Like a squirrel looking over its winter stash, my eyes roam along the shelves of freshly preserved food. Row after row of summer’s goodness, waiting to be opened and enjoyed in the months ahead when produce picked fresh from the garden is just a memory.

 

I come from a family of gardeners, so it’s no surprise that I ended up following in their footsteps. Some of my earliest memories are helping my dad plant our garden in the spring and helping my mom preserve the harvest in the fall. As a child I didn’t realize most people ate vegetables out of a tin can purchased in a store rather than out of a glass jar filled with vegetables grown in the back yard. 

 

I first started vegetable gardening as a way to save money. Newly married, I had read that an average size garden would yield around $250 worth of produce. 

 

Planting that first garden I remembered tips my dad had taught me growing up. Plant the green beans “eyes” down because that’s where the roots came from. Sprinkle a little sand over the carrot seeds so the tiny seedlings would have an easier time emerging from the soil. Put an old coffee can around the tomato plants to keep the cutworms away.

 

I started preserving the food I grew a few years later after purchasing my first canner for $5 at a garage sale. The woman who sold it to me was surprised someone my age was interested in canning, as apparently young people at the time were too busy to be bothered with the process.

 

In my garden you’ll only find food that I like to eat. That’s why you’ll find pea pods but not peas, radish but not beets, and zucchini but no other types of squash.

 

I also won’t preserve anything I only like to eat fresh. For instance I love raw asparagus and carrots but hate them cooked, so at my house they’re only eaten fresh out of the garden. 

 

I can a variety of tomato products, green beans, vegetable soup starter, sour dill pickles, salsa, jams and jellies. In my freezer are bags of sweet corn, sliced peppers, pea pods, broccoli, brussel sprouts, rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries. Onions and potatoes are stacked in cool, dark places.

 

I also can sauerkraut, and I love to watch people’s faces as I describe to them how it’s made. It’s not for the faint of heart as it’s basically rotten cabbage, and you have to let it ferment in a cool spot for a while before it’s ready to preserve. The smell can get a bit overpowering.  

 

Today’s trend towards organic food has made gardening and preserving your own food popular once again. I’ve been happy to see this happen and happy to share what I’ve learned with others. 

 

I feel sorry for people who don’t garden. They’ll never know the smell of freshly turned soil or the feel of it between your fingers and toes. They’ll never know the joy of seeing all those little sprouts coming up from the soil from seeds they’ve planted themselves. 

 

They’ll never know the pride of watching those tiny plants grow and become fruitful, the taste of warm, freshly picked berries or tomatoes straight from the vine, or the sweetness of a carrot pulled from the earth and eaten after you’ve wiped the dirt off in the grass.

 

The taste of vegetables purchased in a grocery store can’t begin to compare, no matter how fresh they advertise their produce to be.

 

I also get a feeling of pride from my garden. Pride that my efforts grew the plants, and pride in providing nutritious, organic food for my family. 

 

Those feelings, along with the enjoyment of the harvest and the satisfaction of looking at row after row of freshly canned food just waiting to be eaten, makes all the work worthwhile.