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- What goes in a jar this fall, and what can wait
What goes in a jar this fall, and what can wait
Squash and potatoes keep for months with no canner at all
The last harvest doesn't have to feel like a race.
Your counter might hold a bowl of apples and a bucket of green tomatoes you grabbed before the frost. It all looks like it needs a jar this weekend.
It doesn't. A pie pumpkin can sit on a cool shelf until January. Those green tomatoes won't last the week.
So I sort the pile before I heat any water. Only part of it needs a canner. Plenty of it keeps for months with no jar at all.
And one crop on the list never goes in a jar at home, even though it's all over your feed right now.
Sort first. The canning weekend gets a lot calmer.
Pumpkin belongs in the freezer, not a jar. Agree?
Some readers freeze it every time. Others would rather have a shelf of jars than a full freezer. Cast your vote near the end of the guide.
What the guide walks you through
The Sort Table: where each fall crop goes, from the canner to the cool closet.
The Spoil-First Order: which crops can't wait, and which can sit until January.
The Garage Problem: why a jar that sealed in October can fail by January.
Talk soon,
James Thornton
Homesteading
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