2012 Food Storage Begins

I love to garden, and with that, I do lots of food storage. I do canning, drying, and freezing of what we grow every year, and this year is starting out as no exception.

Below is the first batch of three batches of canning New Mexican green chili. If you have ever had New Mexican style cuisine, you know that much of it has green chili. People there claim to be addicted to the flavors and put it on everything, eggs, pizza, hamburgers (you can actually order it on your hamburger at McDonalds!), etc. My family and I are "addicts", so while I was in Albuquerque for my Father, I bought 25 pounds. It came already chopped and frozen. I put it in a suitcase and checked it in with my baggage and flew home. The next day, my husband and I canned 23 half pints and 13 pints. We're already thinking I didn't bring enough!

This is parsley that I dried yesterday from what I harvested from the garden already! I planted a small start befor I left to go to Albuquerque, and after about 5 weeks I filled a small jar of dried heads. The pungent aroma of fresh herbs is so much better than the processed products you can buy.