Question of the Week

[Guest guest]

Wow, old memories.

 

Yes, I grew up on a family farm and was in the 4H. I was a food

preservation queen. In fact I won some title like that one year at the

local county fair - for winning the most blue ribbons. My picture was

taken for the local paper.

 

We had a small family farm on 7 acres with an orchard, vineyard, and a

large garden. My mother was an organic gardener back when locals

laughed at her for not using pesticides. Our compost pit was the size

of a small swimming pool. We also kept one steer each year and it's

manure was used in the veggie garden. (Those succession of steers along

with all the other animal killing has a LOT to do with why I'm vegetarian.)

 

We had FOUR freezers, two refrigerators, and a fall-out shelter (built

during the fears of the cold war) and, in that fall-out shelter, a whole

room was dedicated to preserved foods. One freezer was full of beef and

the various other animals my dad liked to kill, like venison and fish.

Another freezer was full of things like berries, green beans, and so

on. Other freezers were full of things like my mother's homemade

ravioli (TO DIE FOR), tomato sauce, and other bulk cooking she would do.

 

So, my job was making all sorts of jams, jellies, preserves, pickles (my

favorite were bread and butter and the dill and the sweet gherkin...),

whole fruits, such as pears, peaches, the most heavenly applesauce. Oh,

and of course our special piccallili, which is a dill relish made from

green tomatoes, onions, and bell peppers. (Back then dill relish was

unheard of, at least where I grew up.)

 

My mom also kept sourdough starter and made the most incredible

sourdough breads, and my favorite - sourdough waffles. *sigh*

 

What I don't miss? On Saturdays when I would get chores like " go rake

the mountain behind the shed and dump the leaves in the compost pit. " LOL

 

In my early married days I made some jams and so on, but that's about

it. I have been thinking I'd like to do some of that again using

organic fruits with minimal sweeteners, but it's so different when you

have to BUY your produce, rather than have it falling off the trees in

your own back yard. :-( Also, I no longer have any of my canning

supplies. But I do think I'd pick up the technique again pretty easily.

 

And what really gets my goat is that I have a very very tiny freezer on

top of my fridge. It's always so full of frozen ingredients, ice cream,

popsicles, and quick-prepare foods (like tofu corn dogs, samosas, pot

stickers, chicken drumettes, and burgers for my meat-eating daughter),

that I don't have room to make foods in bulk to freeze.

 

Sharon