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Contributing to Future Food Preservation

Within minutes to the end of a workday, my energy was waning when the phone rang and the caller ID said Denver, Colorado. The person asked for me by name and then shared some lovely news. She was so tickled by the idea of our Canning Jar Drive, she went online, ordered new jars, and had them delivered directly to the Extension Learning Farm! She has family in the North Country and they love participating in Extension programming. I was touched by her generosity and after chatting for a few minutes, I set the phone down.

Two minutes later, the phone rang again. It was an elderly gentleman in Chase Mills. He said he and his wife had canned and preserved food for decades and now they were ready to pass on the supplies to others to carry on the tradition. He planned to drop off the canning supplies when he was next in Canton for an appointment.

These calls happened within minutes and energized me! They are fabulous examples of the thoughtfulness and care in our community, and showcase creative ways to participate in this brand new activity at Cornell Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County.

Just like these generous callers, you too can support the preservation programming offered by our Extension educators and Master Food Preserver volunteers by participating in the Canning Jar Drive. Our preservation workshops are hands-on and offered in a sliding scale format where participants can choose how much to pay $10-40. Your donations will offset the costs of programming while also helping your fellow community members gain the supplies and skills to preserve foods.

How to participate in 4 easy steps

1. New or used jars welcome. Collect canning jars from your storage areas or friends and family. If you’d like to support our programming but have no jars, simply purchase a case to donate.  Make sure the jars are intended for canning, such as Ball, Kerr, Bernardin, etc. All sizes welcome.

canning jars

2. Drive jars to the donation site, the Extension Learning Farm in Canton. Donations are accepted anytime Monday through Friday 9am-3pm throughout the month of April.

If you want to order online and have them delivered here as in our kind caller, send to Harvest Kitchen 2043B State Highway, NY 13617.

enatrance to Learning Farm

3. Deposit jars in the shed. The shed is on the right side of the driveway when pulling into the farm so it’s easy to move jars into this covered location. Read more Contributing to Future Food Preservation

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Adventures in Dehydrating, Part 1

Throughout my years of researching and studying food preservation methods—canning, freezing, pickling—I was always lured by dehydrating. I envisioned my pantry shelves filled with jars of efficient, shrunken vegetables just waiting to be resurrected. And seeing photos of stacked trays, all loaded with Martha-Stewart-neat rows of bright fruits and vegetables? Absolutely. And in reality? That IS the reality!

In the first of this two-part blog, I will share my experience in buying a dehydrator; in part two, I will talk about the dehydrating process.

Carrots in dehydrator
A batch of carrots is ready to be dehydrated.

The most important features to me were ease of use, size of the unit, and noise. Both price and capacity were somewhat secondary. Your prioritization of these characteristics may be completely different.

I was convinced from the start that I would buy a top-of-the-line Excalibur dehydrator. I usually buy the best tool I can afford because I don’t want a substandard tool to interfere with my ability to do a job. The more I researched, the more I realized that I probably did not need such a large dehydrator, and it turns out I was right.

Cosori dehydrator
This six-tray Cosori dehydrator meets my needs perfectly.

Before I bought one, I spent many hours researching dehydrators. I mostly read articles about what to look for in a dehydrator. I recommend you do the same to figure out what you want/prefer. For example, dehydrators come in different shapes and configurations: Basically, they are either rectangular and look kind of like a microwave with multiple shelves, or they are comprised of a stack of round trays. Most of the round ones have plastic trays but I wanted sturdy stainless-steel trays. Plus, I just didn’t like the round shape—hardly a scientific justification. Read more Adventures in Dehydrating, Part 1