Blog Update!
For those of you not following me on Facebook, as of the Summer of 2019 I've moved to Central WA, to a tiny mountain town of less than 1,000 people.

I will be covering my exploits here in the Cascades, as I try to further reduce my impact on the environment. With the same attitude, just at a higher altitude!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Giveaway: How to Store Your Garden Produce

How to Store Your Garden ProduceIn the book, How to Store Your Garden Produce: The key to self-sufficiency, author Piers Warren contends that, with less than an acre of garden, you can grow enough produce to feed a family of four for a year.

However, without the proper storage, most of it will go to waste since much of the produce ripens simultaneously in the summer. So, this book teaches you simple techniques for storing your produce so you can enjoy your home grown produce year round.

Piers starts out by describing the various methods of storage beginning with basic methods and covering the whole gamut including clamping, freezing, drying, vacuum-packing, salting, canning and fermenting and ending with pickles, relishes, sauces, jams and jellies. In the second part of the book, the author goes into detail on how to preserve various kinds of produce from fruits to vegetables - including such unusual items like chicory and salsify. Celeriac wine, anyone?

I'm not sure if I'd use many of the recipes included in the book (the British have an inordinate fondness for gooseberries), but if you are wondering how to preserve a certain type of fruit or vegetable, this book gives you some good suggestions. And, even though this book is a little light on in-depth techniques, you'll still want to cuddle up with Piers in bed this winter to learn about and plan how you'll store next year's garden bounty.

If you are interested in signing up for this book giveaway, add your name to the comments of this post. The giveaway ends this Thursday, December 11th at 6:00 pm PST. I'll be doing a random drawing and announcing a winner shortly thereafter. If you've won a book (or blanket) from me recently, I haven't forgotten about you... since my back went out I haven't been able to lift the boxes to take to the post office, but I'll get them out this Friday.

Related posts:
Fresh Food from Small Spaces
Preserving food for the winter

132 comments:

Anonymous said...

This topic is of great interest to me as I am aware that I have the best fed garbage bin in my cornerof Australia. I am always amazed at the gems you find.

Marino said...

mmmm gooseberries are yum!! me and my brothers used to pick wild ones.

anyway, I so could do with some tips on storing and preserving my garden produce so please to put me in the draw.

Madz in NZ

Anna said...

I grew up in South King County and we always had gooseberry bushes. I wish I had some right now, they're delicious frozen. I would love this book!

Carla said...

I need some answers and would love this book. I'm tired of "feeding" my compost bin.

Robj98168 said...

Sign me up! I need some storage techniques!

Anonymous said...

No need to include my name in the draw, I'm in Australia. I've spent the last 4 days madly preserving 23kg of cherries from my single tree. And there's still more to pick. The single best thing I could've done was find a cherry stone removing gadget in time for the avalanche of fruit... but I didn't and all the jam recipes in the world won't save me now.
< sob! >

Marimoy said...

gooseberries, huh? None of those here, but I would love to be in the drawing! :D

Kathy said...

I'm just learning to can/preserve foods and this book sounds very interesting to me. I'd love to be included in the drawing. Thanks!

Frugal Pursuit said...

I am always interested in learning how to preserve my produce so please add me to the list. Storage without refrigeration or freezing is of special interest.

Jen said...

I am working on increasing our garden to be large enough to provide for our family of 6 year-round. It sounds like this would be an awesome book to have.

Anonymous said...

This book sounds pefect for us; we would love to have it! Please put us in.

Jenn said...

I'm planning a simple canning/freezing garden this year, tomatoes, beans, peppers, peas, etc and a book like this would be invaluable to us!

Anonymous said...

Another great givaway! I am throwing my name into the hat this time! I am planning a permaculture designed garden for my reclaimed driveway, this book would really help with the yield.

Anonymous said...

Why doesn't my local public library have titles like this one? They have lots of popular fiction and nonfiction but not much in the way of practical gardening and food preservation.

--Ave

Keri said...

Me, me, me! =D

pigbook1 said...

I love the idea of this book and I think if well executed it could become a "go-to" in my house

Lisa said...

I definitely need some help in this area! I have a relatively new property. The first summer was terribly dry and hot, but this past summer was near perfect! But I overreacted to the hot/dry year and over-planted everything. When the produce started coming in fast and furiously, I was at a loss!

Help!

Meg said...

I'd love to be in the drawing -- I definitely need more ideas on preserving my harvest!

Anonymous said...

This would be a great book for us! We're on a third of an acre, most of it rock ledge, but we do have a productive little garden where we grow extra veggies for storing: squashes, strawberries (ok, those don't often get stored, or even make it indoors), tomatoes and more...Mostly I use my dehydrater, though I am hoping to get a pressure canner for xmas (I just don't trust my water canning. Must have had a bad experience with botulism in a past life, LOL)

Lisa Zahn said...

