The Lost Art

I entered the commissary. As I always do, I started out in the produce section. Looking for deals for my family and checking to see if they had any deals for canning... 

From across the store, I can see them.... 

FRESH GREEN BEANS! 

At $1.29lbs it wasn't a bad deal.. 

I look for the large bags they normally have for this type of produce. 

There are none, so I begin to stuff my beans into the smaller bags. 

I stuffed my bags happily, knowing that these where going to taste amazing canned. 

Happily I filled bag after bag.

Some of the ladies, came up and glanced my direction like I was some crazy fool buying that many green beans and at that point I already had 4 stuffed bags in my cart. 

One old man, curiously asked me "what you plan to do with all them Beans?"

I happily answered I intended to can them... 

He got a little smile across his face and went on to describe how his wife used to can every summer and in detail described all the things she would can... 

He wished me luck, grabbed some beans for himself and left. 

I sat there thinking about what we had just talked about, and its weighed heavily on my mind since then.... Has canning really become a thing of the past? A lost art?

I will honestly admit, Yes, I feel a little "Little house on the Prairie" 

as I was affectionately called by my best friend.. 

I always have mental flash backs to the ladies of yesteryear, canning everything to insure produce would be there in the winter. Before a time of peaches from Brazil and Apples from god-knows where. These ladies grew, harvested and canned all of the fruits, veggies, jams & jellies their families would consume. There was no running to the store for a can of green beans, you ran to your pantry, root cellar, basement, ect. 

and pulled out the bounty from that summers harvest.

And now, here I sit a woman with an iPhone, a laptop and the world of technology around me... taking cues from the ladies of my past. I originally decided to can to save money & have a way of controlling quantity (we need more then the average family of 3) and quality of what I'm feeding my family but it is quickly developing into a passion. The first time you can its difficult, but the end result is there you can see what all of your hard work is put towards... Its a proud moment.

 Now, much of my canning is having to buy local produce, or at least USA grown produce... I dont DONT DONT buy anything not grown here. I try HARD for locally grown veggies and fruits. This has stemmed a new idea and plan for next year

So the cost of my canning will be even less.

I'm Planning to grow a garden. 

Even though, I'm buying my produce this time, the out of pocket expense will be MUCH lower than buying frozen, canned produce this winter. As much as I would like to buy fresh each time, our pocket book does not allow for that. The out of pocket expense for a first time canner will be higher the first year. You have to buy  jars, canners, lids and rings. Funnels and other essentials too... I was lucky and received my first canner as a gift.  

And the upfront cost of fruit and veggies are sometimes overwhelming. 

I always try to add my monthly spending I would normally spend on each item and compare it to the fresh in season one I'm thinking of canning.

 So my thought process kinda looks like this: 

Monthly cost of Canned and frozen store bought green beans for a family of 6 : $6-8 a month on generic/sale items. x12 months= $72-96 a year spent on canned green beans!!

Now..... Home canned fresh bought green beans: 17lbs(bought little more than I thought!) x$1.29 a pound= $21.93 + Canning Salt $5 = $26.93

That's a BIG Savings!!!!!

 Not to mention... the nutritional value. I control the syrup, salt and what goes in my cans and on my produce. I choose the quality of the fruits and veggies I decide to can. When a store bought item is canned then sold it looses a lot of nutrients. My home canned delicious produce doesn't loose half of said nutrients.

 And they taste like REAL green beans and not a nasty squishy green mess from a can. 

Do you know that in a sitting my family can almost eat 3 cans of store bought green beans?! But.... If I home can, well I control the size of jar to make! So for things we eat a lot of I'm doing quart jars or things that we don't eat as much of I can do pints. And if we should have left overs, put the lid back on the jar and put them in the fridge. 

The truth is, Canning is time consuming... Its definitely not easy, but its SO WORTH it. I start all of my canning at 8pm, after I lay down my daughters. Any prep work I can do while they are up IE: shucking peas, pitting cherries, snapping beans, I do prior to 8pm. I still manage 6-12 quarts prep, pack, pressure canning and clean up by midnight. If I was starting this in the middle of the day and devoting the WHOLE day to it, imagine what I could get done??

But I'm still left asking myself... why aren't more people canning???? Is it because people today are so wrapped up in a fast food mentality? Getting something as fast as possible with little or no effort...
Or do Canners have a super secret society I dont know about??
... I think its a mixture of the two! ..haha
When did Canning become a less common?
 I keep asking myself all of these questions.
 Sadly, it is a dying art, very few people I personally know still do it. It used to be passed from generation to generation. Grandmothers teaching mothers, Mothers teaching daughters. Now it seems lost in the history of the past. 
 Its feel like this once normal way of life... is gone.  
Knowing that I hope to pass on the  passion and knowledge to my daughters... 
Maybe in the world of flying cars, we will still have some ol'fashioned Canners.
I sure hope so.