As we come to the end of fall, we’re looking at ways to make the year’s harvest last through the winter. Listen to excerpts from interviews with Andy and Bashey Webb, Granny Gibson, Mrs. Algie Norton, Jean Eller, Bessie Underwood, Harriet Echols, and John Freemon. Each individual talks about ways they and their families preserved food, from drying beans into leather britches, fermenting cabbage into sauerkraut, and canning jams or jellies. Grab a copy of our cookbook The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Cookery for recipes and stories, or you can find references scattered throughout the Foxfire books.

Learn more about canning and drying at the National Center for Food Preservation.

Leather britches beans drying in the sun.

Crocks in a spring to keep cool.

Canned food in a root cellar. Note the crocks on the floor.

Read the transcript here.