Way to go, Anne. It's good to see you continue preserving your harvests. I uncovered a presto canor that I'll probably cull, along with one of those huge enamel canning kettles. Time to clear out the quart jars too. I hope they go to good homes. I'll keep one enamel kettle and pint/half pint jars since that's my preferred jar size since now. Best to you this coming year.

I failed to dig and process my horseradish this fall. Good thing I still have about 3/4 of a gallon left from 2023 and 2024!

I've 'put up' several kinds of soup so far and have a double batch of chili going now.

I got half a hog a couple weeks ago and will be getting a side of beef in mid March. Freezer room is going to be tight.

Canfan, my jar sizes would get smaller except that my daughters keep raiding my "pantry" so I keep canning the larger sizes. Thank you for shopping at Mom's, LOL.

Jack, it sounds like you've been busy. I try to make big batches of chili and soup, but it seem like we just eat them, maybe a serving or two will make it to the freezer. Chili especially doesn't last, the family has discovered that a jar of queso mixed with a couple of cups of chili makes great chili/cheese dip! I'm glad it wasn't just me, I didn't dig the horseradish either and there's a lot out there. At least I didn't kill it all off this time!

I'm editing this to add that I sorted the butternut squash that is in storage, and baked/pureed several, giving me 9 bags of squash puree for the freezer. I do have more butternut to sort, some garlic to dehydrate and hopefully I'll get started canning some potatoes in a week or so. I'm definitely behind!

Happy New Year to everyone here, may it be peaceful, healthy and prosperous and may your gardens all grow prolifically!

Annie

Not exactly canning season yet, is it? I've been going through the vegetables stashed in the cold room and using them before they deteriorate. We dug potatoes in September, so they've been in there nearly 5 months and are just starting to sprout so I canned 10 quarts and a pint of those. I also went through the remaining butternut squash and roasted any that seemed a bit wrinkled or not as firm as I would like, so I got another 6 quarts of butternut squash puree in the freezer.

I think my next project is going to be dehydrating that garlic that's been sitting back there since I pulled it last July, before it sprouts. It's still good right now, 7 months after harvest, but when it starts to sprout I'll dehydrate it and turn it into garlic powder. I want to do that in the garage, though, because of the aroma, so I'm hoping to wait a bit longer, until it's a little warmer as my garage is unheated and we are forecast temperatures in the teens with lows into the single digits. The stuff would freeze before it dries, LOL.

Annie

Hi everyone, wonderful to see everyone getting a good start on putting up in 2026!

Due to the mild winter we have been having, our tomatoes are still growing from our Fall plantings. I was able to make two quarts of salsa and five pints of tomato sauce with the extra tomatoes we harvested. I did a batch of dehydrated tomatoes to add to soups later. I also dehydrated our harvested ginger but not sure what to use it for. Any ideas for use of dehydrated ginger? Thinking about grinding it down for ground ginger. Any tips on this process method?

Annie.... I'm glad that your daughter lives close and is able to take advantage of your canning. That warms the heart for sure. My kids are states away and while I do send them tastes of home, fedEx fees add up. I didn't include any in their Christmas packages this year, but they did get plenty of home baked goodies.

itsfun... I uses ginger in Asian recipes, and sprinkle a bit in tea. Perhaps you can add it with other Asian spices and gift it as a spice blend, too. I'd probably use a coffee/spice grinder to pulverize to desired consistency. I freeze ginger is 'hunks' and will pull out a chunk for stir fry's soup and add a dash of ground ginger if needed.

canfan, I'm happy the girls live close too, now if I could just interest them in learning to can!

itsfun, I have a ginger plant out on my entryway porch, I started it last year from a piece of organic gingerroot. It's trying hard to die, I keep trying to keep it alive until spring, then I'll put it out in the greenhouse and maybe it'll be happier!

Today I added 6 quarts of chicken stock to the pantry just because I'm almost out.

Annie

No one is taking advantage of the terrible weather to do something inside? (grin)

This weekend I canned another 9 quarts of potatoes, I'm finally done with those. Right now I have 9 racks in my Excaliber dehydrator full of chopped red onions, those have been in my store room since September and a few are starting to sprout, so it was time.

Annie

Our tomato plants finally wrapped up with some low 20s night in early February. Cleaned up the last of the plants. I did try to ground my dehydrated ginger in a mini blender but the pieces were still too chunky and was taking way too long to get a smooth fine texture. I would be blending for days it felt like. I pulled out the old mortar and pestle to ground it down to a decent fine powder. Talk about a good hand and arm exercise there! Lol I was happy with the end result and was able to fill my ginger spice jar full.