I'd love to have this book.

Sandy said...

Yes! Yes! to the book! This year was my first embarking on this project of growing and planting. Started toying around with canning, freezing and dehydrating but I've just begun. Surely we would starve by December if it were left to this years effort. Much to learn. -Sandy

Anonymous said...

Wow! This is a timely book. I was just asking a group of older ladies about root cellars (they were of the age that they had lots of information about canning, root cellars, porch lockers). Thanks!

Beth G.

Stone Fence Farm said...

Yes sign me up for this drawing.

I'm really interested in low energy ways of doing things.

Amy

Peak Oil Hausfrau said...

I am sorely in need of a book like this. Thanks for doing this giveaway!

Lisanne624 said...

Gooseberries are yummy! And to boot, they are rather funny looking. They look like tiny, slightly fuzzy watermelons. I'd never had them before marrying my Swedish husband, so I have no idea if they can be found in the U.S., but I have found gooseberry jam (also yummy) over here. My mother is an avid gardener and does a lot of canning, but maybe this book would have some less labor-intensive ideas!

little.lamb said...

sounds like a great resources! please add me

Sue said...

oooh - me!me! I'd love this book (and may well buy it in the likely event that I don't win it)

~B. said...

Mmm! Sounds like another book I need! Thanks for all the fun giveaways!

Jen (emsun.org) said...

Ooh, what a fabulous book. I'd love to have it.

I've thought about planting some gooseberry bushes.

Kristi said...

Just what I need! Right now I'm "storing" my carrots, turnips, etc. in place in the ground, but if we have a hard freeze, I'm SOL. Definitely a book for me; sign me up, please!

Yael said...

sounds good to me! we are planning on starting our first garden next year!

Anonymous said...

Looks interesting! I'm in! Thank you.

Jenna said...

Nifty (And I happily grow piles of gooseberries here in the states!). I can aways use some more info on what to do with what I've got - and maybe help plan what I'll grow.

Tossing my name into the hat.

Stella said...

We're working on freezing and canning a fair bit, but I know we can be doing more. (I want a root cellar in the worst way...) I would love this book.

joan said...

Sign me up!
My family could definitely could use some help in this area.

Lauren said...

This looks so interesting...count me in:)

Anonymous said...

Sounds interesting!

Anonymous said...

Sign me up! I need this info!

scifichick said...

Sign me up for the drawing please :)

Green Bean said...

Sign me up, my crunchy dear.

Anonymous said...

OOOh! I would love this book!

Anonymous said...

Ooooh! Me! Me! Pick me! :) *she says, delurking for perhaps the second time in a year*

I got my very first hot water canner this year (not counting the one I use for dye work, so, yeah -- not preserving anything in that one) too late to really help me, BUT my FIL is sending us their hot water one AND a pressure canner. I have the Ball Blue Book for recipes/instructions, but would LOVE help planning my itty bitty city lot garden this year. (Only the side yard gets full sun, so that's where the tomatoes go. The peppers were disappointing. :( I'm working on stealth gardening in the front, though, and can use all the help I can get.)

Char said...

Char.

Ben said...

Sounds like a great book. I would love to be added to the list.

Delora said...

I'd love to get this book. I had vegetables I grew over the summer that I held off picking because I couldn't use them right then, and then they spoiled. What a waste.

Fun Mama - Deanna said...

My problem with my garden each summer is the preservation part. This book would be a great help to our family!

CM said...

Sign me up! Even with the canning I do now there just is too much going to waste.

Mary said...

Sounds like book everyone should have!

kimberly said...

cool! i'd like to be put in the draw please.

Anna Banana said...

Great looking book, please add me to the giveaway. Today is my birthday!

Anonymous said...

Can you add me to the drawing?

Live/Love/Life said...

I too am like a few of your followers. I have many questions in regards to storing and preserving. I am getting tired of freezing what I can and tossing what I can't.

Susan said...

Please include me too. This book sounds perfect.

Mariano Rentería said...

Count me in!! I've looking a book for those things in order of eat more seasonally and use less the fridge!

Unknown said...

this looks like just what we need. we are trying to grow 50% next year... and i worry mostly that we CAN do it, and that it will just all go to waste. count me in!

homebrewlibrarian said...

I feel like I'm surrounded by people who will need a lot of help in the coming days. A book like this will be hugely helpful.

Sign me up!

Kerri in AK

Lisa said...

I'd love to be included. We just joined a winter share and could use some advice about storing this bounty.

Anna Marie said...

That sounds like such a useful book- especially because I'm starting a garden this year, and expect a lot of food!

Anonymous said...

Sign me up please Crunchy! I could really use some help in this area.

Thanks for the cool giveaway!

365 ideas said...

Started with pickles and applesauce this year but would love to expand my canning horizons. Please put my name in. Thanks!

