A bit old fashioned maybe? How many still can their own veggies??

[Navydad]

How many folks here still can their own veggies. We along with a neighbor just cleaned a canned two bushels of green beans a couple of weeks ago and today wife and I cooked up a batch of homemade salsa and will can 24 pints of that. Next on the list is beets. Yes we live near a grocery, walking distance as a matter of fact. Nothing like fresh, home canned veggies though. My folks canned when I was a kid and my wife grew up on a small farm where a trip to the grocery was for sugar, salt, and other such staples. The meat and produce for meals was grown at home. I think my kids were in high school before they realized you could actually buy jeans and dresses already made. My wife is quite the seamstress although it is becoming an expensive hobby these days. None of this was really done out of necessity, we just enjoyed it over the years. We have always been do it yourself folks and if I didn't know how to do it I would find out or call a friend that did know how to do it. This of course includes working on my Spyder and other bikes. I've had to concede a lot of automotive work to the pros though. Not much I can do under the shade tree when one of these new autos have problems.

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[Peter Aawen]

You might be surprised at how popular it's become (again) after the last couple of years! . Many here in Oz have taken up gardening & growing their own during their various lock-down &/or work from home periods, and that quite naturally leads to neighbourhood veggie exchanges & home preserving, so right now in Oz, it's almost impossible to buy new or used canning/bottling equipment, and Deep Freezers are in short supply too!

I grew up in the South Oz back-blocks & the Outback, & as a kid my family & all around us were always pretty much self sufficient in most respects - you get that way when you can only 'shop' once every 3-4/6 months or so! The things I learnt then carried over into my adult life, & whenever I was 'home' long enough I'd always grow whatever veggies I could to feed the family, & the Child Bride (also a Country Lass) would preserve/bottle/freeze the surplus, often sharing &/or swapping amongst any nearby family & neighbours who had produce too, just to keep up the variety. . Being forced to spend a few fairly significant periods undergoing various 'recovery, rehab, & recuperate' sessions didn't hurt either; in fact, I attribute getting out in the back yard & putting in the effort to get back to doing all the necessary work to keep growing stuff as probably being a major part of why/how I kept on going back to the job, and why/how I can still walk & talk at all!! Well, that, and some bloody brilliant trauma medics & rehab specialists too!

Even now that we're 'retired', we still tend to grow & preserve/store most of our own veggies & citrus type fruits (the apples, pears, & stone fruit trees won't be producing much for another couple of years yet! ) And anything we don't grow/have a surplus of, we've got family, friends, & neighbours who grow/preserve a different range of produce, so there's always a fairly healthy variety to be had!

[Mazo EMS2]

We still do tomatoes, but it's much cheaper to buy a bushel or two from the farm market and can them, than it is to grow them in a garden. I can buy two bushel of tomatoes and have them all done in a day, for $30. Heck ya can't even buy 10 tomato plants for that anymore....LOL

[dpetrick]

Canning and freezing are something I do every year. Don’t have a garden, but have locals farmers markets where I get the veggies I want to freeze and can. Several of our neighbors have gardens or have farms. We live in a resort area, so the neighbors with farms have a lake home in our neighborhood. They drop off their surplus fruits and veggies, which I freeze or can. We usually have a neighborhood get together and I cook up something and of course have beer and wine available. Living in a rather rural area has its perks.

[ARtraveler]

We have not done it for years. We do have many neighbors that drop off free produce from their gardens when in season.

[UtahPete]

I never have. Could never wrap my head around the concept of "canning" in glass jars. I'm just too literal for my own good.

[Isopedella]

We grow some greens and plant some tomatoes from seeds saved 70 years ago. The plants are 7 footers. Make sauces and makings for soups.

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[pegasus1300]

This is a fun thread and a little off the normal. Before she died Thais my 1st wife made all our children's clothing, including diapers when babies and underwear, and school clothes and suits and dresses for church. It was her hobby, and she was very good at it. I did buy my own clothes and she her own also, but the kids were the best dressed around. As they got older, they wanted the same clothes as their school mates and gradually she began to only make a few things for them, but she found other things to make. She also liked to "can" or preserve fresh fruit and vegetables. Where we lived in Utah most of our neighbors had large orchards and we could buy fruit from them very cheaply. Many also had large market gardens and we grew a few things ourselves. We always had peaches, applesauce, apricots, beans, salsa, jalapenos, etc., etc., etc. She loved doing it. We even made mincemeat one and it was better the anything you could get in the store, but a lot of work. Fast forward a few years and she passes away. I remarry. Cynthia is not a seamstress, but she cans a few things like the best tomato soup in the world, applesauce, apple pie filling, and meats, chicken, beef, pork, turkey. It makes a great quick dinner when she is tired or has other things she wants to do. I no longer live in an orchard area, but a turkey raising, dairy farming area, sheep country. Cynthia comes from a family of sheep ranchers and dairy farmers. Next time you buy a turkey check the label. It may have come from Moroni in Sanpete Co, Utah about 20 miles from where we live. Me, I'm an old hot rodder/biker city boy From New Orleans who happened to luck out....... twice.

[Little Blue]

...I have enjoyed canning as a young kid. My Grandmother was a great canning person back in the day. My mother was very active in the canning/freezing of foods during her lifetime.
My wife enjoyed canning and used to help my mom.

Today we have not canned foods for many years.
My daughter is just starting to can and she enjoyed the time. I just got some canned green beans last week.

Happy Canning day to those who 'can'. Teach someone when you do your 'canning'.

Stay Healthy. ....

[Navydad]

I never have. Could never wrap my head around the concept of "canning" in glass jars. I'm just too literal for my own good.

I refuse to buy veggies or fruits in metal cans. Glass or frozen for me if at all possible. It may be in my head and not a real issue, but I don't like the taste of food canned in "tin" cans as mom used to call them.

[wyliec]

You guys have good stories/how-tos. My hats off to you. I buy it (veggies) at the store; I'm just lazy. Any how, my g.f. is Korean and her sister makes the best kimchi... I heard. I hate the stuff, but there appears to be quite the process in making it.

[wyliec]

We have not done it for years. We do have many neighbors that drop off free produce from their gardens when in season.

I like that way of doing it.

[Isopedella]

We do buy some Veges. Spuds and some other things as required. We also do nick stuff from the neighbors from time to time.