Annie- it looks like you're in for a pretty good snowstorm today. Good luck

We picked up our beef from the Amish butcher yesterday. The hanging weight was 802# and we got about 525# finished meat. My share was half of that. It pretty much filled my 15 cu/ft chest freezer. I have half a hog in my upright freezer that we got back in December so we are set on meat for a while. We have a 4 month old steer that's next on the butcher block in fall of 2027.

I dehydrated the last of my onions last week. I think I have enough to make about a pint of onion powder.

Jack, that storm ended up being a dusting of snow, but mostly just cold and windy. It's really too bad, we're still "abnormally dry" and could use the precipitation.

I'm busy cleaning the freezers for the May/June chickens and then we'll actually have a steer to butcher in the fall. I quit raising pigs, we have a neighbor who does that and so we just buy from him. It sure feels good to have the freezers full, doesn't it?

I'm planning the garden, testing the plant lights and sorting seeds, spring is coming. Eventually.

Annie

Annie - yes a full freezer is always nice to have! Mine are both pretty full with only the upright door available for other things. At least I have 2 fridge/freezers available for overflow.

I'd like to find somewhere to buy some meat chickens again. The Mennonite lady I used to buy from is about 150 miles away but it was handy to Lake of the Ozarks when we used to go down there a few times a year.

I'll be getting another 6 laying chicks here in a month or so. I think I'll get a couple more Easter Eggers and the rest Isa Brown which are supposed to be great layers. Two of my Cochin hens are broody right now so it's a battle collecting their eggs every day. They get pretty cranky when I take their eggs but I don't want them to hatch them. One rooster is enough! Hopefully they'll give up soon.

I bought some seeds recently including a different variety of broccolini called Apollo. Are you still going to grow broccolini this year? I remember your mother loved it.

Jack, I will plant a couple of broccolini because I just like it but it doesn't freeze really well, it kind of crumbles. My Mother did love it, she could eat it like it was her job, LOL, and she liked it raw so she'd happily just break off florets and eat them. I asked her if she'd like me to wash them and she told me everyone had to eat a little dirt in their lives so hers might as well taste like broccoli, LOL. I just got a fresh packet of Aspabroc last year, and if I only plant a couple a year it'll probably last me forever, but I'd love to know how your new variety does when that time comes.

I have some Isa Browns right now and they are egg laying machines. Extra large brown eggs and lots of them, and they are very cold tolerant. Maybe it's the different hatcheries but I had one batch a few years ago that were meaner than snakes and I swore never again, they'd fly at people and beat each other up and were constant trouble. Last year there was a problem getting chicks and I had to take the Isa Browns and this batch is friendly and curious and social, so go figure.

I got my broilers from a hatchery not too far from me here in Michigan, Townline Hatchery. I've had really good luck with their birds and the babies don't have to travel here as far, so that's got to be better for them. Our local Family Farm and Home has a sign up saying they get their birds from Townline too.

When Grandma had a broody hen she didn't want to let set she'd haul it out of the nest and stick it under a box with a little dish of water and a handful of food and "let it get over itself". (grin) I found that if I put them in one of those wire dog kennels with food and water but no bedding they'd stop in about 2 days. I had a couple of Buff Orpingtons that just wanted to hatch eggs all the time so I just left that dog cage in a corner of the coop and they took turns occupying it. None of them would ever lay an egg while broody, so I didn't have to fight with them over that.

Annie

Annie, our local plant nursery just closed down recently. The owner retired, the business was passed down from the father to the son, and the son's older kids had no interest in keeping the business going. I would buy my chicks from them often. So disappointed they closed. Nice to hear you have a local chicken nursery near you! Love the story about your mom. I miss having the "old timers" like that around us!

You're definitely not alone, I am busy clearing out their winter stores to make room for the 2026 harvest.

It's wild garlic season here so I've just made a batch of wg pesto. I usually put a few portions in the freezer for a taste of spring in the winter months.

That sounds amazing, floral, I wonder if my ramps are similar to your wild garlic. I'm not familiar with wild garlic, I grow the domesticated kind.

Hmm. A quick internet search says wild garlic is common in Britain and throughout Europe and says it grows in the eastern half of the US, Ohio, and the westernmost parts of the Pacific Northwest. Ohio is just south of Michigan, but maybe we're just too cold or perhaps it hasn't spread here, it's apparently believed to be a "transplant".

