Canning for the fall

By Rennie Phillips

Whether we are ready or not, fall is just about here, if it isn't already. I don't know the official beginning of fall, but the flies are acting as if fall is here.

I must admit I enjoy all the seasons. I enjoy spring when the trees are budding out and blooming. The grass is beginning to green up and the birds seem to be singing a new song. The frogs down in the pond are letting their voices be heard. It is a good time of the year.

I enjoy summer despite the heat. I don't enjoy the 100-degree days with the humidity we normally have. But summer is fun, even with all the work and goings-on. Summer usually is full of vegetables and goodies from the garden. We sure enjoy the cucumbers, tomatoes, kohlrabi, squash and on and on. We also enjoy the new additions to our family, like some new baby kitties.

Then fall comes rolling in. Days are noticeably shorter. At first it doesn't seem like much, but where it was light at 8 p.m. or so, now it's not. The heat from the summer has taken a toll on our gardens and trees. Our cucumbers and squash are either dead or dying, but the peppers and the okra are cranking out the goodies. I always plant some yellow and orange peppers. They sure taste good picked and eaten right by the garden.

We finished digging the last of our potatoes the other day, so our store room is full of spuds, both red and white. Last night for supper Marge baked us a couple Yukon Golds. Awesome. But the night before last, she baked us a couple red potatoes. They were good as well. When I walk into my shop, I notice the garlic hanging from the ceiling joist, along with some onions. We have been using some of both in our cooking and canning.

Fall for us is work. Marge is finishing her pickle making, so there are boxes of jars that need to be taken down into our basement. There also are jars of canned beans and such. But before the newly canned goodies go to the basement, all the older jars need inspected. Some that don't look just right need dumped. Some we thought we would really enjoy don't seem that interesting, so they need dumped. Our motto when it comes to canned goodies is if it doesn't look just right, then dump it. It's not worth getting sick over.

But there is excitement, if you want to call it that. We made a good bunch of hamburger sliced pickles this summer. They were made specifically to put on hamburgers. They are pretty easy to make and really add to the taste of the hamburger.

I had a lunchmeat sandwich yesterday with some of these pickles on it. Good! Then there are the jars of mustard pickles my Aunt Katie used to make. I haven't tried them, but they sure look good.

When I was a boy, most of the canned goodies went down into a dirt-floored cellar my grandpa had built. In time, Dad finished the basement and then they started to put the canned goodies down in the basement. It sure was more handy. The old cellar was probably 50 yards from the house. The basement was just a few steps down and there were the goodies. Rows of canned peaches and pears, jars full of tomato juice and grape juice, grape and chokecherry jelly and bunches of green beans were all pretty in the quart jars.

Marge and I have a sense of joy and fulfillment as we stock the basement shelves with canned goodies. Later this winter we will enjoy the canned tomatoes and pickles and green beans and such. Some of the jars of goodies we will share with family and friends. You will know you are special when Marge breaks out one of her home-canned goodies and shares it with you.

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year to go hunting or fishing. Usually there aren't that many people fishing, so I have the lake pretty much to myself. Deer season comes around and it gives me the excuse to sit and watch whatever comes by my blind. Whether it be a sparrow or a deer, I enjoy it. Since we have an abundance of pork and beef, we really don't need the meat. I enjoy the getting out rather than the getting.

Fall also is a time to get ready for winter. We usually make some firewood in the fall. We burn a good amount of wood in our wood stove, so the firewood is a definite need. I usually plant my turnips in the middle of August, so we wait for the turnips to grow and get big enough to enjoy. Our pumpkins are growing and should be ready for Halloween.

We usually buy seven baby calves and then bottle feed them. If all goes well, they will stay healthy and grow like weeds. Now and then some will get sick, so I call on Karen, a friend of mine. I also call on Dr. Shivley or Dr. Branscum. Usually with their help we get the sick ones well. I also do some praying for my sick babies.

Leaves are changing color, so take a drive and enjoy the scenery. Drive slow enough so you can enjoy the journey as well as the destination when you arrive. Have an enjoyable fall.

Until next time.