From This....To That

    It was a busy day for me.  In fact, it was far too busy.  The day started at 5am with me bounding out of bed and into the kitchen.  Mark had carried home a lot green beans that needed canning and I still had plums to jam.  First things first, however, and that meant coffee.  I needed lots of coffee to help me through this mess!  That done, I started snapping those beans.  This was a longer job than I anticipated.  Even with Mark's help, the beans seemed to be a never-ending pile.  He helped for an hour or so then had places to go and things to do.  I sat snapping beans.  After getting about two gallons snapped, I turned my attention to the jars and pressure canner.  A good cleaning was needed before I could begin processing the beans.  Jars washed, jars sterilized, canner washed, canner started heating, water put on to boil, lids soaking to soften and I was ready to go!

  By this time, Son had entered the picture and promptly started lending a hand.  This young man can preserve food with the best so was a big help.  He just steps in where needed and does a good job.  By the middle of the day, we had all of the beans snapped and half already canned.  Things were going smoothly.  

  By late afternoon, using the pressure canner had come to a halt and the jam making began.  Back home again, Mark helped me chop what amounted to 18 cups of diced plums.  The jam making would not take nearly as long as the green beans so I was a happy camper about this time.  The chore of home canning was nearly finished for the day and I was so ready.  It took nearly 12 hrs of kitchen time to do all I had to do from snapping the beans to getting everything cleaned up afterward.  Once the job was completed, however, it felt mighty fine to stand back and look at all of those pretty jars lined up on the table.  All three chest type freezers are filled and the pantry shelves have little space left.  We will eat good this winter!

  This whole scenario reminded me of a story that was told about Mom. When they married, Pop was a farm boy and Mom was a city girl. She had no idea what she was getting into!  The first week after they were married, Pop toted home bushels of beans from the fields.  He was so proud to give her a brand new pressure canner but Mom had no idea  how to use it.  She promptly sat down and wept.  This farm life was going to be hard!  Luckily, Dad's sister came to the rescue.  Marie came over and taught her how to use the canner and many other "tricks of the trade".  Mom told the story often of how (Aunt) Marie was so patient in teaching the city girl how to become a farm wife.

Tossing and Turning!

  The weather was a bit stormy all day here on the Bayou.  This suited me fine as it kept me inside.  Normally, I do not like being confined to the Little Bayou House but there were baskets of plums that needed to be made into jam.  Once again, Son and I chopped and jammed!  Another three days of this and we should be finished.  The two plum trees were loaded this year and, even though we had to pick the fruit early to prevent the coons from ruining them, we will have more than enough jam to restock the pantry shelves.  

  There was one time when Mark and I slipped out to check the small skiff moored at the end of the pier.  Being stuck inside, I had no idea the severity of the storm that was pounding the Bayou.  My goodness!  This was not unlike a tropical storm!  Waves smashed against the pier and sent water flying over the top.  Our pier, being a bit higher than the others nearby, was still usable.  The others were completely under with the high tide.  The small skiff bounced fiercely with the waves but the moorings were holding fast.  Our normally calm bay was being churned by the winds.

  Mark and I watched the waves for a bit then headed back up the hillside.  We both pondered if this was some sort of harbinger of things to come.  Would this be the year of severe hurricanes?  Would there be many tropical systems hitting the Coast?  Would the Bayou see many storms raking over the marshes?  No one knows but we shall prepare just in case any of the scenarios come true.  In the meantime, those plums are calling me!  Back to work.

Time to Disconnect to Reconnect

  It was a "stay inside and make jam" sort of day.  While rain poured outside, I chopped plums. The plums that were picked a few days ago to prevent the raccoons from stealing them had ripened to the perfect point for this undertaking.  They were red enough to give the jam a beautiful color but not too ripe as to not add pectin.  Son came into the kitchen and immediately picked up a knife to help.  (This fellow can make jam with the best of them!  As matter of fact, all three of my grown kids know the fine art of home canning!) I was fully appreciative as there were two large baskets of plums that, when chopped, amounted to over a gallon!  As we chopped, we talked.  He made mention of the fact that some of the best conversations are held in the kitchen whether at the table during mealtime or while preparing food for canning.  It was then that he reminisced of times spent with "Grandma" (my mom).  "We did things.  It was not that she babysat.  Grandma taught us stuff...useful stuff...but we did not realize that we were learning.  The same with Papa (my Pop)...he taught us stuff but we thought we were having fun."  I had to agree with him.  Time spent with them was well spent.  Later, when he was stirring the jam, he started talking again about Papa and Grandma.  "I learned a lot of patience from them.  It is like they had time to really listen." he said.  Again, I had to agree.  Yep.  Both were patient and kind.  They took the time to teach and encourage their grandkids not scold and berate them.   They did have time.  Why?  Because they were not distracted by technology and "time-saving" devices.  Truth be told, folks back in the day accomplished far more each day than any of us nowadays does.  

