Simpler Living
By Fiona Wagner • Bankrate.com

Sounds simple, right? According to the latest issue of the Canadian Organic Growers' magazine, simple doesn't mean easy. Things gets tricky once you recognize that different crops require different environments such as cool and dry (onions and garlic), cold and very moist (carrots, beets and leeks) or warm and dry (winter squash and sweet potatoes.)

I've learned there are many dos and don'ts when it comes to root cellaring. For example, potatoes and apples do not make good bedfellows (during ripening, apples release ethylene gas, which can cause potatoes to start sprouting -- who knew?), and carrots are best stored layered with peat, sand or moss to prevent any touching.

But as I rework a corner of our cellar, I'm discovering a little patience and creative experimentation can go a long way in making a space that our purple potatoes, beets, apples and carrots will call their winter haven.

Dehydrating
Putting up food by drying is perhaps the oldest and easiest method of preserving the harvest. While you can use the sun or an oven on a low temperature, when we're not simply hanging foods such as herbs, onions or garlic in a warm place, we're partial to our dehydrator that is equipped with stackable trays. It allows for consistent drying conditions and is the only energy-intensive part of the process, as dried foods can be stored on the pantry shelf.

Theoretically, anything can be dried, but the caveat is that the texture and flavour of many foods are often significantly changed by the process. For example, drying makes apples become quite chewy and gives tomatoes an incredibly rich, intense flavour.

Dried foods are incredibly versatile and can be eaten straight, packed in olive oil, made into fruit leathers and reconstituted into soups and stews. Our biggest challenge isn't in the process itself but in keeping our kids out of the pantry.

Freezing
While Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the "Little House" books, wouldn't have considered it one of her winter preparation activities, freezing is a fast and easy way to preserve food while maintaining its colour, flavour, texture and nutrients.

We've found that most produce can be frozen whole, though salad greens, cucumbers, peppers and green onions lose their crispness, potatoes become mushy and whole tomatoes become limp (which only means you can't make toasted tomatoes sandwiches with them, but they're fine for cooking with).

Unlike canning, which sterilizes foods by destroying microbial activity, freezing merely slows it down, so foods must be prepared and packaged properly (this is when a good how-to book comes in handy.)

This year, we froze whole fruits (strawberries, rhubarb, blueberries and peaches -- the ones we managed to get away from our kids, at least), beans, corn, peas and squash, as well as various sauces, soups and baked goods.

It's quite timely that during our winter food preparations, my kids and I have been reading Ingalls Wilder's "Little House in the Big Woods." In it, there is a memorable passage about how the attic, filled with red peppers, onions, pumpkins, bunches of dried herbs and smoked meats, made for a lovely place to play.

She writes, "Often the wind howled outside with a cold and lonesome sound. But in the attic, Laura and Mary played, and everything was snug and cozy."

Here on our homestead, I'm secure in knowing that when the snow comes and the wind howls, we'll have our own modern-day lovely places -- the cellar, the freezer, the pantry -- filled with the fruits of our garden, full of sunshiney, delicious goodness.

Fiona Wagner is a freelance writer living in Hastings County, Ont.