This is a tribute to all those tough old Grandmas.
Smokepole, Bud Light, myself and a few others here are into Home Canning. Anyone who has done Home Canning knows what I am talking about.
When a food is in season to Can up,you stand there for hours on end preparing the foods for the jars. That alone just kicks the back of my lap. First time I did it alone I developed a fond respect for yesterdays tough ladies. My Gawd were they tough!
The womans job was to keep the family in food. Meaning growing all the garden too.
Rural mothers usually had a chicken coop and the chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys were their responsibility.
On top of that, all had huge families to cook daily for, laundry (sewing & knitting too) for, house to clean and keep up.
School and church functions and potluck they prepared for.
These gals were incredible.
I had vivid memories of helping Grandma as a todler with garden & Canning. 40-years later
I got into it and I'll never forget, the first day of standing there working veggies over for hours on end. Why I was so exhausted tired at the end of that day it was pathetic. How did them old gals do it?
Gals in their 80s & 90s would come inspect my work and tell stories. Some Canned up 800 jars every year to keep the family in food. Awesome!!!
Guess this Post is a tribute to some swell ol' gals that made all of us survive to enjoy the easy life of today.
nohunt

Nohunt, Good Post! But, lets not forget that there are a few of us tough &quot;rural moms&quot; out there that still carry on the old ways and traditions. <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>


Its not what you harvest...
Its what you learn...
Christine

Christine B

During the coming Y2K scare a couple/three years ago. People wouldn't have electricity and so on. Finding a Canner to buy, jars to buy and Canning Supplies to buy was next to impossible. Manufacturers were backlogged over 6-months with orders to fill.

The gals in the nation rallied with female instinct to get foods Canned up to keep families surviving.

Still plenty of wholesome hearty gals out there of all age groups.
nohunt


Snug down real good on that stock and shoot straight

My Wife and her mother due some caning every year. Its just peaches when they are in season. My wife and I give them as gifts an Xmas time. She also makes lots of candy that she gives as gifts as well. My point is this is just one weekend a year and the amount of work it takes to do those peaches is amazing to me. I can’t begin to imagine the work it would take to do every food as it came into season.

Great topic!
My granny got me into hunting and fishing at the age of 3. I spent the summers on fire towers with her and learned all of the basic outdoor skills from the old gal. We use to try and get a deer or two every year just to can. I also spend hours and hours canning meat, fish, fruit and veggies each year. No doubt, it's hard work, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

I remember getting peaches for Christmas from my grandmother as I grew up. At the time I thought it was pretty boring, but after pickling, making jams, and few other &quot;jarred&quot; goods my thoughts have changed. What an amazing amount of hot, steamy, tiring work. In most cases it tastes so much better than store bought stuff, but it does require a lot of elbow grease. Thanks grandma, I hope you read this.