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I’m planting vegetables and vine fruits. I find it very relaxing. My grandkids love it too. Start small and add as you like. I don’t know how to can (yet) so I plan to do a lot of freezing.

I’m planting vegetables and vine fruits. I find it very relaxing. My grandkids love it too. Start small and add as you like. I don’t know how to can (yet) so I plan to do a lot of freezing.

You can actually achieve a better product by freezing corn, green beans, and most other veggies. Same for soups and stews.

I'm a big "canner"...but I don't bother with things that need the pressure cooker. You can safely can: jellies and jams; pickles; salsa; tomato juice; diced tomatoes (even those that are flavored with spices)...anything that is higher in acid using a boiling water canning method.

The USDA has a terrific site with recipes and instructions.

They now recommend that spaghetti sauce be pressure-canned; so I freeze it. Here's the website (BTW, I think it also gives instruction for freezing homegrown or fresh-purchased produce):

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

My wife and I were walking through the garden section of Lowe's this afternoon. We found two nice cherry trees and an Italian plum tree. Both will be planted tomorrow. They are completely suitable for our location and are good fruit bearing trees. They are also genetic dwarfs, so they won't overwhelm the yard. My wife returned later with more bare root blackberries to add to our existing berry patch. The window sill in the kitchen has 5 big habanero pepper plants. They yielded about 20 fine quality peppers last season.

In mid-February, I helped my son to relocate from San Dieog to Pocatello. The extra costs of assisting him have necessitated a change in our dining habits. He was over this afternoon and spent about 5 hours making a very high quality Vietnamese phở bò (rice noodle soup with rare steak). He also cooked some outstanding carne asada a couple weeks ago. I'm going to have to jump into the fray with some Thai green curry with chicken. For the less timid, I make the chicken curry with habaneros. We have lots of fun creating good food in the kitchen. Most of it is exotic stuff we can't order at any restaurant.