Early June is planting season here in Vermont, and it’s a tough time to leave home. Not just because there’s so much to do in the garden, but because it’s absolutely magical this time of year. I swear those scenes in Sleeping Beauty, where she’s dancing and singing with woodland creatures, must have been inspired by early June in Vermont. I’m surrounded by birdsong from dawn till dusk.
That said, I did have to travel this past week, and to my surprise, it was wonderful in its own way.
What’s in season this time of year here in the North country.
I spent the week at the Master Food Preserver training run by Cornell, and it was such a joy to connect with people who are just as passionate about food preservation as I am. Usually when I tell someone I write about canning for a living, I get a polite smile—like it’s cute and quaint. But these lovely ladies told me I’m living the dream. I found my people!
The training follows a “train the trainer” format, with the goal of preparing participants to educate the public about canning, fermenting, dehydrating, and more.
They packed a lot into just a few days. As a group, we water bath and pressure canned over a dozen recipes, plus ran dehydrator batches and even started a few ferments for good measure. We learned how to test pressure canner gauges and worked with all sorts of equipment I’d never seen before—including some canners I didn’t even know existed.
It was an absolute blast—a week spent tinkering in the kitchen with my new canning besties—and I’ve come home full of inspiration for more creative recipes to share with you.
I’ll be writing more about the experience over in my other newsletter, Creative Canning, in the next week or two. If you're curious about the training, be sure you’re subscribed to that one too!
For now though, here’s what my world in Vermont looks like as spring transitions to early summer:
Bumblebees on blackberry flowers. Most things flower in late May, when the weather is sometimes questionable for bee flight, due to both late frosts and rain. Poor May weather means our cherries didn’t get pollinated, but more patient crops like blackberries that flower later will be covered with fruit. This year, I bet we’ll be picking these by the bucket load.
Nutsedge nuts. Sedge is a “weed” in many lawns, especially in areas that get a lot of rain (as we do). It looks like grass, but the blades are triangular, and they sprout up in both lawns and garden beds. There are hundreds of species, all of which produce starchy little “nuts” underground. It’s almost impossible to eradicate them, if you want to, but they’re a great food source for wildlife, and both deer and squirrels will dig them up in a rich patch. Some species are choice edible for humans, and they’re even sold under the name “tiger nuts” in health food stores. At this point, there’s not that much research into the edibility of each and every species, and I’m trying to get more information about the edibility of the species that grow on our land. Some online sources say they’re “All Edible” but I’m savvy enough to know you can’t believe everything you casually read on the internet. I’m trying to dig up better sources, stay tuned.
My master food preserver training was down by the coast, so I brought back some fresh fish for dinner when I got home. This is my grandpa’s beer battered fish and chips recipe, fried in tallow ‘cause that’s how we roll. Believer it or not, those fries are “canned french fries” or raw pack canned potatoes cut into french fry shapes. You pour them out of the jar, give them a quick rinse and then fry. They come out beautiful and golden, perfect for a quick dinner…even after a 6 hour road trip back from your class.
Ingredients for four different chicken canning recipes that I’m working on writing up for y’all. Two that I’m testing from Ball canning (Chicken and Gravy Meal in a Jar and Chicken Curry) along with two of my own (Chicken Marsala and Buffalo Chicken).
Canning up the first batches in our outdoor canning kitchen this summer, and this time it’s a huge batch of pork shoulder for pulled pork. It comes out so tender from the pressure canner, and then I have ready to heat and eat meat for BBQ pulled pork sandwiches all summer long, plus seasoned burrito meat and more. Normally I do all my bulk meat canning in the late Autumn and early winter, when the house can use the extra warmth from the canner and the meat is freshly harvested. This year, we had way too much going on all winter and I didn’t get to it, so here I am pressure canning in the beautiful sunshine. Our pup is excited that I’m putting up something other than jam in what is definitely his domain, and he’s hoping that bowl might slip. Fat chance little guy, that’s more pork than you can handle, but there’s a piece or two with your name on it anyway.
We’ve had a number of pretty intense spring storms already this year, and where branches and whole trees come down. Normally I only harvest Usnea (medicinal lichen) in winter, when the snow knocks it off tree tops, but this year the season’s been extended and I’m not complaining. Usnea tincture is one of the most effective herbal remedies I’ve used to date, and it’s excellent for treating sore throat and respiratory issues and as a topical antimicrobial. I’m using the extra harvest to make a Usnea salve for cuts and scrapes, which I’ll share with you on the blog soon.
I was trying to take a picture of a new tincture we’re making this year with Dryad’s Saddle (aka Pheasant Back) mushrooms, but my cat had other plans for my attention and hopped right in for a kitty photo bomb. That’s ok, he’s cuter than a mushroom tincture anyway.
While Cornell doesn’t publish their Master Food Preserver textbook, Washington State University Extension does. They’ll mail you a flash drive with the whole textbook for about $30. (It’s embedded in this card, you can pull it out on the left, kinda nifty). It’s a nice thing to have if you’re a food preservation nerd like me, and you really want to dig into the science of why and how different techniques work.
What are you working on, harvesting, or just plain excited about at the cusp of summer? Leave me a note in the comments!
Wonderful post - those pet photos! Quick correction: Washington State University (WSU) is not the University of Washington. WSU is where our Extension programs reside.
Hi, how is that 2nd newsletter different from this one? Will you be covering the same information in both? Thank-you so much for this newsletter as I have found so many ideas, some I had forgotten and some new! Thanks!
Wonderful post - those pet photos! Quick correction: Washington State University (WSU) is not the University of Washington. WSU is where our Extension programs reside.
Hi, how is that 2nd newsletter different from this one? Will you be covering the same information in both? Thank-you so much for this newsletter as I have found so many ideas, some I had forgotten and some new! Thanks!