Annie

Floral, I have never made wild garlic pesto before so I looked up the recipe. Looks good! I am growing bear's garlic that is a wild garlic type. I will try this recipe out!

What are some of the ways you use the wild garlic pesto?

Wild garlic is known to contaminate wheat harvests in parts of the USA. It puts out bulblets that resemble wheat grain which are hard to separate from the wheat.

Wild garlic has tubular leaves like chives or onions as opposed to the flat leaves of true garlic.

I planted my onions and leeks this week and sowed a 10 foot row of radishes.

The wild garlic I'm talking about is Allium ursinum. So it IS your bears garlic. It is a woodland species and not a weed in open land. There are other wild alliums such as crow garlic, Allium vineale, which is probably the one LoneJack is thinking of. The leaves of A ursinum are flat similar to a tulip, not tubular. It has relatively large white flower heads. It grows very thickly and is easy to gather in handfuls. What's more it grows in my garden so I don't have to go looking for it.

Here it is growing in a local wood. It's a spring ephemeral and will have disappeared by the time the trees are in full leaf.

Ready to make another batch for the freezer.

Floral, that wooded path is just beautiful! I woke up this morning to snow on the ground and ice on the roads, but it melted by midday, thankfully.

I have seedlings under lights on my growing shelves, but nothing outside yet. It's supposed to be near 50 tomorrow so my granddaughter is going to come and help me prune fruit trees and grape vines and clean up the tomato mess left from last year that I didn't clean up because I was busy goofing off at the Heart Center, LOL>

I did manage to make a large batch of homemade pappardelle and get it in the freezer, it'll be used for Easter dinner. Since I froze it does it count as preserving? (grin)

Annie

Sounds as if you have a big garden, Annie, with lots to do.

Freezing definitely counts as preserving. And making your own pasta is above and beyond.

Annie, freezing definitely counts as preserving in my book! 😄

Floral, love the wild garlic growing pic and your harvest. This is my first time growing bear's garlic so looking forward to the harvest. Can you share your pesto recipe with us? I saw a few on the internet. I don't have pine nuts though where I live. We have pine trees here but not that kind for eating.

I was able to harvest some colorful carrots from the garden yesterday and made a colorful coleslaw with it.

Annie, I don't use a specific recipe myself but there are plenty online. This is one: Wild garlic pesto recipe / Riverford https://share.google/Pa8lMe0CJ0Sra0SOi

When I make it I use any kind of tree nut, walnuts are good or a mixture, and any kind of strong hard cheese. Whatever I have at the time. I just bung handfuls of whatever I have into the blender and taste as I go. It is pretty pungent when first made so if using immediately it's best left an hour or two to meld.

Nice carrots. I've given up on them years ago. My heavy clay soil isn't conducive to root veg.

THanks, Floral, although somewhat late. I'll have garlic scapes here pretty soon, maybe another month.

It's time to plant the garden here, I have all the rows marked and the bean towers up, tomorrow my seedlings will go into the ground. After that, canning season is right around the corner!

I'm cleaning freezers, though, in preparation for processing chickens in about 6 weeks, so I canned 4 quarts and a pint of beef broth made from scraps and trimmings as well as one package of short ribs since no one in my family will eat those. Everyone says they are too greasy, and I agree, no matter what I do to them.

Annie

Canning season obviously isn't in full swing yet, LOL. I've been doing just little bits and pieces of things. I put 3 quarts of rhubarb in the freezer, as well as one small package of snow peas for future stir fries.

26 chickens will be processed on Friday, barring unforeseen circumstances, so that'll take up some freezer space.

Annie

I sure wouldn't have room for 26 chickens in my freezers Annie. I might be able to squeeze in half that many.

I dug my garlic on Monday and was really happy with the harvest. A lot of 2.5"-3" bulbs. Must have been the chicken poop I dug into the bed last fall before planting. I also pulled about 20 onions that had already fallen over. Nothing too big yet but there are some nice ones out there yet to be pulled.

I'm looking forward to the local sweet corn coming in a couple weeks. I plan to blanch and freeze at least a bushel.

I'm going to stop by a local market gardener's self service stand today to see if he has ripe tomatoes yet. He puts his tomatoes out under low tunnels in early April so I expect he has some ripe by now. Really looking forward to the first BLT of the year!

Making beef broth is a perfect way to start the year and clear out the freezer space. You are definitely not too early; prepping staples now saves so much time later in the season.

