A collector of old canning jars, I now have green, blue,
clear, fancy and plain jars in
half-pints, pints, quarts and half-gallons.

I started collecting years ago because each jar was unique.
It
had belonged to a lady
who loved her family enough to spend hours sweating through a
hot
canning process so she
might pick from that beautiful lineup of canned vegetables for
their winter meals.

I still have fond memories of winter suppers of stewed
tomatoes served over hot,
steaming biscuits with streak-o’-lean on the plate. Cholesterol
wasn’t in our vocabulary
at the time.

Great Memories

Those old jars bring back great memories. The lids and rings
are hard to come by, but
the jars are still an extremely useful art form. They can be
used
as canisters, vases,
centerpieces or just ornaments sitting on the counter.

But memory obscures the difficult. To get those vegetables
into the jars required
considerable preparation of the produce.

I won’t go back so far as that hot July garden. But I vividly
remember having to sit on
the porch and snap beans, shell peas and butterbeans and shuck
corn while neighborhood
kids played and taunted us workers.

Great Food

However, they surely did like to come and eat at Aunt
Maudie’s
table.

If you’re inclined to plant produce for future use, it might
be helpful to know just
how much you need to plant to “put it by.”

The figures in the table at right are just guidelines. If you
use more of one
vegetable, just add more row feet. Also, if you are going to eat
out of the garden and
“lay by” as well, increase the row feet
accordingly.

(You can learn more about canning and other preserving at
the county Extension
Service office. Or check
the Food Preservation Web site of the UGA
College of Family and Consumer Sciences.)