So, Meg and I seem to be living on the TV set to Little House on the Prairie. Between the Conestoga Wagon we spotted a few weeks ago and the preparations for the winter we're doing now, I'm convinced.
This weekend we decided to take advantage of the dirt cheap fruit & veggie prices and our own bountiful harvest and start getting ready for the upcoming shortages. We went down the street and bought about 18 tomatoes and made some homemade spaghetti
sauce. We used some fresh bay leaves from the tree in the back yard as well and canned them in old pickle jars we had. (Since we're going to freeze it, we're not too concerned about truly canning them, but we did boil the jars and the button is now showing a vacuum seal.) For about the cost of 4 Georgian Lari (GEL), we made 3 jars that probably would have cost us 15 GEL. Who knows what they'll cost in February.
Also, our pomegranate trees are dumping a LOT of fruit right now. So between last weekend and this weekend we spent about 6 or so hours cutting into them and picking out the tasty seeds and sticking them into freezer bags so that we can have them throughout the winter. They're pretty good on cereal in the morning and Meg got adventurous and made pomegranate syrup one day. Maybe we'll track down a juicer and juice some. Maybe.
We've also harvested the hazelnuts from our tree, though without a nut cracker, they're just sitting there taunting me. We haven't exactly figured out what we're supposed to do with them, so odds are, we'll screw up somehow and we'll have a tupperware full of a science experiment that used to be Hazelnuts, but now is threatening to provide us penicillin.
The dried fruit experiment we tried last week, didn't work out so well. After 5 hours of drying, the apple slices weren't really that dry. They were close, but we probably need to cut them thinner or they'll probably rot pretty quickly.
In short, if our survival for the coming winter is dependent on our food stores and proper preparation, we're doomed. We may wind up foraging for katchupuri scraps with the local ferrel dogs. (We're not in east Asia, so I think the dogs are safe here.) Thankfully there are also sushi restaurants, though given the surroundings, they're a little suspect.
5 comments:
I had no idea you two were hunkering down for the winter! Do they not pay you guys to work over there???
I think you two should test your bodies ability to store energy the survivor route--screw canning, drying, storing etc and just eat everything in sight for the next 6 weeks. Chances of getting food poisoning are far less that way!
You're truly Georgian when you sheer your own sheep and weave your own yarn. It's a long winter, maybe you'll pick up some new skills. Derek
I've heard that a pommagranite martinit is pretty good. Nice purple hands, how long did that last?
So what you're telling us is that you can't go down to the local whole foods and get tomatoes in February? I don't get it.
sounds like you have plenty of rain there, I'll send you some of that awful swedish tomato paste and fish paste in tubes, just add it to some fresh rainwater and voila- food you'll only eat if really hungry. Or, after a few litres of wine, whichever comes first. :)
-Kerry-
little house on the prairie is right! love to read your posts.
joan
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