The Year of Preservation

I was not expecting to do much canning or freezing this year. In fact, after freezer corn at the beginning of Sept. I thought we were done. But the blessings just kept coming. We've run into a few deals, generosity of family and neighbors, good fortune on the deer hunt, and a surprise bumper crop of grapes. Thanks to all of you who've shared your food and time to help us build our storage.

It's wonderful to have our pantry and freezer full of good food, but I'm glad it's finally slowing down. My sweet little boys have been very patient, and I am eager to get back to work with them again. So for the record, this year we bottled and froze:


50 quarts of peaches, 18 pints of venison, 12 pints of carrots, 50 pints of salsa, 15 jars of strawberry jam, 40 bags of corn, 30ish lbs of venison roasts and steaks, and 60 quarts of red and purple grape juice.

It always amazes me how we are blessed. We've needed a lot of bottles this year, and haven't wanted to spend money on new jars. My mother has been kind enough to give us all the jars in her pantry. However after years of collecting boxes of food and cans and various other misc items, it has taken some digging to find them. But every time I needed jars, they were there.

The last two or three times I practically dissected the pantry, positive I'd found every mason jar it was hiding. And yet I'd return again and find another dozen or so, on the same shelves I'd pored over previously. I'm grateful to a loving Heavenly Father for watching over us and providing for our needs in this time of financial uncertainty.