Zande, I use a lot of broth, so I have to pretty much make it throughout the year anyway. Plus, if I run out of time in the summer it's kind of nice to stand over a steaming canning pot in January!

Today we put 27 chickens on ice, they were about 6-7 pounds dressed although I did have one 4.5 pounder and one that topped 8 pounds, so it all averages out. I keep some whole for roasting and package the rest in "parts", so individual packages of wings, breasts, etc. The backs and necks are all used for broth, so more of that will be happening soon.

I put a couple more quart packages of rhubarb in the freezer and make two quarts of refrigerator asparagus pickles. I had a few strawberries, but we just ate them!

Annie

I added one more bag of snow peas and one single quart of strawberries. Local strawberries are $7 a quart here this year, and few of the "u-picks" have any to pick. The combination of a cold spring, extremely dry May and a couple of late frosts did them in. I also have no peaches this year and few apples, the weather simply did not cooperate.

Annie

It hardly feels like summer here and yet we’re suddenly in a long scorcher heatwave. I’m in the process of making strawberry jam because I just saw an Amish woman selling strawberries in the parking lot when I went to buy milk and eggs. They cost me $5/qt and that’s the going rate for U-pick! but I’m here because I just learned that you can test pectin for efficacy by mixing 1 tsp pectin with 1 tbs water and 1 tbs rubbing or isopropyl alcohol…. if it clumps into a lump that you can pick up with a fork, then it’s still good. My pectin is still good. :)

Annie, I’m catching up by reading backwards… that’s a shame about all your fruit trees. It’s been dicey weather here too and my cherries are a failure, but my pears and early apples look good so far. I have what I assume is russeting on the pears, that brownish corky skin, caused by environmental stress = bad weather. Supposedly harmless.

Beautiful strawberries, PM, and I'm envious of the pears. My trees are 6 years old now and I haven't gotten a single pear yet, and none this year either. My neighbor kindly brought me a bowl of strawberries from her patch, it's in a very protected location and bearing nicely, they were sweet and delicious.

Meanwhile I've canned a batch of chicken stock, 4 quarts and a pint, from some of the backs and necks of those chickens we just processed. I have enough "parts" for about 3 more batches of stock.

I got a really good deal on black beans from Sam's Club, I think black beans are the only ones I don't grow! Twelve pounds of dried beans for $9.95, and I canned 10 quarts and a pint and still have two half gallon jars full of black beans yet to process.

One jars of beans didn't seal and so I made refried beans with them and we had tostadas a couple of nights ago.

I found the first tiny cucumbers on the vines today, and small green tomatoes on the tomato plants. We covered the green beans to protect them from rabbits, so hopefully there will be some to can. A live trap is set right now for a groundhog that has been munching on my cabbage and broccoli and ate all of the Good Mother Stallard beans, we'll see if we catch Mr Hungry or any of his family. Geez, it's always something!

I saw a shirt today that said "Gardeners eat what they can, and can what they can't". Made me smile...

Annie

Annie, has your pear tree flowered at all? I don’t remember how long it was before my tree started producing fruit, but I think it took less than 7 years. My tree is completely loaded with fruit this year and it reminds me of the year my overloaded peach tree had branches snap from the weight. Hopefully pear wood is stronger. lol!

Great deal on the black beans, and I love that saying on the shirt. You definitely need a shirt that says that!

No, sadly, my little pear trees have never had a blossom, and I have 3 of them, all the same age, to insure pollination if they ever do get a flower. (sigh) I water them, fertilize twice a year, they are growing and healthy, lots of leaves, about 8 feet tall now. Just no pears...

In other news, though, I canned 5 quarts and a pint of chicken stock and I'll be picking green beans in another week or so, the garden is coming right along. It's supposed to be 93F tomorrow and 98F Tuesday, then "cool down into the low 90s" Wednesday and Thursday. I spent the last two days weeding and hoeing and sprinkling and trapping the groundhogs, so now my garden will have to do without my presence for a few days until it cools down and I don't melt when I go outside!

Annioe

Hopefully next year they’ll all flower for you. Are you certain that the fertilizer isn’t inhibiting flowering? I only have one pear tree, have never fertilized it, and it is absolutely loaded with fruit this year. I hope I get some. lol! The squirrels here are awful thieves! :)

We got that awful heat here too, along with smoke from the Canadian wildfires. Air quality was too bad to be outdoors. ugh. But today is gorgeous and I harvested a big bunch of beautiful oregano to dry, and my BF suggested drying it in a paper bag in the hot car. That’s brilliant. And much easier than messing with the dehydrator!