What do we do in the intense cold that we have experienced this week?  Make soup with all of the good vegetables that you grew in your garden last summer?  Just think of the good things that you grew.  First, you had the potatoes.  Digging them in the hot weather was awful, getting the dirt under your fingernails and having to put lime on them for storage. 

 

Now let’s get into the next thing.  Onions that you planted in the early spring.  When you dig them up you can freeze them.  Cut them up and package them up for soups, meatloaf, and dressing.  Tomatoes and bell peppers from the garden are great for that soup, spaghetti, or even for Super Bowl dips and snacks.  Let’s don’t forget the okra for the gumbo.  And yes, its not fun to harvest.  

 

A garden is a wonderful teaching tool.  Learning to cook with the bounty of the garden is also a teaching moment.  You don’t have to get everything from the grocery store.  Kids need to start learning the basics of farm to table when they are young.

 

People are learning and using the canning method of preserving food again.  I’ve talked to folks about even canning meat again.  That is an absolute hard job but it lasts forever.  My dear friend, Lauren Rocket, worked with me in learning how to can beans and salsa.  I had done that as a 4-Her back in the day, but the refresher course was great.  Basically I’m still a freezer girl.  Let’s don’t forget about Aunt Bee’s pickles, I have given her a run for her money with my pickles.  I have mastered the sweet but not the dill pickles.  By the way, pickles would go great with the sandwich you have with your soup.  

 

This is just another way to teach the farm to table.  Spend time teaching the kids.  They will thank you for it later.

(Mitzi Thomas owns Minden Farm & Garden LLC. Watch for her column on Fridays in Webster Parish Journal.)