musings from the preservation kitchen...

ok, there's nothing special about the preservation kitchen. it's the same kitchen as usual, it just happens to have a canning pot on the stove and a few pots with mish-mashes of apples and quince. and the table is covered in jars, fresh lids and bands. and the floor is messy...but i guess that's normal.

the upside of being in a new place and not having a posse of people to hang out with all the time, nor a calendar chock full of events, is that there is plenty of time to actually do all the things i have on my to do list. especially the in-the-kitchen food preservation to do list. the fall only comes around once a year, and that means an annual shot at preserving gleaned quince and saucing u-picked apples and maybe candying a few other goodies. i can't think of a better match. the weather starts to chill, the storm windows come closed just in time to fill the kitchen with the steamy warmth and cozy smells of cooking fruits, their juices and the best spices. it's nice to have this time to waltz around the tiny kitchen, playing all my favorite slightly moody, batten-down-the-hatches for winter music and enjoy. (sidenote, i had big plans to study today, but after a nice yoga class, decaf coffee, apple pastry and a stop at the coop for greens...a lovely crispness to the air...i came home inspired to set aside some time to finally sauce the apples. and then i found the quince juice in the fridge...and i just went for it).

including the satisfaction of slicing apples and watching them cook down...and milling them to sauce and watching their volume decrease by over half and tasting the first bits of warm sauce (cold apple sauce tastes so much better)...the best part of the whole entire process is surely the the tiny popping sound as the lids seal on the cooling jars. sometimes it's instant when the jars get pulled out of the boiling water bath...sometimes the tiny pop with an emotional echo comes 30 minutes to an hour after the jars have been cooling on a towel or wooden board. little reminders, little firecrackers reminding you of all the goodness and all the work that were just put into those little jars.

i will be the first to admit, as i balance the importance of local food with the weight of resource conservation, that preserving your own food at home is not energy efficient. i had two burners on (sometimes on high) for at least three hours today. that's probably a lot of natural gas that just went in to the quinces and apple sauce. there is something valid about the industrialization of our food system and it's ability to do things like make apple sauce with possibly (i'd like to do the math one day) a smaller footprint that what i made at home. but that's where i'd like to advocate for the moderate scale producer. yes, someone who has the capabilities of producing a product in large enough quantities to be somewhat energy efficient, but also uses locally sourced raw ingredients (ie. produce/meat from local farms) and environmentally friendly packaging and modes of transit and distribution. and what did happen to those community food preservation centers that used to exist in most communities...and what about extension in urban areas...

anyhow, the joy if food preservation is not lost. i am excited to have a bit of my first new england fall in six years careful saved in adorable and tasty mason jars. i'm excited for more cheese making adventures...aided by the gallons of raw milk we are getting through a local raw milk share. oh, sweet, sweet ricotta...you are just the beginning.

back to doing some of the things i 'should' do today (we all know how i feel about 'shoulds') like homework and reading. (but would you choose stats homework or apples? that's what i thought).

the dog is talkative because she hasn't had a decent walk today. little does she know she gets a long run around the pond in an hour!