The abundance is growing quickly, folks. It’s time to prepare your kitchens for the tsunami of vegetables that’s about to hit.

One of the biggest perks of the Full Diet program is getting to take home extra produce during those big harvest flushes. The idea isn’t just to eat tomatillos for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (although I won’t judge if you do). It’s to preserve the abundance so you can enjoy it long after the season has passed.

Hear me roar: Eating locally doesn’t have to mean eating in a limited fashion. It does however mean that you have to front load your food prep labor (and honestly this works for me, I love nothing more than a lazy winter evening).

Around our house, that usually means trays of blanched broccoli headed for the freezer, bags of sweet peppers, tomato sauce simmering on the stove, salsa on the counter, and whatever else the garden decides to throw at us that week.

Behind the register, I’ve got a clipboard with all of your names and a list of crops we’re hoping to bulk out to each of you this season. When something really starts producing, we’ll ask you once or twice if you’d like to take extra home. If you pass during that window, we can’t promise there will be another big flush later. Farming doesn’t always work that way.

So do yourself a favor and get prepared now. Clear some space in the freezer and find the canning jars you swore you put somewhere safe last fall.

Future you, standing in your kitchen in January, will be very thankful.

Here’s what we think you should have on hand:

• vinegar 5% acidity
• canning salt
• sugar
• pickling spices
• citric acid
• freezer bags (I use quart size bags, I have tried gallons in the past but that is just too big of a bag to keep in my little freezer all the time).
• canning jars with new lids