Do you can your vegetables?

[smlewis00]

My mother has always had a large garden. When my sister and I were little, she would teach us how to tend to the garden. We learned how to pick beans, plant potatoes, grow tomatoes, ect. As we got older, she then taught us how to make salsa from the vegtables we had grown. We also learned how to make homemade jellies and jams.
Later, she taught us how to can vegetables. This is something we still do to this day. Now that I am older and married, I do a garden of my own and can my own vegetables. My friends think I am crazy as they do not can veggies or have a garden.
How many people still can? If so, what do you can? Why do you can?
I think for me, it has always been a way of life. I was raised having a garden and to can. I like having vegetables on hand and creating a stockpile in case of an emergency.
Do you can?

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

Your mother had a great influence for all of you in the family with regards to planting some green vegetables and that is great! Not everybody had the chance to have a vegetable garden of their own and the time to engage in this kind of activity. Maybe if I also will have the opportunity in doing this why not I will try to have my own one too. To think that what you will eat you know is safe and clean because you are the one who takes care of it. This is a good idea and and an interesting thread!

 

[smlewis00]

Thank you readmebyamy for your kind words! I truly do enjoy gardening and canning. I especially love knowing that I don't use any chemicals and I know exactly what I am eating. If you do have the chance to have a small garden, I would really encourage you to start! You could even start small! Put a few pepper and onion plants in a planter on your porch. There are endless possibilities! Thanks again for your feedback!

 

[ReadmeByAmy]

Actually my mother also had green thumbs when it comes to plants. We also had a small garden at home but more on flowering plants like different kinds of orchids, daisies and other flowering plants. I will encourage her to try a small portion for planting easy to grow vegetables and me too I will try. Thank you also for the encouragement

 

[clairebeautiful]

My mother-in-law is the canner in this family. My husband was the 4th generation to grow up on his family's farm. He has since moved away and his parents are no longer full-time farming. They rent out most of their land, but they still plant and tend a huge garden, and she still cans. I love it when she comes to visit in the early fall and brings several jars and several freezer items. We're still eating many things from the garage that came from the garden.

I want to learn to can. It makes so much sense. And this year, she actually cooked and froze most of her squash in freezer bags, which I've been using for baby food, and adding to pancakes and muffins. I have loved it. It has been so economical and practical, and I love that we're still getting mostly "fresh" veggies in the dead of winter, instead of the store-bought, shipped from south America stuff.