'Putting Up'

If you start producing your own food or (buying in bulk) you will quickly find that much of your effort will have to be dedicated to 'putting up' the harvest.   You have to be able to save your bounty for later use.  Otherwise in August you will quickly get sick of shoving zucchinis down your gullet or trying to eat as many raspberries in one sitting as you can.   Humans aren't made to pack on calories and then hibernate like bears.  We have to have something to eat over the winter.
So what to do?  You can save your harvest in little bits and pieces, freezing excess fruit and vegetables as you go along.   I do it that way myself because I don't have huge amounts of produce ripening all at once in my little garden patch.  I cut up veggies in interesting ways that I can cook with later.  I blanch them quickly in boiling water then follow with a plunge in ice water to stop the cooking.   I then drain and pat dry the produce, spread them on cookie sheets to freeze, than package them as loose, independent pieces.
I like to fire roast anything I can find to 'put up'.   Might as well if you have the grill going anyhow.  Here in NM its a fall ritual to roast a bushel of green chile for storage in the freezer.   (more on that later!)

You can use zip lock baggies or -as I prefer -clear plastic containers that I get in large packages from a restaurant supply store.    Freezer storage can be vulnerable with power outs and the possibility of appliance failure.  (I lost almost an entire side of beef that way once)
Once freezer space runs out you can learn to jar and pickle if you have a large enough batch of produce to warrant that effort.  You can smoke meat or fish over open fires, stick duck legs in buckets of fat as a preservation method, stash potatoes in root cellars, etc. etc.  (not that I've done any of those things personally!) You can also dehydrate what you want to preserve on the dashboard of your car while you go hiking.  (That's more my speed)  You get the idea.

 Drying plum tomatoes as seen at a recent trail head in the Sandia Mountains.  Industrious!

So - what do do with all my garden herbs?   I have a 'as-seen-on-TV' dehydrator that I bought a million years ago.  It's small but has multiple trays and seems to do the trick.  You can also bundle the herbs and place in a paper bag to dry.   I've been told to never,ever use your oven to dry herbs.   Even on a low heat you would basically be cooking the plants and thus would loose a lot of their oils, flavor and color.

In my little garden I have plenty of sage, parsley, tarragon, fennel, mint, basil and chives.   The all get pulled off the heavy stems, placed on separate trays, dried in the dehydrator then closed up in jars for future use.   Dried herbs should last on the shelf for one year.   Just in time for next year's harvest!