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Twin Tuesday: Habits of the Elderly

By Dania In Dania, Twin Tuesday

Dania here.

As mentioned in my last post, I have been bombarded with veggies from my much-too-large garden. It was all fun and games until I have 50 cucumbers to eat, and a husband who doesn’t care for them. I love fresh vegetables, but in an effort to not let anything go to waste, I decided to try my hand at canning some of these veggies. As I was proudly telling some of our 4th of July party guests about my intentions, one of my husband’s (very blunt) friends kindly informed me that gardening and canning are habits of little old ladies. To which I responded that I also know how to knit.

I’ll take that as a compliment?

In any case, I invited my mother up to help me with my first attempts at canning. I perhaps could have figured it out, but my ulterior motives included the fact that she brought all the supplies… and of course to get to spend an afternoon with my mother.

We got started right away with washing and cutting cucumbers and beans. The prep work was by far the most time consuming part of the process. Aside from the supplies and her expertise, my mother also brought the cherished pickle recipe that my grandmother gave her years ago. We Googled a recipe for canning beans…tradition meets technology around here.

Dawn, Brett, and Vera even joined us for a while, although they conveniently showed up after all the work was done.

In the end, we came out with seven jars of pickles and seven jars of beans. It was a fun morning, and I am excited that I now am able to can some of these vegetables from my garden. My mother left me all her canning supplies, since she doesn’t garden anymore, so I am excited to try some more later, on my own. She will join me again another time to help can tomatoes and salsa. But for now, I have these to enjoy.

~Dania