We Be Jammin’
10 Aug
If I were to describe our life in August in one word it would be: Mania.
It’s the time of year when you arrive home from work to 20 pounds of scrubbed cucumbers, and stand bleary-eyed past midnight, stuffing the last of the cukes in jars with garlic and dill to bathe them with boiling vinegar. About that time you reach a point of tired where you’re not sure you did everything right. “Did I do my math?” you ask. “Is 4/8ths into 5/6ths two tablespoons?”
It’s a time of great abundance, when the berries have finally ripened, and you have to use all of your digits to count the tomatoes on the vine. For a gardener, it’s bliss, but for the cook, it’s sheer panic. Nothing can be wasted. None of this goodness can be lost. Because if you have to look at a sad, mealy Albertson’s tomato in January instead of popping open a can of the most fragrant tomato sauce from your garden, you may really have to be committed to Warm Springs, Montana’s mental health hospital (aka insane asylum)- terrible name, isn’t it? It just says sedatives to me in an evil voice — “not hot, not cold, just the way you like it … yes.”
The weather, finally warm enough to be painful, gives you the energy to move mountains. Run a 5k race in the morning and make huckleberry jam all afternoon? No problem! Organize an entire room full of sheet music and musical equipment in a few hours? Pshaw! Stay up until the wee hours of the morning finishing a good book and then work a full eight hours? Peanuts!
You might do all of this and feel a wee bit of tiredness setting in, so beware of the second wind. That’s when you start to get stupid and buy a full box of peaches, ripen them immediately and then call your mother in a panic to find out how she cans them. “You do the medium syrup?” you ask, trying to sound like you know what that is, “And then what? Rub a spatula around the side to get the bubbles out? That’s important?”
She tried to warn you. She bought a case of canned tomatoes from the store for you — just to keep you from going through this every August. But you wouldn’t listen, and then you were hooked. Hooked on the taste of homemade jam and syrup and salsa, and you weren’t going back — not to Heinz, not to Smuckers, not to Old El Paso, not even to Vlasic.
But you can take it too far. Now you’ve graduated to sourkraut and sweet and sour cabbage and pickled beets. Things you wouldn’t touch as a child. You discuss buying a pressure canner with your spouse, so you can do beans too. What’s next? Making your own yogurt? How far can this go?
As you look at the pile of peaches on your kitchen counter, ready to be washed and bathed in boiling water, you think maybe just maybe you’ve hit your limit, gone too far, done too much, and then you realize it’s August, and you’re Super Woman, and no one will stop you until you’ve made enough jam to feed an army. An army of two.
The pictures look like you did it right.
Thanks Mom – I owe it all to you! Janelle
This is hilarious. We have a family of 10 and we love to can together – great bonding time! Just finished pears, moving on to corn…
Have you seen this t-shirt? It says “Yes, we canned!” Check it out at:
http://www.cafepress.com/pooplespile
Nice looking huckleberries. Would you mind sharing your picking spot? Looks like you have been busy. Your mom is going to spend next Thursday night with us after camp. Enjoyed our day of picking with you. Looking forward to next year picking again. L
Wild horses couldn’t drag out of me! Yes, it was a great day – hope to maybe see you again this summer!
Oh, that’s great! Sounds like you have a few more hands available to help than we do, which is always useful. Love the t-shirt!
I grew up eating all sorts of wonderful canned garden produce and remember many sweaty hours making peach butter in my mother’s kitchen. (My mother turned off the air conditioner because the canning process would put a strain on the system…It can get awful hot in Kansas in the summer.) However, these days I can’t seem to coax enough produce out of my little garden to preserve for later. I still have my canning kettle, but it’s gathering dust. So I envy you!
Mmm … peach butter. We contemplated making that, but it would have been hours before it was done so we just poured honey water over the peach halves and canned them like that. If you come up I’ll give you a jar! Janelle
You are nothing but a freak of nature. Love you, MJ
Well, I try … Janelle