Preservation

Preservation isn't just about the saving of old houses, though that is a noble endeavor. Preservation on the farm, that is more of a desire to redo, reuse, and to prepare for the future. 

My contribution for the last few days has been making jelly! It is the process of preserving fruit in the form of a peanut butter partner for the times when it is winter and I don't want to go shopping! Honestly, homemade jams and jellies are the best ever, especially because I know exactly what is in them: fruit/juice, sugar, lemon juice and pectin. Nothing more.  The process is the same, too, no matter what kind of fruit I choose. 

I belong to a group on Facebook that are SERIOUS homesteaders and home preservers. They argue over methods and training, water bathing or pressure canning, cheap jar vs. Ball or Mason. I have learned a couple of tricks and ways to speed up my process, but I mostly just laugh at their SERIOUS beliefs surrounding canning.

Summers were busy times for canning when I was growing up. My parents always planted a pretty substantial garden, and that required weeding, feeding, harvesting for the sake of preserving for the winter.  Mom froze peas and corn, then the canners came out. It was not unusual for her to can 80 quarts of green beans or tomatoes. She'd start dill pickles in crocks and then can when they had pickled enough. Bread and butter pickles were canned right away with the sweet and sour syrup poured over cucumbers sliced in the jars. Fall brought the tangy aroma of apple butter baking in the oven. One time, my brother Kevin went to Lions International Band in Hawaii. He shipped home a case of pineapples, and my mom canned most of them! It was so good when opened in the cold blurry winter months!

My forays have not been as productive. I used to kill myself, trying to do what I thought was being a good mom!  Mom bought me a canner for my birthday one year! I assembled all the tools one at a time. Mom always had extra green beans that I'd take home to can.  I bought corn, tomatoes and cucumbers from vendors and froze/canned them.  After our kids were gone, years went by before I even thought about canning. We moved to The Farm, and I discovered the matched set of my equipment - canners, tools, a box full of lids, and about one million jars. The first fall, I made one thing - apple butter - from the apples on the tree in the yard. I did okay, but it wasn't my mom's. The next summer, my bestie and I made strawberry and peach jellies, which I still have plenty of two years later. I also found a farm where I can pick strawberries and corn. This year I've planted six tomato plants, four more than last year, and I'm planning for salsa and spaghetti sauce. 

Preserving is such a broad term. Our farm has been preserved and handed down to three generations. I am preserving the "old ways" when I plant, harvest, and make groceries for our family. (Even the chickens!) And all of it is preserving the memories - the days of working side-by-side with my mom or grandma learning the processes to use some day.