CROPS That Keep Well

Here in southwest Virginia, my partner and I take pride in growing and storing most of the fruits and vegetables we eat. Knowing where our food comes from gives us confidence in its goodness. Plus, we save about $5,000 a year because of our gardening and food storage efforts. We also enjoy another benefit: the utter convenience of having a self-provisioned home. In early winter when our supplies are plentiful, I feel like I’m living in a well-stocked organic grocery store.

We bring many years of experience to this quest for better eating and greater self-sufficiency, and we’re still learning. Measured by weight, stored garden crops make up more than half of our overall harvest, with every onion and potato just about as fresh as it was the day it was harvested from the garden.

Our mix of storage vegetables and fruits varies from year to year, and we’ve learned that putting by storage crops is something anyone can do — even if your produce comes