The Cook wrote:

hi, glad to see you back writing.

....
Winter is time to let the back rest and recover. It is the time to
read seed catalogues and gardening books, take inventory of my seeds
and preserved foods and plan for the Spring. Since I have a
greenhouse I start several things there as early as January. By
February I am starting many of my summer crops there.

Before I got the greenhouse I started many plants in the house with
grow lights.

we keep it too cool in the house to start a lot
of plants, plus very limited on space, so i am
glad the local greenhouse will do those for us
(mainly tomatoes, peppers, onions and cucumbers).


Gardening or farming is not just a spring and summer project. Winter
is the time to plan.

i call that daydreaming. what i plan may not
happen as i can get overruled. like this year i did
not really want to plant a ton of tomatoes, but we
put in over 20 plants... and squash, i thought only
one squash patch, we have three. beans, as usual i
was hoping to plant several gardens worth, only
have one. etc.


Do you preserve any of your produce? I can, freeze and dehydrate.
That takes us though the winter or longer.

we can and freeze as much as we possibly can do.

this past weekend we took inventory and Ma has already
decided which things she will give away to friends and
family for Christmas gifts. this way we don't have to
rearrange the pantry yet again. 15 cases will be given
away.

we're about halfway through the tomatoes and have
beets, dry beans, squash, onions and red peppers to
eat or preserve.

right now for the red peppers i'm voting on eating
fresh, i love them fried up until they get a little
burn on them in spots.


songbird