One thing that gives me great pleasure and an immense sense of accomplishment is being able to preserve the fruits and vegetables that come into our home via our own meager garden, through friends' generosity, or the local market.

Several years ago, I lived next door to an elderly man who taught me many things.  He had an enormous garden and he let me have a tiny section of it for my strawberries, sugar peas, and potatoes.  The rest of the garden was filled w/ goodies that he often shared w/ us.  He was generous with friends, but was frugal beyond measure--even going so far as to only live in 2 rooms of his house during the winter months so as not to need to heat the rest of the house.  It was from him I learned a love of living off the land.

Now, I am definitely a city-fied version of a homesteader, but there are few things I take as much pride and pleasure in as I do making use of every morsel of food that enters my household.

Here is what I did today...

I pickled white cucumbers that were given to us by a friend at church.

I have tomatoes in the dehydrator from the family across the street.

I creamed the last 1/2 gallon of milk (we go to get milk again tomorrow) and made butter.  It's in the freezer right now.

This was all in addition to Home Blessing, making a newborn diaper for the online store, attempting to potty train the 22 mon old (notice I said "attempting"), clearing out the game box (MOMYS digest style), trying out a new roll recipe (thank you Betty Crocker), washing 4 loads of laundry, and all the other chores that fill my day.

This year's canning and preserving has been especially sweet since this time last year I was pregnant and new to the area and didn't can one single thing.  It feels so good to be back in the swing of things!