I am proud to come from a long line of pioneer women. Canning, butchering, gardening, sewing and
caring for livestock was their day to day way of life. Nowadays, with everything available at the
click of a button or at a store near our home, our lives have changed. Of course that’s not all bad – goodness, I’m
sure the coming of store-bought sliced bread was like heaven to our overworked
grandmothers.
My interest in my ancestors began several years ago when I
started researching my family tree, which led me to thinking about their
lives. I wanted to learn how to do what
they did.
My mother always had a huge garden and a canning shelf
filled with good food. My father talks
of growing up in the thirties, eating their own canned food, eggs, butter, and home
baked bread, along with a lot of wild game and fish. I think it is fascinating that his mother
stored meat in a crock. She covered it
with grease and stored it in the root cellar.
Can you imagine no electricity?
No refrigeration other than the ice chunks cut out of the river? Cooking on a wood stove? Scrubbing laundry in a tub?
Gardening and canning were my first adventures. Gardening and I took right off – I can’t help
it, it’s in my gene pool. Canning was a
bit sketchier. My first canning attempt
was grape jelly. Easy, right? I think I called my mom about a hundred hand
wringing times. Her advice was to get
the Ball Blue Book – READ IT and follow it, along with additional motherly wisdom
on the importance of cleanliness and following directions (great advice for any
beginning canner). One day I finally
jumped in. Let’s just say it wasn’t a
complete success - in fact I threw my little batch away because I was too
afraid to kill my husband and myself in the trying of it. Oy! Knowing what I know now, I am sure that jelly
was just fine but so it goes. Come to
think of it, I also threw out my first batch of canned tomatoes because they
didn’t look pretty enough so I thought there was something wrong with them;
wrong again. Anyway, now I am much more
comfortable canning. The more you try
the easier it is and the more confidence you will gain. Promise.
A few canning facts.
Did you know that processing times vary for different altitudes? You shouldn’t store your home canned goods
with the band on, otherwise you might not realize you have a bad seal. The best way to open a home canned jar
according to my mother- in-law is by placing your thumb on the top and using a
butter knife to life the lid. If you ask
my mother, the best way is a church key can opener. Whatever method you use just don’t go
chipping your jar, but if you do, do not use it to process in future because it
won’t form a seal.
Even though I live in the city, I decided I wanted chickens. My husband wisely put up with me and built my
wonderful chicken house in our back yard.
I know a great many people think of their chickens as pets. I am one of those chicken lovers. I don’t raise my chickens to butcher, but
rather for their eggs. I am, however,
pragmatic. I know chickens are for food
as well as for eggs and for cute. My
great-grandmother could wield a chicken killing ax like no other and I am
determined to master that skill. While
ax swinging itself isn’t for me, a steady hand and a sharp knife work just as
well. My mom tells me she always
preferred letting her chickens die of old age.
I tend to be on her side, kinda.
I suspect that our grandmothers would roll over in their
graves to think that anyone would want to go back to the hard work and drudgery
they endured every single day. I am not
advocating giving up my very nice life with a Safeway just down the road. However, I love learning to do what they
did. I have a very great respect for
them. Thank you, ladies.
