New Plans and Storage Crops

I have been sketching out plans for the 2011 garden already since we need to build some new beds, and I am still lacking space (of course- is it ever enough?).  This means I must prioritize what I want to grow, and weigh that against what I should grow.  Taking stock of what I have sitting in my pantry yesterday was insightful, and it will help me assign crop space for next year .  There is a decent amount of food put by in canning jars and freezer bags as well, though much of it is fruit we picked elsewhere.  I have herbs, kale, green beans, tomatoes/tomato products, pesto, raspberries, and currants from my own garden stashed in the freezer.  Relishes, sauces, jams etc. are on the shelves, but it is the for a pantry I am interested in.  Those high calorie, get-you-through-the-winter roots.

Here she is, my mixed bag of tricks "pantry":

 China, stem-ware, animal chow, and dirty vegetables!

Now for the walk through.....what is left of my globe onions:

(I am not going to bother growing these next year,

 space is at a premium and onions I can buy anywhere.)

Garlic braids are hanging, and I also have an allium drawer with shallots, a few heads of garlic,

 and more red onions, some of them globe, some of them a long heirloom variety:

(Onions are not my best crop.)

Next are the potatoes, and they are everywhere.  The bag holds my fingerlings, 

and the box holds potatoes from a friend's garden.

This drawer has Purple Viking, Keuka Gold, Red Cloud, and Russets:

Sweets:

And that is it.  No winter squashes from my garden unfortunately.  I have made peace with the need to just buy them from others.  A friend and I split a bushel of butternuts from a local farm, so I have a small stash to admire and cook up as I please (and an acorn with a price tag, sigh):

So would you all make my week and post what you have for storage crops, and how you store them?
Canned goods and stocked freezers are always fun to see too.
Share your thoughts on the amounts you grow, what you are pleased with, and what you would like to improve upon.  Winter will quickly be upon us and we will dreaming of digging the earth again come spring, so link your posts in the comments section and show us whatcha got!!

The Canning Learning Curve

I may be thirty-something years old, but this whole canning thing is new to me. No one in my family canned, and prior to this year's garden I had only made jam once or twice in all my years.

It seems as though the learning curve for canning can be quite steep. As I mentioned in an older post the first time I did pickles that required a salt soak I added it (the salt) to the recipe, and used additional slat for the soak, OOPS! I still find the directions on pickles unclear, maybe it's just my Mommy brain. Anyway, this weekend I had a couple more snafu's: I learned that tomatoes lose a lot of volume after being peeled and chopped (read as 'couldn't complete canning recipe due to lack of tomatoes'), and after following a Sweet Pickle Relish recipe to the tee I ended up with 6 half-pint jars instead of the "about 8 half-pints" it was supposed to make. Hmm.

And lets not forget all the jars of Apricot-Pepper Jelly sitting on that shelf that taste like a spoonful of cider vinegar- yuck! That was the recipe, and for once no fault of my own. (I have at least found that it makes a decent dip for breaded chicken or a tasty marinade when watered down with some canola oil), so not a total loss.

So I guess what I am asking to all you seasoned canners out there, when does this get easier? When will I stop making so many mistakes? When will I be able to throw out all of those jars of salty Zucchini Pickles and Apricot-Pepper Jelly that will never get eaten? (I just can not bear to do it right now, too much time, sweat, and money tied up in those jars!!)