The Fruit Room

Around here the room all the home canned goods are stored in, is called the fruit room.  Same as a pantry or larder.  It just depends on what part of the country you come from.  Our fruit room is an enclosed room in our basement, which helps keep the temperature even, which is great for storing preserved food long term.  We keep track of temperature and humidity, (same as for seed storage) strive for a sum of 100 when humidity and temperature are added together.

 I will fill this page with the list of what we preserved this year, (if I remembered to write it down) and I will break it down into what we store and where, and the quantities of each.      * denotes purchased fruit, otherwise all produce is grown here.  2008 tally listed below.

Our method of providing food for our farmstead includes many different storage methods.  We can, freeze and dry foods, but we try spread out our harvest by growing more winter hardy vegetable varieties, and growing foods that store without using any additional energy.  We don’t have an elaborate pantry system, but generally plan to use one unit per week of each item.  HD packs his lunch from these stores, so it takes a pint a fruit a day for his lunch alone.  Sometimes if the price is right on purchased fruit, I will can two years worth, since we can’t count on every year being a good fruit year.  We treat our own fruit the same, if we have an abundance, we preserve it in many ways.

Straw bale root cellar – potatoes          584#
Separate bale cellar – fall cabbage – 14 heads, Brussels Sprouts – 18 stalks.
in situ – carrots – 330 row feet.
parsnips – 360 row feet.
beets – 150 row feet.
rutabagas – 150 row feet.
celeriac – 40 row feet.  We harvest these as needed so I have no weights.  Hilled with soil for freezing protection, these will keep until April or May.  Parsnips, and carrots are shared with the house cow.
Alliums – fruit room, 75# yellow storage.
78# potato onions – stored, 9 # planted.
Garlic – 22# storage, 5# planted.
Upstairs – Winter squash  – 517#
Porch – winter apples – 375 #
Unheated greenhouse – Kale, 36 plants for us and the hens.
Cabbage – 18 heads, red, green, savoy & overwinter.
Misc. hardy greens ?

CANNED

Rhubarb                                    16 qts, 1 pt
Rhubarb juice                         32 qts
Sweet Cherries*                     88 qts
Black Cherry Jam*               16 pts
Apricots*                                 21 qts
Apricot jam*                          20 pts
Nectarines*                            90 qts
Italian Prunes                        56 qts
Prune Juice                             21 qts
Pears                                          48 qts
Pear Juice                                 21 qts
Pear Sauce                                19 pts
Oregon Grape jelly                  6 1/2 pts
Apple Sauce                             35 qts
B & B pickles                             21 qts
Zucchini                                    25 pts
Green beans                             106 qts, 40 pints
Whole tomatoes                      42 qts
Roasted whole tomatoes     36 pts
Roasted tomato sauce         35 qts, 56 pts
Roasted tomato salsa           42 pts
Chicken stock                           14 qts, 6 pts   I make fresh chicken stock each week and      refrigerate it, so only extra will get canned.
Beef stock                                   21 qts

FREEZER

Rhubarb                        12 qts
Strawberries                16 pts
Raspberries                  36 qts
Blueberries                   42 qts
Blackberries                 18 qts
Shell Peas                       24 pts
Sweet Corn                    40 pts
Chanterelles                  24 1/2 pts
Basil Pesto                      12 1/2 pts, 36 1/4 pts
Cilantro Pesto               48 1/4 pts

Butter                              64 # so far
Pig   (1)                            148 #
Chicken (71)                 447 #
Turkey (1)                         21 #
No beef this year           -0-

DRIED

sage
oregano
basil
parsley
cilantro
marjoram
thyme
celery
spearmint
hops
fennel seed
dill weed, seed
paprika peppers
cayenne peppers