We won't die immediately

The fruits of my labors.


What sort of demented world do we live in that I actually ENJOY canning? There was almost no worse chore in kid-dom than the annual canning. It was truly excrutiating. The kind of chore that parents invent for the sole purpose of torturing children. I'm pretty sure that's the only reason my mom did it.


But somewhere along the way, when it became MY fruit and MY food storage, it wasn't quite so bad. Even back in the years when I didn't have kids to help me (and by help, of course I mean complain).


I remember the peach canning of 2002, when my mother-in-law and Lane's grandma showed up and my front porch unexpectedly and unannounced because they thought I might just need some help with the canning. And did I ever! For whatever reason I had a huge crop of peaches, no help, and was 6 months pregnant with Addie. My feet and ankles were swollen so huge that the skin actually hurt, and my MIL pointed out that I could peel the peaches sitting down. Hmmm . . . what a concept. I had never thought of that before and it worked great and kept me off my giant, elephant feet. I will never forget that peach canning episode because of their kindness in helping me. I doubt I would ever have gotten it done alone, and even if I had, it may not have been a good thing, since I was put on bed rest shortly thereafter, followed by Addie's far-too-soon arrival on Halloween.


But I digress. Every single time I lift the sealed jars out of the water-bath canner, it warms my heart because everything looks so pretty. There is almost no color as gorgeous as the golden color of freshly processed peaches. And my heart warms even more when the jars are cool and I move them onto the shelves and say out loud to myself, or anyone who happens to be wandering by, "We won't die immediately."


Sometimes I just go in and look at it. Okay, I frequently go in and look at it. It is all really pretty on the shelves, even prettier with the knowledge that we, in fact, won't die immediately. With all the peaches, tomatoes, applesauce, and purchased canned goods, we would linger for a few months, at least, as long as we were careful.


At our old house, I kept close track of some things, such as toothpaste, shampoo, and other non-food items to make sure we always had a years supply. I don't know where or when I got off track. Maybe it is just a simple matter of having more kids . . . or older kids . . . or not paying attention . . . but we don't have a years supply of anything anymore. Except salt. I'm pretty sure I have a years supply of salt. What can I say - it was on a screaming deal at Maceys once. I do love me a screaming deal.



So since I haven't tortured my kids sufficiently with the annual canning (they think I have, but I'm pretty sure they are WRONG), for Family Home Evening this week we are evaluating our years supply. I attended a really great class once and the book has a chart for calculating food and non-food storage, as well as recipes that use typical food storage items. Again, way back when I was a better woman than I am now, I used to make at least one of those meals every week so we could learn what we liked and what we would rather die than eat. I found out we don't like lentils. I don't recall what I did with all those lentils I had stored, but I no longer store lentils. I think that given the choice between lentils and certain starvation - well, let's just say that it would require some careful consideration.



I have again gone off on a tangent (look! something shiny!). Since I bought a juicer last year, I juiced my grapes this year. I have always given them away before, but manned up and juiced them for once. I should have bought a juicer years ago! What a wonderful little contraption that is! (Ok, in the interest of full disclosure, I know these are not new and my mom used to borrow my Aunt Della's to do the grape jelly. However, that memory, as mentioned above, is still somehow associated with childhood abuse and torture.) The beautiful purple color of freshly processed grape juice almost rivals the golden color of the peaches. If you take 1/3 cup of the grape juice (concentrate? I guess?) and add it to a full can of ginger ale - that is one tasty treat. It may just replace my "cocktail" of 1/2 freshly squeezed lime mixed with a can of ginger ale. So since grape juice is so good, and I was terribly bored of bottling peaches, I figured, Hey, lets just toss the peaches in the juicer and see what happens. I did it with apples last year, although the apples didn't produce a lot of juice for the work invested. But since peaches are juicier, I decided to give it a try. I haven't tried out the peach juice yet, because at 1/3 cup at a time, we are still working through the open quart jar in the fridge.


I don't do stewed tomatoes anymore, just tomato sauce and it has changed my life. I don't enjoy the whole blanching process very much and my kids are freaked out by the fibrous, stringy tomato bits that wind up in soups and chili over the winter. So I sauce them. It's a much better way to go.


So to sum up: enjoy the canning . . . won't die immediately . . . a thousand points of light. . .