Fall is harvest season. I busily preserved the harvest from my and other gardens. Despite issues with blight, our tomatoes had produced enough for some canning. The neighbor’s apple trees had left me with goo harvests. In the garden, I harvested the rest of the sunflowers.

Despite issues with blight earlier in the season, our tomatoes had recovered enough for a harvest worth canning. Once I’d dealt with the morning cleanup of the kitchen, I rinsed the canning jars under hot water.

Canning tomatoes is surprisingly easy. Seeds, skins, they all stay on. I merely chop the tomatoes, add them to jars, and squish them down a bit to release the juices.

This time, I’d chopped the tomatoes the night before to speed things up in the morning. This meant, the tomatoes had released some of their juices over night. I probably didn’t need to squish them at all. A tiny bit of juice to get things started should be enough. They release their juiced throughout the canning process on their own. I still followed procedure and used a jar stomper to stomp things down a bit before closing the lids.

The tomatoes were a mixture of everything we grew from tiny cherry to large butcher. I’d also added a kilo of cherry tomatoes from the local produce box that week. Different colored tomatoes made everything look all the prettier to me.

I’d soaked the seals in vinegar and water for a few minutes before closing the jars with the clips. Then, I remembered I hadn’t added salt yet, and opened them all up again. One teaspoon of salt per 500-mL jar, done.

When the jars were in, I chopped more carrots, as the next week’s box had brought more. I’d just finished drying the previous week’s worth when the new box arrived. Not our harvest but still very worth preserving. Between soups and dog foods, dried carrots are a welcome addition to the pantry.

I finished up and headed to the garden. To get an idea of temperatures in the greenhouse, I’d added a thermometer. Even on a chilly fall day, the temperature read above 30 degrees C inside. Now, I am more than curious how hot it gets in here in summer.

I’d already harvested many of the sunflowers but the rest were ready for harvest. I’d taken what we needed home, so whatever I harvested now would be for the garden wildlife. The plan was to dry some of the heads to put back outside when there was less foodavailable.

I also removed the leaves from many of the stems, so I could add them to the compost pile instead of having them drop onto the bed. I didn’t want the stems to rot away, as I needed them as trellises for next spring.

Many of the heads were in perfect shape, tempting me to take more home. But we really didn’t need them, so they stayed. I’d rather share with all the garden wildlife than preserve more than we can use.

Where multiple stems grew together or I didn’t have a plan to trellis anything, I cut the stems as well. The narrow bed with the Velved Queen sunflowers will look different next spring, so I cut all the stems that were past their prime. The Velvet Queen were still in full bloom in between.

The stems and leaves, the heads that had already been picked clean, all went onto the compost pile. I have a few dates with my compost bin ahead of me to turn it all, to decide how to deal with them.

If I had chickens, I’d feed the stems to them instead. It’s what the garden neighbor is doing with my corn plants. I am very tempted to get chickens next spring. I will do my due diligence this winter first, though. Chickens would help with the compost piles, wouldn’t they? Ah, darn it, I really want chickens.

But wanting them so badly is a big reason to do more research. I need to be sure before adopting animals. But eggs have become harder to source in the area, and we eat a lot of eggs. Considering chickens makes sense. But all the while, there are many reasons not to get animals: responsibility, lack of flexibility, cost, and so on.

We’ll do the research. We’ll take our time. Spring is months away. No need to rush a decision.

I moved the last rain barrel from the neighbor’s land onto mine–just in time before the land passed hands. The barrels will make next year’s garden much easier to water.

The compost piles were growing. As I chopped down the last of the sunflowers, I kept making plans for how this bed should look next year.
That night, I’d draw up a plan.

I spread the sunflowers on the rack shelves to deal with another time. This is not a good idea. The greenhouse is way too humid to dry anything. But I apparently didn’t know that yet.

At least, I’d learned one lesson from the sunflowers I’d taken home: they were spread with room to breathe. At home, I’d spread them on fabric, which is obviously not a good idea. I’d had to rescue them from a starting mold problem. I’d rescue some of these soon, too.

But I’ve learned the lesson. I was able to save and preserve the harvest. And now I know how to dry sunflower heads properly.

Back at home, a few crates of apples were waiting for me. I’d harvested a lot of apples from a garden neighbor. There were still many fruit on the tree but I thought we had enough. I wanted to preserve that harvest before going out and getting more. I didn’t think I’d want more after this batch but, in the end, I did go back for one more harvest.

I’d used the dicing attachment on the food processor to dice the apples. I had some already drying in the dehydrator, some in a pot for apple sauce, and more apples prepared to be diced.

The dried apples typically end up in our granola. I make our own from scratch, and the diced dried apples are perfect as a fruity addition. As I write this text, I’ve harvested and preserved many more apples, chopped many more carrots. Right now, a crate with our own carrots, our own harvest, is waiting to be processed.

This episode might be coming to an end, but I am still preserving the harvest weeks later.
So long, and thanks for being here.