on very late flowers. It was almost time to move them to the greenhouse for winter protection, so I did not have high hopes for fruit.

The next day, I kept finding more tasks that weren’t even on the list. To have the wooden utensils last longer, I treat them with hemp oil on a semi-regular basis. I do the same to the counter top of the kitchen island.

I’d been slowly chipping away at the million things I hadn’t done, but most of them were still on the list. That day, I had two major tasks on the list: making goulash for dinner and preserving the tomatoes. Preserving the apples would be a dream but they would last a few more das. It was okay if I didn’t get around to them. The other tasks, though, were getting urgent.

Within minutes, I got sidetracked by an avalanche of carrots. There were a lot of carrots in that week’s produce box. I’d need some for dinner but there were plenty more. If I am already peeling or chopping, I like to take care of as much meal prep as possible. Keep the momentum going and such…

I stashed some chopped carrots in the fridge, set some aside for the goulash. The rest would be dehydrated for dog food and soups.

A friend had sent some chili varieties we weren’t growing yet, so I saved the seeds, then added them to dinner. They were tiny, so this task was a bit fiddly but well worth it. They are delicious little things. Thanks to my friend’s perfect timing, I could use them as heat for the goulash which definitely benefits from a bit of heat.

Slowly simmered soups and stews are a favorite in the colder months. With a two-plate stove, this requires some planning. I typically start them while making lunch, then let them simmer through the afternoon.

I set a timer to check and stir the goulash, and went about my day.

So long, and thanks for being here.