Fall Gardening and Harvest: Preserving the Season

There’s something magical about fall on the homestead. The air turns crisp, the leaves paint the landscape with warm colors, and the garden offers up its final gifts of the season. Fall is not just a time of winding down—it’s also a time of preparing, preserving, and planning ahead.

 Tending Your Fall Garden

If you planted cool-weather crops like kale, spinach, carrots, or radishes, now is the time to enjoy them. These vegetables often taste sweeter after the first frost, thanks to natural sugars that develop in the cold. Don’t forget to cover your beds with mulch or row covers to extend the season a little longer.

As you harvest the last of your summer crops, take note of what thrived and what struggled. This will help you plan next year’s garden with even more success. And don’t forget to clean up spent plants and add them to your compost pile—your spring garden will thank you.

 

 Preserving the Harvest

One of the best parts of fall is putting food away for the colder months ahead. Canning, freezing, and dehydrating are all excellent ways to extend the harvest, but canning holds a special place in the fall kitchen. Nothing beats the satisfaction of seeing shelves lined with colorful jars, each one holding a little piece of autumn.

 

Here are a few fall canning recipes to try this season:

 Spiced Apple Butter

Ingredients:

• 6 lbs apples (peeled, cored, sliced)
• 2 cups sugar (adjust to taste)
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp nutmeg
• ½ tsp cloves
• ½ cup apple cider

Instructions:

1. Cook apples with cider until soft, then puree.
2. Add sugar and spices, simmer until thick.
3. Ladle into sterilized jars and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.

 

Pumpkin Butter (for the freezer, not canning)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups pumpkin purée
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ginger
• ½ tsp nutmeg

Instructions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer until thickened.
2. Cool completely, then store in freezer-safe containers.

 

 Tomato Basil Sauce

Ingredients:

 

• 10 lbs tomatoes, peeled and chopped
• 2 onions, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
•  

Instructions:

1. Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil.
2. Add tomatoes and simmer until reduced by half.
3. Stir in basil and salt.
4. Ladle into sterilized jars and process in a water bath canner for 40 minutes.

 

 A Season of Gratitude

As you put up jars of apple butter, sauce, and preserves, take a moment to appreciate the work of the year. Each jar is more than just food—it’s a memory of warm summer days, a reminder of the land’s abundance, and a promise of nourishment through the winter.

 

Fall on the homestead is truly a season of gratitude, hard work, and cozy rewards. With a little preparation and sometime in the kitchen, you can carry the tastes of autumn well into the colder months.