Canning

first pickings from our garden~ and purple beans!

Canning reminds me first of my grandma.  She canned beans, peaches, pears and tomatoes.  Maybe more, but that is what I remember.  My mom used to take us out to grandma and grandpa's house when it was bean-picking time.  They had a huge garden, and there was always extra for anyone who wanted some.  I don't remember the picking part of it.  I must have played with my cousins while my aunts and mom and grandma picked-- but I do remember sitting with bags full of beans in my grandma's yard, down on the grass near that big old apple tree, snipping the ends off of those beans, or snapping them in halves or in thirds.  I remember that part.  I remember the chatter of my grandma and mom and all of us working together toward a common goal. 

my wonderful helpers!

In later years I remember our home: the laundry room full of ripening fruit; all laid out carefully on newspaper on the floor.  I remember our kitchen all a bustle as my mom canned the same things her mother had canned.  I remember how excited she would get-- we would all get-- when those jars sealed.  

So it's tradition, why I do what I do.  It's why we have a garden and it's why we preserve.   And I've come to appreciate it so much.  It is truly satisfying to plant a garden from seed, tend it and watch it grow, and then harvest it and eat from that garden throughout the year.  We nowhere near put up enough food to last us through the fall and winter months.  Maybe someday, but for the time being that's not our goal.  But it is important to me to keep that tradition of my mom and my grandma, to be good stewards of the land God has given to us- even in our own back yard, to teach my children to garden and preserve food, and to take advantage of the opportunity to work alongside one another toward a common goal.

the beans we canned last night- Mark and I sat in the kitchen and waited until we heard the last jar seal