   

  During the jam making session, Son and I covered a lot of territory that lay hidden in the backs of our minds.  We talked.  That in itself is something rare these days.  With all of the interruptions via technology, there is very little actual communicating happening.  Perhaps Son is right.  The best place to have a conversation is at the kitchen table.  It made me long for the days before cell phones and laptops...before technology came to possess our very minds...before we became addicted to social media.  It is time to disconnect, folks.  It is time to get back to actually communicating.  Perhaps, it is time for folks to get back to making homemade jam, snapping green beans and just spending time with each other instead of being glued to a screen.  It is time to disconnect to reconnect.

What to do? What to do?

  Those rascally raccoons decided to pay a visit to the orchards again two nights ago.  The peach trees took the brunt of their onslaught but the plum trees were high on their list of tasty treats.  I was a tad aggravated to say the least.  What to do?  What to do?  Mark had bought some of that nice netting from the home and garden place but that did not stop those coons!  The netting was a minor obstacle in getting to those plump peaches.  Needless to say, the netting is not much good any more.  I doubt that it would keep anything from munching the fruit now as it is torn to shreds.  Not that there are any more peaches to worry about but only a few of the plums were touched.  My son, Michael, and I picked one tree of the lovely fruits even though they were a tad green yet.  I could make jam out of them regardless and I was not about to let the varmints feast again tonight.

  The other plums were far too green to pick yet so a bit of ingenuity was needed.  The netting was redone and a bit of chicken wire was wrapped about the lower portion of the tree.  We did not have enough on hand to cover the top and that worried me a bit. Again...what to do?  What to do? It was then that Michael noticed that the Boysenberries had not been touched by the critters.  The birds pick a few each day but the coons had not touched the fat berries at all!  Aha!  He had a plan!  Since the vines had some tall shoots that were berryless, he took the snips to them!  Those tall, prickly shoots were to become our new barricade for the plum trees.  He and I carefully crisscrossed the tops of the plum trees with a thick layer of vines.  The trees now looked as if they had a thorny thatched roof!  Then, last night, NO COONS!  The plum trees with their new-found thorns were left untouched.  The raccoons ate the leftover scraps of peaches from the night before but did not go near the plum trees!  I think we might have hit on something here!  Michael informed me that we needed to plant a hedgerow of Boysenberry vines around the entire orchard!  The six foot wall of briers might just do the trick of keeping critters at bay.  We are mulling over the possibility.  Of course, that means we would have about ten times as many Boysenberries to pick but if it means we will have peaches, I will not complain.

  Today saw us in the kitchen chopping plums. I was reading the other day where home-canning is fast becoming a dying art. It seems that only those worried about unhealthy additives in our food supply are interested in taking on this chore.  It is far easier to pull something off a shelf in the grocery store that to spend several hours preserving foods at home.  Michael can make jam and jelly with the best of home canners so it was a delight to have him share the workload. He knows the ins and outs of all home-canning from hot water baths to pressure canners! As matter of fact, all my kids have learned this feat.  My eldest and his wife had a bountiful crop of plums as well and made lovely jam for their pantry!   Darling Daughter informed me last night that she cannot wait to get back to the Bayou to start up where she left off to go to college. She and her husband will fill their pantry, too!  Home-canning..the "dying art" lives on here on the Bayou (and in Georgia with my son and daughter-in-law!) Personally, I find that more young people are suddenly trying this "old school" method of preparing food for their families.  The new interest in "organic" foods has renewed the interest in home-canning. Perhaps there is hope yet for this dying art and hope yet for my peach and plum trees!