Creative entrepreneurship, homegrown produce, the art of food preservation ~ these are my responses to pandemic.

Like so many people in these surreal, strange days of Covid, I’ve had to become expansive in scope of employment. Combining freelance journalism and our family farm has created blessing upon blessing.

Looking at our assets when regular employment was cut short at quarantine, I saw abundant old fruit trees, sprawling grape vines, massive gardening space and a full pantry of preserves.

For the first time, this summer I decided to sell some of what we’ve grown all out—enough for us but for all our friends too. A successful harvest table selling produce and preserves from our yard was the lovely result.

I believe in bartering for all we can, utilizing resources to eliminate overhead costs, and that’s just what we’ve done.

The kindness and good faith of neighbors and friends, resting on years of building community, goes a long way towards creating a small homegrown business.

The examples of this generosity of others abound. They include fruit offered that would have been wasted in friends’ orchards, canning jars that sat dormant in pantries, even canning labels, paint and sign board sitting in a friend’s garage.

The total expenditure for the harvest table in entirety has been some new canning lids, pectin for jams and sugar. Seeds and seedlings? Other’s extras. Fertilizer?  Chicken manure from a friend. The gifts of trade and goodwill make our garden grow!

Another blessing is all the marvelous people I’ve been able to meet who otherwise would have been unknown. Neighbors and friends come to purchase, and new faces with new recipes and culinary conversations are unexpected fun.

There’s over six feet between my chair at the table and visitors under the cherry tree. And the fresh food inspires us, talking about pickling, drying and canning, growing and cooking what we love. My favorite foodie conversation this week came from a woman looking for a flat of green tomatoes—to make her green tomato pie.  Just hearing her recipe, how no one wants to try it, but everyone loves it, zests up the day, and I think I’ll be making green tomato pie before harvest is through.