August is make-or-break month for homegrown winter meals. We're up to 16 gallons of frozen vegetables, 75% of the way to quota.

Meanwhile, storage vegetables are starting to get packed away as well. I sorted the garlic to ensure we eat problematic bulbs first, and soon the onions will follow suit. By the end of the month, we'll refill the curing racks with butternut squash and sweet potatoes and those will then join their friends in a kitchen cupboard.

Of course, the real reason August is so important for winter dining is leafy greens. This is the month to plant your kale and mustard for fresh, delicious meals during the cold season. If I was only going to plan on one type of homegrown food for winter dining, in fact, fall-planted kale would be it. So if you're looking for the low-hanging fruit, I recommend you find some seeds and make a little patch of leafy greens today.

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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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