Let's take a break from the European Share-A-Thon, shall we. Because while some of us are jet-setting across the globe, others of us are just going about our daily lives barefoot and in the kitchen - like any good man.

Stephen has been growing a garden for three years now. Both our fathers also grow large gardens and share their harvests throughout the growing season. So we've always got a shit ton of fresh produce sitting around waiting to be prepared or preserved by our loving hands. Except we're pretty inefficient when to comes to using fresh produce in a timely manner, meaning our compost is typically overflowing by October.

But this year has been different. We've still tossed a few cucumbers, tomatoes, and zucchinis - but overall we are doing much better. As you might remember, Stephen pickled beets in July. In August he made dill pickles and sauerkraut. I only have pictures of the sauerkraut, although you can catch a glimpse of the pickles in this first picture.



Stephen made sauerkraut last year that wasn't nearly as good as this year's batch. Same thing with the beets. Trial and error. Anyway, our pantry is now on its way to being nicely stocked with homegrown canned goods, just the way it should be!



Also, I would like to point out that I attempted to make fruit leather using this recipe. It came highly recommended but, of course, I botched it. It never really hardened or lost its moisture. But I was off to a good start and at least I tried to use the plums rather than tossing them in the composter. There's something to be said for that, right?