Abundance

I just harvested my onions and I'm about to go for the garlic. Those are no problem, they keep. But I'm also harvesting peaches, pears, tomatoes and zucchini. They come in mass quantities so you have to do something.

It used to be that every household (or I should say the women) knew how to do home canning, pickling and preserving; make fruit pies and zucchini bread; and jams and preserves. The Italians would dry their tomatoes -- traditionally marinara sauce was made with dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil and dried basil. You can also use red wine and oregano. Anyway, point is, it's all preserved, which is why sailors could make it, hence the name.

Now I'm going to have to can some tomatoes and make a peach crumble. Should actually be fun. Last winter my canned tomato sauce and onions lasted until February. In the old days, the farmers around here  would have a root cellar where they'd keep carrots and winter squash and whatnot to get through the winter.

Think about it next time you go to the supermarket and buy fresh produce in January. And think about what you might do if that becomes impossible.