The crop of lemons is coming in. One large glass jar is sufficient to hold a years supply of preserved fresh lemons for cooking. You simply quarter a lemon lengthwise and stuff inside the jar with a pinch of salt. The salt will draw out the lemon juice which will preserve the lemons.

Lemon Cucumbers are ripe in the garden, always all at once, time to pickle them for the year. They are fresh tasting, have a slight citrus flavor, and are delicious when pickled in vinegar, sugar, dill weed and garlic.They stay crisp year round with this pickling method and don’t need refrigeration. We boil the brine, boil the cucumbers, then boil the filled jar in a water bath to sterilize. To keep them crisp, we soak them first overnight in salted ice water. They are the size of tomatoes, so we slice them horizontally to use on hamburgers, in salads, and as a side dish. The seeds are crunchy and flavorful, do not remove. This recipe is for one half gallon mason jar. We use 4 half gallon jars a year.

Lemon curd is made with fresh eggs, fresh lemons and ghee made from unsalted butter, and fresh agave nectar as sugar substitute. It can be kept for a year in the freezer, till the next lemon harvest.We make it in small jars, 1 cup size. Once opened, it stays fresh in the fridge for 2 weeks if using butter, 4 weeks if using ghee, therefore the small jars.

When garden spices, seeds and herbs ripen, we pick and hang them to dry. Keep them dried in a small plastic bag with a label and year. Combine them into pickling spices and other spice mixes when the last ones are ready, usually the red peppers. We purchase some spices, mix them together to use till next harvest.

Time to pickle! We use pint jars. Other than the spices for each vegetable, the method for preserving our farm veggies is identical for all of them. They stay sweet and sour, fresh, crispy, and are tasty for nine months. Once opened, they stay fresh in the fridge for 6 more weeks. All I do is write the year on the cap and put them in the pantry. There are two methods, Dutch and American.

We grow Meyer lemons: they are big, juicy, tasty and frost resistant. They are ripe in February. Here is how we preserve and use them till next year’s harvest. All parts of the lemon are used: zest, peel, flesh, juice. 70 meyer lemons cover us for a year, they weigh over half a pound each. The potted tree produces between 50 and a 100.

These are Italian red peppers, also called Carmen peppers, or “bullshorn” peppers. They are as long as my hand, look like a bulls horn. Mild peppers, kids love to snack on them fresh or pickled. Great on salads and in soups. Stays crunchy till next harvest when pickled.

Pickling fresh English or California Cucumbers keeps them firm and tasty all year in jars with this mild sweet and sour pickling recipe, a family heirloom.

Our chickens are laying lots of eggs this time of year, but in another month, they stop laying till days get longer again. We coat their egg shells with soy bean oil so they stay fresh one more month, but then have to wait for eggs till hens start laying again.You dont have to wait. You can pickle eggs in the shell without peeling. See recipe below.Pickled eggs bridge the eggless winter period and are great in winter salads. They stay fresh for two months. The red beet colored eggs brighten salads, the yellow eggs spice up curries, the brown soy sauce eggs complement asian dishes.#GlobalApron

We leave ten grape leaves on top of the grape clusters on the vines to provide protection against sunburn and then remove the side shoots. These are the most tender leaves, not as big but delicious. We pickle them in twenty four packs. Twelve stuffed grape leaves make a meal for one.

When the winter carrots are at their juiciest, we pickle them for use throughout the year till the next harvest. Here is the family recipe.

Our favorite mushroom pickling is spring mushrooms in taragon with fennel herb vinegar and then preserving in lemon grass oil. They taste delicious all year with cheese and crackers, and avocado sandwiches. This recipe explains how we make this herbal vinegar and lemon grass oil at home. Takes one hour. The vinegar and oil stay beautiful all year if you keep them in green glass bottles in the dark.Mushrooms are sprouting six weeks after the first winter rains. You pick them in the woods, grow them in the window or buy them in the store. To grow them at home, see my mushroom growing kit recipes in here.