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Tuesday, July 25, 2017

To Everything A Season

There is typically a somewhat predictable flow of seasons.
I don't just mean seasons on a calendar though they play a significant roll in what happens with the other seasons. 
So what on earth do I mean by that?
Well, "typically" we are finished up with wood burning season about April,
and we begin wood gathering season.
This year has been a little off.
We still had a fire burning into May. 
After our extreme winter which came complete with avalanches,
we were ready for spring.
But we weren't able to go get wood.
They made our road what they termed as "passable" but only to the last occupied house about 3 miles up the road.
Beyond that, the avalanches stayed to thaw as Mother Nature determined.
Mother Nature was apparently in no great hurry.
That meant we had to wait to get wood.  We have about 2/3 of what we need.
We are hoping to get another load soon as it is now fire season,
and they could shut down the forests at any given moment.
The other off bit is last year I was canning peas the end of June.
This year they ran about 3 weeks later.
That doesn't sound like a great deal of time, but if you think about the work load and how much you can do in 3 weeks, it might make a little more sense.
We've also had our first picking of green beans 
so I've been canning those as well.

My M-I-L gave me 9 (yep 9!) boxes of apricots.
I luuuuv dried apricots.
This year, I'm storing them in canning jars 
so they don't need to go in the freezer.
I did have to purchase the jar sealers, but they work pretty quickly,
and are a nifty thing to have and use.
I thought I was on my last round of dehydrators when my mom gave me another box so I'm still at it.
At one point I had 4 dehydrators going to get them all done before they spoiled.

Salmon season didn't really happen this year.
They decided not to open the majority of the rivers in our area
which means no stock pile of fish.
We still have several jars from last year so we'll use those sparingly.

Between Mr. LB and myself, we did draw all six tags, which if we can fill most of them come hunting season will save us quite a bit on beef.
(Tags: bear, deer, elk)
I have yet to get an elk so that's not something to bank on.
I've already heard that we are supposed to have another hard winter.
Our seasons seem to be stumbling over each other rather than pacing themselves so slow-pokes like me can keep up.
(I like to plant a few wax beans to throw in - adds a bit of a jewel to the jars.)

I now have peas done, we'll be picking another batch of green beans in a day or two, and once again think I am finishing up apricots.
Hopefully, I can get these things finished up then move onto corn
which is already on - early.
We've been running from one end of the day to the other, and our kitchen is a flurry of big bowls, canners, and various implements.  
The nice part is that our pantry shelves are beginning 
to look a little less anemic and at night, I almost literally fall into bed.
Aside from our seasons tumbling down upon us,
we are well.
And thankful mind you, that we have the provisions, skills, and ability
to do as we are doing.
We don't take that for granted.

                                                      

9 comments:

  1. I remember my mom and grandmothers canning straight endwise like that. My wife was forced into it as a kid, so when she got married, she swore it off. She won't even raise a tomato plant, since she had most of the gardening dumped on her too. She was the oldest girl and both parents worked.

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  2. Trust you are able to get out and replenish your wood pile how lucky you can go find fallen trees etc rather than have to but the wood.
    You certainly grow lots of produce and those apricots MIL gave you look delicious.
    The weather seems to be playing up allover the place, we have had some hot days well hot for the UK and very little rain so the garden isn`t doing too well. Next door water theirs but I am on a water meter so refrain from doing so. My plum tree is laden with fruit but the cherry and pear have nothing, some apples on one tree but the other nothing though that was replanted last year so blaming that.

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  3. Oh my goodness! You have been SO busy! I am very impressed. Look at all of that food. Incredible. It makes my little harvest here in California look anemic. Great work.

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  4. I love your shelves full of jars. Well done Lady Locust !

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  5. Oh my! You have been at it haven't you? I'm amazed you have a spare moment to drop in here and report. I'm so happy for you about your produce. It's hard to believe you're burning wood again already. Do tell—whereabouts do you live? I live in southern Missouri. We had no winter at all last year. The bugs are so much bigger and worse than ever. Even with an exterminator, I cannot keep them out. They just fly in. The we're calling to the menfolk to get them for us!

    It was a pleasure to visit today. I just followed you on GFC. I didn't realize I hadn't signed up yet.

    Do have a lovely week!
    Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage

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  6. I swear, our lives are like opposite sides of the same coin. I've been canning and dehydrating like mad too! However, we have had very mild winters for the last three years. So, apart from dealing with terrible heat, I'm also dealing with an overgrowth of bugs. The mild weather has prevented any of the bugs from being killed off. We need to get out in the pasture and make some repairs and improvements. However, we've seen ticks this year and were all waiting until cool weather to do it. I know! Let's do a deal! You can have our mild winter and I'll take your hard freeze. I think both our homesteads would benefit from the change! Thanks for sharing! Anne

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  7. I love your blog. I enjoy canning mixed vegetables, venison, and jams. I love the apricots. We don't get those around here. Your pantry is excellent. In need something better in our basement.

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  8. There is a method of DIY woodstove construction called Rocket Mass Heater (RMH)that when properly done can reduce your firewood consumption radically. Common comments are that a house that required 6 to 10 logger's cords of wood annually could reduce with this kid of stove to 1 or 2 loggers cords. This is done by constructing the stove (often recycled/off-the-land materials, or if you prefer, the bones of it can be purchased and customed to your decor) to a far more heat efficient degree than common cast iron "high efficiency" stoves.SO EFFICIENT THERE IS VIRTUALLY NO SMOKE AND ONE BURN KEEPS AN INSULATED HOUSE WARM FOR DAYS, EVEN IN SUBZERO TEMPS.. For masses of information, fine details on construction and skilled advice and helpful tips while you build, check permies.com This is the website maintained by Paul Wheaton, a longtime permaculture instructor. He did not invent the tech, but has sponsored an annual fall RMH workshop for 3 years, with experts from around the world pooling experience, innovations and fascinating details on how to work with high heat conditions. Or you can book a workshop at your home and have classmates help you build yours! Why haven't you heard of this before? It's grassroots, not affiliated with the US building industry, but it's champoins are responsible people. And research pays!

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  9. What a wonderful pantry!!
    This was our featured post this week at the Simple Homestead Hop!
    Thanks for sharing :)

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