Yes, I can!

Four quarts of spaghetti sauce today

August is a month of anticipation peppered with dread. While we traditionally think of September and October as “Harvest Season”, fruits and vegetables really come to (wait for it…) fruition (!) in August. By faith we planted seeds or baby plants in the ground in April or May, waited through June and July refusing to buy mealy tomatoes from the grocery store, and <BAM> August hits and the gardens spill out their rewards. That’s the anticipation and reward part. The dread comes when you realize you need to do something with the nature’s bounty and it’s not going to wait for you to clear your schedule. The tomatoes will rot on the vine and the peaches will turn to mush if you don’t tend to them in a timely manner.

Pesto making day! Technically that’s frozen, not canned.

Corn day! That’s frozen too. I canned it once. Yuck. That’s my dad showing us the worm he found, at the exact moment that I snapped the selfie.

I often wonder why it has to be so hot when the time comes to slow roast tomatoes in the oven or run the pressure canner multiple times during the day. But alas, I thank God daily for central air. The generations that preceded me canned everything in sight. If my livelihood depended on it I would likely do the same. I’ve canned various things over the years, some more successfully than others. But in my middle age I’ve settled into a predictable routine. It starts with spaghetti sauce. My life changed when I discovered how to make sauce by roasting the tomatoes in the oven and then blending it all up, skins and seeds included. No cooking down required. It tastes delicious and it’s so easy. I use any tomatoes I have. Since I grow mostly yellow tomatoes my sauce takes on a peculiar hue. Spaghetti sauce making happens a few times throughout the week, as I pick tomatoes every 2-3 days. It’s an ongoing process. If I only have 2 jars I’ll stick them in the refrigerator and wait a few more days until I have a few more quarts and then can them. Next comes peaches. Those are tricky because they don’t all ripen at the same time. I go through the basket and separate them onto trays and let them sit for a few days. As they ripen we’ll eat them. When most of them are ripe I can them. I repeat that process 2-3 times until I have enough quarts. If I get my hands on some pears I’ll do the same for those. I’ll also buy some plum tomatoes to can as diced tomatoes. That’s more labor intensive because they need to be skinned and chopped. Don’t ask me if it’s more cost effective than buying diced tomatoes because the answer is probably “no.” Finally, my canning year wraps up with applesauce. Some years I go gangbusters and my supply will last for 2 years. Last year, I’m proud to say, that my little apple trees supplied enough apples to make 20some quarts of applesauce. That’s impressive because I don’t treat my apple trees. So finding a good apple on them is like finding a needle in a haystack. But I’m willing to cut them up to liberate the worms because it’s so cool to know that I grew those apples!

Why do I can? Mostly I think because it’s in my blood. I can’t really imagine not canning! It’s what the women in my family have done for generations. In some ways I feel a connection to them when I can. I also appreciate knowing what exactly is in my food. I can make my sauces just to my liking by altering the amount of sugar/salt/spices. Sometimes it’s cost effective, sometimes it’s probably not. My spaghetti sauce is definitely inexpensive! I grow my own tomatoes and most of them are “volunteers” that reseeded from last year. I even grow and dry my own herbs. When I was really young my family practically lived off the land. We had a huge garden (filled with vegetables that Little Theresa had to weed but refused to eat), tapped trees and made maple syrup (Little Theresa thought it was a treat when she ate elsewhere and had “fake” syrup. I shudder at the thought now), tended hives and harvest honey, and even raised and butchered chickens. Apparently my parents had too much time on their hands! Or, more likely, they both grew up on farms and couldn’t shake the lifestyle that easily when they moved away.

There are all kinds of ways that we can connect with the generations that went before us. My ancestors just happened to be agrarian and harvesting and preserving were a way of life. I haven’t ventured too far from that life, even now living on the land that has been in my family for 100+ years. Maybe you come from a long line of teachers, or doctors, or carpenters. I wouldn’t be surprised that whatever legacy your family has left, part of it resides within you too.