Canning & freezing those vegetables - as good as it gets!

If you grew up in West Texas, there is a good chance you had a connection, as a child, with a farm.

Maybe you didn’t live on a farm, but you visited your friends or your grandparents lived on a farm. If so, you often have some kind of experience in the summer with canning or freezing food for the winter.

Not long ago, I visited a friend who has an adult daughter living in Alaska. My friend and I were going to have a snack. She pulled out some crackers and a jar of canned salmon her daughter had given her.

It was delicious and reminded me of the many summers and days that I spent helping my Granny shell black eyed peas and green beans for canning.

My Granny did not can any meat. It was all about vegetables, jams, jellies and pickles.

Since I lived with my grandparents, our house was the center of the canning process. My aunts and cousins helped. We had a lot of fun and are now left with fond memories. But since there were numerous women, I stayed out of the kitchen. All the kids did. I know how to get the product ready for canning, but I do not know the process of canning or freezing vegetables.

I wish I did. I am wondering with the food facilities that have had fires and the weather abnormalities, are we going to have enough food for the planet? Will there be enough food for me and my family and friends. Should we bring back can- looks just like it did in the garden. There is no can, just the vegetable. Right?

We are used to fresh food, and we want fresh food, right? It reminds me of a few years ago when we were all wondering, “Where is the toilet tissue?” Could that of the home so it would limit the time for canning. And so maybe that would be something the retired women could do for themselves and for the family. that would work for you? I guess you could at least buy some seeds and store them, just to be on the safe side. ning and processing our own food? Should we have a cow in the back yard?

Most people I know who are retired still like to have a purpose. They still want to contribute to their family and to society.

Maybe it doesn’t look like the canning scene we would have on the back porch of our farmhouse. It could be a garden in your back yard. I have a few friends who have a greenhouse.

And for some people it might mean having just a little more food on hand, stored at home. Maybe buy an extra can of beans each time you go to the grocery store. And beans might not be your thing. You can get cans of soup or pasta or whatever you eat from a can or package.

You might think I am off my rocker. I really don’t know. It seems like food has just always been at the grocery store. It was when I was a kid, too, but my Granny still canned. Did she think she was saving money? I doubt it as my Grandpa planted acres and acres of black eyed peas and green beans.

I think she might have loved the freshness of the food. People who are into health and diets typically want fresh food.

One of the ways I tell patients to improve their health is only bring food into the house as it was grown. No packaging at all. You can get asparagus at the store that happen to the food shelves?

I don’t think my Granny worried about whether food would be on the shelves at the grocery store. But she canned anyway. I think she had probably always canned, but I don’t know.

We live in different times. Most women work outside

Would that work in Lubbock where the wind blows? There are many kinds of indoor gardens these days. Maybe you have the right kind of sun exposure, or you get a grow light? And the raised gardens have become popular, and they save your back, too! Is there an option

It needs to be something that has an expiration date of a few years and that you can use yourself or share with others.

Life is full of cycles. That is well understood in farming country. This is just preparing for a cycle we have not seen in a good while.

And if the cycle doesn’t come, just use the food before the expiration date.