I passed this yesterday...had someone coming behind me so didn't want to stop. The next place I intersection I came to, I turned around and came back to get a couple shots.*******************
I haven't did much of anything today...a little bit of regular cleaning....fixed burgers on the grill. Oh, I did a load of laundry and hung it on the line. I did spread some fertilize on the garden and Roger tilled it. I need to get out and get tomato plants. I just finished my last jar of juice and sure hope I have some good tomatoes this year.
We also need to raise plenty of bell peppers; we have used almost all we had frozen. Other than that, I want to try raising some horticulture beans again. Last year I did not get them out till late in the season and they did not do much. I think the first two year we were married plus one later on is the only years we have not at least raised tomatoes. There is nothing like homegrown tomatoes.
I don't remember quite how it happened, but when we were first married, we both worked at the same factory on the same shift...but for some reason here Roger came in from work and had a paper sack that had 8 or 10 tomatoes in it. They were small to medium sized...I think someone had sent them to me, knowing I would like them. I sat and ate every single one of them.
When we were kids, I can remember coming in in the afternoon and getting one or two and sitting and eating them and loving every bite of them....nothing has changed.
And my best friend/sister-in-law was talking today about cleaning out her jars and getting ready for another season. It brought back memories of home....
I think I have said before that our basement was not quite a dungeon, but it sure was not fixed up. It was really not even quite half a basement. There was a light at each end...a single bulb. It more or less lit up enough till you could see where you were going, but it would have been very tiring to try to read anything down there.
Across one end was we a set of shelves built to hold the canned goods. To the best of my recollections, they were about two ft deep and probably at least 8 foot in lenght....and there was at least 5 if not 6 of the shelves...the top one was over my head. Every season one of my jobs was to help go through and see if anything had gone bad, and mom would decide if some stuff was too old.
We would pour the stuff out...and then there was jar washing to be done. Plus I would have to wash down the shelves. Before winter, at least 3 of those shelves would be completely full, and the others would probably be half full. Most stuff was canned in quart jars...I don't remember if mom used pint jars for anything.
But she did have a few half gallon jars...and she even had some that held 3 quarts. I don't remember what she put in the 3-quart jars...can you imagine canning anything in an almost gallon jar? I know she canned some of the dill pickles in the half gallon jars, and maybe soup stock. Oh, and I think she canned some peaches and pears in half gallon jars.
The dill pickles I remember for sure I can remember because certain visitors always wanted a jar of them when they came to visit once or twice a year. And truth be told, a half gallon of pickles would not be too many sometimes for just me....or especially if I and my older daughter got started on one.
Now, I don't think she had that many half gallon jars and even fewer of the ones that held 3 quarts, so she canned more pickles, etc in quart jars, too. What I wondered is are half gallon jars even available now. I don't ever remember noticing them anywhere.
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No rain at all last night or today, but I did see lightning last night. Now there is a slight chance for tomorrow evening so we shall see. I won't hold my breath though.
Darling garden sign. :) My Mom canned a great deal, too. When Mom and Dad brought me bags and bags of apples from their trees, I canned, too. We had apples every way apples could be eaten and even more canned for the rest of the year. It was wonderful!
ReplyDeleteLove the sign. I don't remember my Mom canning anything, but my Grandmothers both did.
ReplyDeletemy mama didn't can either, although she did make jam the odd time. My nana made jam all the time and it was good.....
ReplyDeleteGill in Canada
glad you stopped for the photo even though you had to go back. all of this sounds much like my growing up years, almost identical. home grown is aways better for sure.
ReplyDeleteA fine shot of this roadside display. Very interesting account of your early canning days. Canning was a normal procedure everyone expected to do in order to have good things to eat all winter when I was growing up.
ReplyDeleteI'm envious that you can already think of planting tomatoes. We had snow flurries this morning and it has felt bitter all day.
ReplyDeleteWhat a strange but interesting garden! Your memories bring back many of my own. My mother canned stuff all summer long....my job was picking, and cleaning and shucking and snipping, shelling, etc. :-)We kept all the jars in the old coal cellar in the basement. It was so cool down there and dad built shelves to hold all the canned goodies. Mom made great sweet and sour pickles...everyone said (I don't like pickles). I loved her canned green beans. Best green beans I ever ate all year long.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing my husband cooked last night - put two whole tablespoons of dried rosemary in the recipe. YUCK! Not the spice in my life. sandie
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! I do that a lot...turn around and go back, turn into driveways, that sort of thing, to capture something of interest! This was a great capture!
ReplyDelete