[KittiHawk]

Some of my fondest neighborhood memories are of neighbors inviting each other over to pick their fruit trees. My family had some apple and black cherry (this was in Canada) trees; other neighbors had plums or blackberry patches. Sometimes people would even put out a board at the end of the driveway inviting others to come take some fruit so it wouldn't go to waste.

Edit: I think a lot of people have ambitions of canning or some such when they plant their fruit trees, but it's a bit of a lost art now. I don't know anyone who isn't a grandparent that actually knows how to preserve fruit.

[pchristensen]

I taught myself canning this summer. I was surprised how cheap and easy it is to get started.

Basic primer: - you preserve foods by heating them to drive out air, kill bacteria, and activate the adhesive on the lids to seal the jar - high acid foods (salsa, pickles, citrus, many fruits and jams, etc) can be preserved by submerging in boiling water for 10 minutes (or more, based on altitude). This is called "water bath canning" - Low acid foods (meats, veggies, etc) need to be heated to a higher temperature (~245 F) so you need a pressure canner. I have not tried this yet.

Equipment: - a pot, rack (makes dunking/lifting easier), funnel (makes filling jars so much easier), jar lifter (for lifting hot jars out of boiling water). There's a kit here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B002KHN602/ - wide mouth mason jars (about $1/each at Amazon or Wal-Mart)

I did typical nerd internet research, but it all coalesced to http://www.simplycanning.com. Good material, clear instructions, good recipes. She sells a book and ebook, but there's plenty of material on the site to get started.

I've had so much fun doing it that I've made way more than I can use and opened an Etsy store - https://www.etsy.com/shop/seattlesweetness. It's a really satisfying break from all the mental work programming.

[Pfhreak]

I am slowly, year after year, adding space to my fruit/vegetable garden. I've learned to pickle and preserve vegetables and fruits. I've also made cordials, but haven't (yet) tried fermenting the fruits directly.

The problem I run into is that I cannot go through everything I produce. There's only so many jams, chutneys, syrups, cordials, pickles, and canned pears that one can eat. I give away a lot, but it's also sort of a lost culture that gives/receives canned foods.

[lazyasciiart]

It's definitely still around, and probably in a resurgent phase - see places like Serious Eats (http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/02/how-to-can-canning-pickli...). I have several young (~30yo) friends who do it.