If I had a backyard, I would keep chickens, I’ve long averred—but having no backyard, and few prospects for one, I decided to pass up “No Yolk!”, the bird-raising workshop on deck for the third and final day of the FamilyFarmed Expo. After two days of industry speak and policy matters, expo organizers tossed the crowds some red meat in form of chef demos (Stephanie Izard headlined) and panels on back-to-the-land-style topics like cheese making and beekeeping.
But I did attend “Yes, We Can!”, a discussion on food preservation, charmingly moderated by Liberty Gardens‘ Vicki Nowicki. (I’m embarrassed to admit that it wasn’t until two hours after the panel ended that I got the pun in the title; I had thought it was just cheekily lefty.) Nowicki said she’s been growing food and storing it at home for about 30 years, and she broke down the four categories of food storage: freezer, cold cellar, canning, and drying. In terms of cellar storage, she said, different foods required different levels of temperature and humidity. Potatoes can be kept in a root cellar, but squash is best stored in your home, where it’s warmer and drier.