Hi all,

One of the cool things that I learned early on was how to can the produce that I grew. I can’t really tell you why I was interested, but in high school I made an offhand comment to a friend’s mother that I would like to learn how to can. She responded by teaching me

It is actually a very easy project to ‘put up’ that which we grow. There was a second benefit for me in that instance – I began learning about the community building process, which is reflected in my life today. In this week’s article, I reflect back on the difference Community Preservation has made.

I have also been busy at work writing several books and an email series on living green. I would be grateful if you would check them out. The first two titles have already been released, with more on the way! Check out “My Ordinary Extraordinary Yard / Fowl Play Book COMBO“. I field a lot of questions about where I live, how the gardens work, how water is managed and how to live more green lifestyle. My Extraordinary Yard answers these questions and more, in a short 28 page read. “Fowl Play” is about chickens. If you’ve ever thought about raising chickens (I do for eggs), know someone who does, or have run into the odd hurdle, than this book is for you! 2 books for a great price. Read more about this offer.

Don’t foget aobut my awesome RePEaT Bamboo Utensil Set & Holder deal. These sets are perfect for your lunch-on-the-go and make uniquely great gifts, too. Find out more here!

Have a great green day!

Greg

Technorati Tags: canning, food, preservation, preserves, Preserving food

My friend Blogger Dave who religiously manages the content of my blog has been after me to let you all know what I do every day on The Urban Farm.  Well I work at YourGuideToGreen.com full time and only get small snippets of time to actually play in the yard.  Most of my yard time these days revolves around picking some wild growing veggis in my yard and feeding the chickens.  That said as I come across interesting tasks I will share them.  woohoo.

So my problem today is that I have an uber abundance of broccoli.  A few months ago my girlfriend Parri said I LOVE broccoli – well that was all I needed and I went overboard in my ‘Greg” fashion and planted, and planted, and planted.  So now we are reaping the rewards AND we can’t eat it fast enough.

So yesterday I did a google search and found the steps to preserving my bodacious broccoli bounty.  It is quite easy.  

1.  Harvest always the fun part.  I cut the broccoli a fair bit down the stem as the stem is great to eat, but I leave the plant in the ground as it will produce more florets.

2.  As my garden is organic we have a few bugs and I really don’t want to find them on my plate.  So search the florets for any freeloaders.  One site suggested that the broccoli be soaked in a salt brine.

3.  Cut it into bite size pieces.

4.  Lightly steam it.  Suggested 3 to 5 minutes – apparently it helps it last longer in the freezer.

5.  Then I spread the chopped broccoli on a cookie sheet and froze it.  The cookie sheet allows the florets to be frozen individually and not in clumps.  THIS lets me freeze them in gallon olive jars that I have collected from the local pizza joint so I don’t have to freeze them in plastic.

6.  Then when I am ready to eat – I pour just the right amount of broccoli into the steamer.

In the past I have also used this freezing process quite successfully with peaches.

I’ll keep you posted on the taste.

Farmer Greg

Technorati Tags: broccoli, David Spade, Preserving food, winter crops