August is when all the hard work in your veggie garden starts to pay off. GPL has resources for you to manage the bounty! We have books on growing, harvesting, cooking, preserving, and seed collection.
Personally, my favorite way of preserving food is the freezer method. Freeze Fresh by Crystal Schmidt is excellent. Besides being loaded with surprisingly gorgeous, artful photos of frozen food, it is jam packed with techniques for preparing food for freezing; delicious recipes that freeze especially well; and recipes that use your frozen produce. Did you know you can make pickles in the freezer or freeze lettuce to use in smoothies? How about a recipe for Raspberry Cheesecake Brownies using your own frozen raspberries?
For more freezing advice, check out blogger, author, and New York Times columnist Margaret Roach’s how-to on freezing fresh parsley, chives, and other herbs.
Of course, there are many other preservations methods, including canning, pickling, and dehydrating. See the list below. Our magazine collection, too, has several titles on gardening in print and online in Libby and Flipster.
If you’re still overwhelmed with abundance from your garden, the Northfield Township Food Pantry will accept donations of fresh produce at their 2550 Waukegan Road location when they are open.
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