Ken and I raised chickens and pork. Now I just have a very few chickens for eggs. We had a freezer for produce like strawberries and green beans and two smaller ones for meat in the fall when we had chickens, pork, and sometimes venison or beef.
When Ken died I realized one person – the less active at that – would not need all this food. And if I went through it gradually it would be old before I got to the bottom of the freezers. So, since I like to cook I cooked for two farm families over the summer when work hours are long and time and energy to cook are in short supply. Imagine what fun to arrive with a meal and be greeted by friendly and grateful people just when it was so hard to be with people – and when I really needed to be with people.
Now I have one freezer empty and am working to consolidate into the one freezer. Friends are helping me move empty freezers (one is dead; Ken planned to store clay in it). I will have an electric off peak heat storage unit installed in that space. It is an electric element in ceramic storage with a thermostat and fan. The element is heated during off peak hours and when the thermostat indicates the temperature has dropped the fan comes on to move the heat as needed. It will be my back up.