Robin said...

We have a huge garden but don't put up nearly what we should. Maybe this book would give us the incentive we need! Please count me in. Thanks!

KLund said...

I have some canning supplies I picked up at a yard sale, gathering dust in my shed. I have always been afraid to use them. Maybe with the right book, it wouldn't seem so scary. Count me in.

Kimberly Gische said...

This would make a great gift for my husband! Sign me up.

Jenny said...

Crunchy, I come and read alot but seldom leave any comments. I love your site, and content. I have been canning for a long time, but still would like to be included in this drawing, after I read the book (if I were to be chosen), I would pass it on to my daughter and daughter in law. If not chosen, I might get this book anyway, it looks like it has oodles of great info.

Thank you,
Gracie

Theresa said...

This book would be extremely useful to me, so I will ask to be included in the draw this time. Thank you Crunchy.

Anonymous said...

So Crunchy?

Getting into canning are ya??

You need to come to the little house during apple and pear harvest and get your hands on bushels of beyond organic (ABSOLUTELY no spray) apples and pears.

Pressed 60 gallons of cider this year!

Carpe Diem said...

It looks like a great book. Please include me in the draw.

Anonymous said...

I really need to get on the ball with food preservation...sign me up!

Sareen said...

we are doing the whole "splendid table" locavore thing - would be nice to have some additional resources!

Anonymous said...

Sign me up, this is just what I've been looking for! Love the blog, crunchy!

Anonymous said...

I'm always interested in learning about how I can save my food--sign me up, please!

greenmama said...

Would love to check this book out! I just finished reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. What an inspiration. Too bad I read it in December. I can't wait for the summer to roll around again. We canned quite a few tomatoes and such last summer, and the most delish peaches that I am sad to say will not last us till the next harvest. Hope I win it! Thanks for all you do.

Maeve said...

This is a book I've had on my wish list for a while, so I'm adding my name to the contest too :)

Eileen said...

This sounds like a great winter bedtime reading. please throw my name into the drawing.
Eileen

Anonymous said...

Sign me up, Crunch!

Jennie said...

Does it have anything on preserving garlic scapes? :-)
Put me in the drawing please!

Anonymous said...

Please include me. I'd love to know how to store my harvest. Right now I just freeze it all.
Thanks, Judy N.

Sarah said...

Hey neat! I'd love to get in on this drawing. Thanks!

Taradactyl in a Modern World said...

Oh, I'm so into this right now....

Anonymous said...

I learned some of this stuff as a kid, but haven't had a chance to use it in the last few years of city-livin'. Help me get it back?

Audrey said...

Put me in the draw!

Audrey

Allie said...

I would love to win this book. I've been really into preserving food recently, and this will help.

ali said...

Sounds interesting.

Queen of Scatterville said...

What a great looking book I hope to have a garden large enough to Put Up next summer, and am already planning it.

Unknown said...

Oh, Crunch, I could sure use that book! :D

I'm deep in the planning stages for next year's garden and I am determined to preserve more of what we grow ... and grow more too!

Thanks for adding me to the list!

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is cool! Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Oh, PLEASE let me win this one. PLEASE, please, please.

I have a pint of mystery berries on my counter I can't bear to throw away, yet am terrified to eat. Not that I want to preserve them...

Sharlene said...

Oh I would love this one. I am dying to learn how to can and preserve. Its on my to do list.

Anonymous said...

Oh me me me!

We're converting our 2000 sq ft front and back yard into an edible landscape and a book on preservation is on my list of things to get before we start planting in the spring.

One thing I must add is that an acre of food can provide for more than one family if planted right! John Jeavons book "How to Grow More Vegetables" is great for learning high-density techniques.

Deoxy144 said...

Count me in! This is the first year we will actually have somewhere to put a garden, though with having a two year old and our second due in Feb, this year's garden might have to be small.

Jenny said...

I can always use another book on how to store our garden produce! Great giveaway! Thanks!

Unknown said...

Send that book my way!! I would LOVE to feed myself and my boyfriend off of our lil' patch of dirt.

-Kelsie

Anonymous said...

I love preserving food, and my parents have a nice acre of land just waiting to planted with food. sounds like a good match for the book :)

Bill Rosemurgy said...

I could always use another book!

Anonymous said...

I could use lot of help in the preserving/storing dept. It's such a waste when things I'm trying to figure out what to do with end up feeding the compost. Thanks for the chance.

Anonymous said...

I really could use this one! Please put my name in!

Anonymous said...

We just planted a gooseberry bush!

Anonymous said...

me, me, me, please put me in!
Jo

Anonymous said...

Hi I'd like to enter, yum!
Amanda in Ottawa

Jen said...

I'd like to enter. Thanks.

Matriarchy said...

