If you haven’t heard of Shannon Hayes yet…. she is one of my idols. I first knew of her when she wrote her first book- The Grassfed Gourmet. I loved her from the start because that book saved me and our meats. I learned so much from that book and I own all her cookbooks, I’ve even sold or gifted some to our customers.
Look her up. Shannon Hayes, Sap Bush Hollow Farm
She also has a blog and podcast (in case you don’t want to read the blog or like me like something good to listen too as I work.
i was listing to her latest as I was cleaning out our freezers. You would think that now because we no longer sell at the farmer market and don’t store much frozen meat to sell that I wouldn’t have a freezer problem. I have 3 large chest freezers running. Well yesterday I emptied 1 out and have 1 more to organize and defrost.
I had to stop and replay some parts because I was seeing similar in my freezer and it's a bit much! I have blue berries, strawberries and cherries from 3-4 years ago, they are still good right? Then it becomes the question of why are they still there and will I use them soon. The answer was no. Out the went to the bin going to the pigs or compost pile. Really I kept 2 bags of blueberries just because I can't waste them all............ then the 2 packs of spare ribs with broken seals and crust of freezer burn, yeah no saving them. Wait there is a bag of raw lard with skin on? Should I keep it? Well I do have 30 quarts of rendered lard already in the freezer for soap making and cooking so yeah that needs to go too.
We froze way too much corn with 15 bags still left and we are in the middle of our corn season, 7 bags of green beans- not too bad but the pigs do like them so they can leave. Wait I'll put some in the cottage pies I'm making tonight. So there I don't feel so wasteful.
Then why on earth do I have have 16 bags of shredded zucchini still? oh boy do I have an addiction to filling the freezer. We eat from it daily but whoa I was out of control last year. I still have 1 more freezer to go, see I have a freezer problem. I know it has lots of chickens and a few turkeys plus butter and.......... but there is a lot of stuff I never should have put in there.
I do have a good stash of butter- kind of need it with the baking I’m doing, Jugs full of rolled oats to keep them fresh longer, 30+ quarts of rendered lard, 7 pounds of blocks of rendered tallow- I need to make more soap! But then it’s tomato season and I really need to concentrate on that and corn and the farmstand and getting some garden beds tarped to kill weeds for next year, then then then then………..
I’m going to put off the last freezer organizing and get my hands dirty outside for a bit. carrots need to be out of the ground then more letttuce harvested…. It’s never ending in August.
I also need to think carefully what I freeze for this winter and be realistic on how much we. will eat of it. I don’t buy much vegetables or fruit from the store all year round. there is some time in Mid May to Mid June when I crave a fresh pepper and tomatoes and cucumbers right before ours are ready, I give in and get some, notice the taste is blah and then really savor the fresh from our land.
I freeze way too much and can a lot too. But I seem to have the canning stuff under control and what is canned is what we will use up in a year. Maybe that’s under more control because it’s more work so I think it over better? It’s so easy to just plop it in a bag and toss in the freezer. Oh and I now have a vacuum sealer so look out I may be sliding back into the freezer food hoarding problem. At least the pigs are getting more treats right?