return to the old ways

I can remember as a child watching my Mom slave away in the hot kitchen, "putting up" enough tomatoes for a small army. I often wondered by she did this. I was usually in charge of grabbing the tomatoes out of the ice water, peeling, and placing the tomatoes in jars. I got excited when my Mom got out the Squeezo-Strainer machine. I knew we would be making tomato juice that day. That machine was so cool, separating the tomato pulp, from the juice. I personally never touched the stuff, but my Dad often enjoyed a glass with his morning breakfast.

I can remember the first time I canned without my Mom. I was living in Conway, and Holly Bell and I, both had newborns. Somehow we got it into our heads, that we wanted to make Peach jam. Not sure where we got the notion. I think maybe we had made a trip to Collins Round Mountain Orchard to pick peaches and nectarines. Anyhow, we had no idea what to do, so we got online, researched, and headed off to Kroger to buy jars and a water bath. It was quite comical. We made a huge mess, but at the end of the day, were really happy to see those little jars lined up on the counter. It was such a feeling of accomplishment. It made me think back to a time when you could not go to the store, and just pick something off the shelf. Gardening and canning, was vital to your livelihood. You could not survive the winters if you had not "put up" during the summer months.

I know church leaders behave encouraged us to self-sufficient. I think canning is one of these areas I could improve in. Derek and the kids were able to head to Genola this week and pick some produce from the Ewells Family garden. I was so surprised when they came back with a 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes, a huge bag of fresh green beans, Yukon gold potatoes, and onions, from the garden. This is the first year we haven't had some sort of garden, so I was grateful. I spent a couple of days making a game plan for canning, locating jars, and a water bath. I was able to put up 12 quarts of tomatoes. I already used a quart last night to make Spanish rice. Yum! I'm proud to report, the potatoes have already been eaten(gosh they were good!) and the onions are drying on the back porch. Hopefully next Spring we will get our garden beds cleaned out, and have our own little garden haven :)