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The Weekly Digs #93 (2020 Year End Totals)

Written byBecky Updated


Earlier this year I shared my Preserving Plan for 2020. It was a list of everything that I wanted to can, dry, grow in the garden, and have in cold storage so that we could make it through winter on our own homegrown vegetables.

I set the bar high, listing off everything I would possibly want in winter and how much I would need. I filled out the chart over the year as I did my preservation. Even though I definitely fell short in some areas (you’ll see a lot of zero’s haha!), I feel like overall I was able to put up more food than ever.

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In fact, laying out all our food needs this way has been incredibly helpful. But one thing I will change for next year is to add an “already have” column. Some gardening years I have an abundance of food and can or dehydrate more than I need. The next year I want to make sure I use up the old stuff so I’ll take the needed number and subtract what I already have.

I try to use up all our canned food within two years as a maximum to maintain quality.  

We still have a ton of food left for the winter but the one area where I feel like I’m falling short is having fresh vegetables from the garden now. Some of that was out of my control, voles came and ate all my winter kale. But even when I still had the kale I was wishing I had more fresh garden food.

Fall/Winter Garden 2020

Next year I will plant more kale, spinach, collards, carrots, cabbages, and also some very hardy lettuce varieties and greens like claytonia and mache. I have a blog post of varieties of plants that are exceptionally cold hardy HERE. 

One last thing I’ve been thinking about is turning my Preserving Plan into a printable chart if there is interest. Would any of you like a preserving plan chart and printable? It will be free and allow you to fill in and set goals for what you want to preserve for 2021. Are there any other columns I should add that would help you? Please comment at the end of this post and let me know. 

***In an effort to make the charts easier to read, I’ve highlighted in yellow what I actually harvested or preserved in 2020. The numbers to the left of that were my goal numbers.

Canning

Total jars of canned food for this year: 285 (110 Quarts, 136 Pints, 39 Half Pints)

Frozen

Total frozen food: Around 75lbs (my best guess, sorry I didn’t use a consistent measurement! I will do that next year so it’s more accurate)

Cold Storage

Total Cold Storage: 799lbs plus 132 bulbs of garlic.

Dehydration

Total quart jars: 42

In Garden during Winter

Fermentation

Total Ferments: 14 quarts

Overall, a great year! These numbers don’t include what we eat the rest of the year when it’s fresh. I don’t think I have enough discipline yet to weigh every fruit or vegetable that comes out of the garden all year! I’d also have to weigh my kids before they go out to the garden and when they come back inside because we eat as we work 🙂 Haha!

I’m excited for the 2021 season. The best part of winter is having enough time to dream what my garden will look like next year and all the plans needed to get there. It’s so fun! You can find some of my past garden planning resources and blog posts HERE.

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8 Comments

  1. I am a young mom like you with a full house of love. We are a homestead of 6yrs on the southeast coast of Texas. We live in a wetlands area and each year have to learn by doing to see what is willing to grow in our marshy area. BUT, this year we were able to grow about 70% of our organic veggies, and about 90% of our meat all of which was pastured, rotated and grassfed!
    To start this journey when it is not the “normal” anymore is challenging. We do not have “Ma & Pa” to help us learn the ropes. Thank you for inspiring me to go to the next step by preserving more of our food for the winter. I did save back some by freezer methods. And we always make our own grown saurkraut, but more fermenting , canning and dehydrating is on the way! May God bless you, Becky, as you inspire others to take charge of their own food and health.

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    1. Oh, and I meant to also add, YES Please make a printable of your growing chart. I think many woman love a visual guide to check off for goal making. -Araka

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    2. Thank you Araka! Congratulations on growing so much of your own food too! That is quite an accomplishment!

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  3. Yes please to the preservation planning chart, that would be so helpful! I can see how beneficial it must have been for you to do this and I am realizing how much better I need to get at setting goals. I always want to improve each year but I don’t create specific goals that would help me stay on track and take the necessary steps so thank you for your inspiration as well. I just recently found your blog/youtube channel and am so glad to find a kindred spirit! I too have been on a similar journey in discovering how we can heal our own bodies through healthy food. Soon after having my second child (8 years ago), a tumor started growing in my abdominal wall and would not stop. I can’t tell you how many doctors and specialists I went to but it is a rare disease and not a lot of information out there. I did a lot of my own research, the tumor grows on estrogen, much like breast cancer. I could tell a difference when I would consume sugar, the tumor would light up and I knew it was growing. It’s crazy how whole nutrition and cutting out sugar isn’t the first recommendation for so many diseases. I became very in tune with my body and what it was telling me. Anyways, I have recovered and living a wonderful life with my family on our piece of heaven in the country. I wish you and your family all the best, I can’t image how excited you must be to be building your new home on your farm, enjoy every moment!

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    1. Wow Wendy. I’m so glad you were able figure out some solutions for your health problems and are doing better. I can relate 🙂 And thank you for your feedback about the planning chart!

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  4. I am impressed! I canned more this year than ever before and your list has given me some ideas. I want to try enchilada sauce (do you make red or green?) and BBQ sauce. Those butternut squash look fantastic. We tried a new spot to grow ours this past year that just didn’t work out and then the raccoons got what did grow. Grrr. I think a list like yours would help us plan what to plant. We are a little slap dash about it. Next year my guy is not allowed to plant 28 tomato plant in our community garden plot. He pretty much used up most of the available space. Aside from canning, I think our neighbors didn’t have to buy tomatoes this past summer. I’m surprised you didn’t list Swiss chard. It’s somewhat cold tolerant. It’s yummy sautéed with some onions and walnuts.

    I noticed I have one quart of canned tomato chunks that seems to have unsealed and resealed. I have to deal with that today. I read on the National Center for Home Food Preservation how to deal with it. Kind of scary. The more I learn about what can go wrong, the more careful I get. The canning group that I belong to on Facebook only promotes tested recipes using safe practices. I’ve learned a lot from them. I appreciate any info you post on canning. This past year was my first pressure canning.

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