I got a root cellaring book, but I still don't quiet have the knack. I just had to bake off 20 sweet potatoes that didn't keep well. So I can use another book!

Kimberly said...

I learned to can this year,froze a bunch of stuff and have piles of squash in the basement, but could still use some more ideas. Hope your back is feeling better.

Anna said...

Please oh please oh please! I took a canning class at a local organic farm last year, and it is one of my resolutions for next year to only eat locally and ideally, only in season. This book would help!

Alison Kerr said...

What can I say, I'd love it and I love gooseberries too. They are absolutely delicious in crumble or with a meringue topping (kind of like lemon meringue pie). I'm growing a little more in my garden each year but I've no clue about how to store, which holds me back from doing more.

xx Fingers crossed for a female winner this time and let it be me (or someone even more deserving)!

Erika said...

This sounds like an awesome book! I love trying to grow new foods, but am stumped when it comes to preserving many of them... especially since I have an obsession with hard to can stuff, like squash. I'd love to store our produce in a way other than canning or the giant mound of pumpkins and acorn squash sitting in my dining room (freezin' my buns also alleviates the problem of no root cellar).

Count me in!

Thanks!

--Erika

The Giveaway Diva said...

ooo i'd love to win! thanks

Anonymous said...

Throw me on the enter list! I'm planning my first garden for next summer and would love to start to learn what to do with anything that I have leftover!

Anonymous said...

I had so many tomatoes this year I ran out of ideas of what to do with them. So I bought a deep freezer and made lots 'o salsa. Cha-cha-cha.

But what else can be done with tomaters? Spaghetti sauce and...? I would love to read your giveaway book and be prepared for our next summer bounty.

Tammy Lorraine

Anonymous said...

Knowing Piers Warren personally, I can highly recommend this book . . . won or bought. You can count on whatever Piers suggests you do . . . from canning tomatoes to trekking through the Tanzanian bush with Maasai by your side . . . he'll never steer you wrong.
Sheilagh a/k/a Mama Africa

Anonymous said...

Wow, the odds look slim but please sign me up for the giveaway.

Summer said...

Oh, sign me up to win!

Anonymous said...

I'm in again! We have been tinkering with several ideas for root cellars, but once you have the structure, the vegetables get picky about temperature and humidity... Would love this book, thanks Crunchy!

1curlydoc said...

This book looks great! We have a very short growing season, so I'm hoping to grow more and preserve more next year.

Anonymous said...

I already do some preserving but want to do it better!!!! Please include me in the draw.
(I've been doing my own version of crossed-fingers for your husband's recovery.)

Unknown said...

I'm always looking for new ways to preserve my food so sign me up for the drawing.

Anonymous said...

count me in, please!

cindy24 said...

would love to to be in the drawing
next year i want to expand the garden and planted 6 fruit trees. now i am just canning and freezing them because i don't trust my canning skills.

Sweetpeas said...

This is something I always struggle with, count me in!

Anonymous said...

I would have to successfully grown more than I ruin but I'd love this book for future reference. :)

Lindy said...

Please add me to your drawing for " How to Store Your Garden Produce: The key to self-sufficiency".

Lindy Barnes, AZ

Anonymous said...

That looks like a great book. After the dastardly failure of my two lonely tomato plants last year (well, the failure was really mine in forgetting to water them, but the end result was still dead plants) I am determined to raise a successful garden next year! Please add me to your drawing.

Anonymous said...

I've canned and dried, and am ready now for a root cellar. Does the book cover that? Still, it would be a great resource, as I always end up feeding a lot of leftover harvest to the chickens....
Love your blog!
Liz in NoCal

Anonymous said...

growing enough to preserve a lot is my goal for this summer.

Sylvia said...

Produce preservation- practically perfect! Maybe then I'll get all the mystery projects of the kitchen counters... eowyn (at) bigpanda -dot- com

Anonymous said...

Count me in! I manage to keep up with eating the output of my garden for a while each summer...then the beans, tomatoes and squash explode and I'm overwhelmed. And my compost pile gets fed more than it should.

Monice said...

I'm interested, too. I haven't done much canning yet, but its in my plan for this spring.

Kay's Spot said...

Well, learning more about preserving my home-grown food is on my to-do list right now, so this book would come in handy! I'd love to curl up with it this winter ... and then I'd pass it along to another fellow Produce Preserver.

Katie @ makingthishome.com said...

Please enter me. This is a topic I have had so many questions on!
Katie

Kate said...

I would love this, my husband dreams of having a large garden and yet we have trouble caring for the produce we bring home from the store each week!

Anonymous said...

Sign me up! Just dug the garden this fall and need ideas for storage next year. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Sign me up! I already preserve a lot of food, but this year I'm expanding our garden and could use all the help I can get.

Thanks!
KristenM

Anonymous said...

Please count me in on the drawing for this book. Thx!