Wednesday, June 29, 2011

It's gardening time...memory of a "first"

 Let me tell you a little story about my first canning experience.
We had moved to the mini-farm and raised a large garden.
I had a bumper crop of green beans and proudly
gathered them, washed and snapped them. 

And then I put them into my sterilized canning jars and canned
them the old fashioned water bath way.  It took forever.  I 
canned about 3 batches one day which would be 21 jars.
After I got all my 21 jars cooled, I took them out to the
little room in the back of the house that housed my laundry 
and where there were 3 nice shelves above the washer that I
just knew would be a good place to store the green beans.  I
lined them up nicely on the shelf and noticed that I'd have room
for many more.  After a backward glance admiring my handiwork, I
went back into the kitchen to clean up my canning mess.  All of a sudden
came this humongous crashing sound.  I knew the children were playing
outside and glanced out the window to make sure they were okay. 
Then I went into the laundry room.  The shelves had somehow fallen 
away from the wall and I saw all my just newly placed jars
 of green beans on the floor broken.  Every. One. Of. Them.
Needless to say, I felt like crying and swearing off canning forever.
But I didn't do either.  I haven't canned in many years, but
I'll never forget the very first time! 
Have you ever had a canning disaster?  Do you can or
freeze vegetables?  Hope your first experience went better than mine!

Until next time...

21 comments:

  1. Bless your heart! I'm glad you didn't let it discourage you from canning again.

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  2. What a heart breaker!
    I've (we've) canned about 14 pints so far. Today's crop just made enough for dinner tonight.
    Happy SAFE canning!

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  3. I'd have been heartbroken too. I usually freeze what I don't use, but our garden is small, so for the most part, we eat it as we grow it.
    Blessings,
    Marcia

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  4. You poor thing..and I know how much work it is to can. We used to have shelves under some stairs and the kids would go bounding down..once in awhile we heard crashes like that too! ;D

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  5. I wish I did can for there is no more comforting sight than shelves lined with full jars of veggies.
    That experience would have crushed me.

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  6. i don't "can" but have had many, many crashing shelf incidents.

    the picture of the green beans is marvelous!!!

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  7. Oh no heartbreaking after all that hard work~!

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  8. How discouraging! I think I would have given up forever. I used to can tomatoes, green beans & would make a green pepper relish. I haven't canned for years but would love to do some tomatoes. They sure are good in vegetable soup in the middle of winter! Enjoy your veggies!!!

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  9. Oh, noooo! After all of your hard work, I know that was very disappointing! Glad you didn't give up on it! I have canned beans, but it has been years since I've had a garden. =(

    blessings ~ tanna

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  10. Oh my....I know I would have cried...
    I have canned fresh peas and hot sauce...I once made pear relish (oh my goodness...delicious) and then there was the canned tomatoes...disaster...I am guessing they did not seal well...threw them all out...
    Enjoyed your post...
    shug

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  11. That's just horrible! I'm happy to say that I haven't had an experience worthy of repeating here... Maybe I don't do enough canning. :)

    Blessings, Debbie

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  12. Oh...I was hoping your story wasn't going there, but it did! I'm sure I would have cried; that's a lot of work to see destroyed. I don't can now, but used to many years ago.

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  13. O man -- that would have sent me crying.. all that glass - O my goodness! I've never had any issues
    like your experience - have not Can a great deal either -- but I see the importance of it - indeed!
    I did more drying of fruit then anything..and some viggies..
    Hugs

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  14. Oh, no! That was terrible! I used to can many years ago. We never froze anything (no extra freezer space).
    My mom had a small garden and she canned everything; she kept the canned goods under my bed!

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  15. What a horrible scene to discover-lots of hard work in canning and then cleaning up!

    We have tomatoes for table use and I usually can a couple of batches of zucchini relish each season since DH likes it so well. Used to can a lot of the other stuff but since it it just the two of us now, not so much.

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  16. Oh no! I'm in shock for your experience all those years ago. I'd have given up canning on the spot and had a nervous breakdown to boot. Sometimes it's a cruel, cruel world. (I canned the pickles with my mom last fall and I'm not sure if I'll be able to ever do it again. We'll see...)

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  17. Oh this makes me saaaad. I would have blubbered like a baby. See, I'm a klutz and things happen to me all the time like this and I'm never to big to cry like a baby.

    I freeze my veggies. :) But, if you want to come can for me, I'll let ya.

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  18. I just knew what was coming!

    I always can tomatoes, but freeze green beans. I am new to pressure canning and still don't have it down so that I feel real comfortable with it. I get the book out each time.

    I think I would have cried....for days.

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  19. ohhh that must have been really hard to see!

    I allready get pretty fustrated if i type up a report for an hour or two and i loose it somehow...

    No me myself have never canned, but my mom used to do LOTS and LOTS of canning and we would help!

    Thanks
    Leontien

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  20. I actually just picked my first batch of green beans from the garden yesterday. Can't wait too cook them up! Personally, I like canned over frozen any day!

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  21. All that work, down the drain! I still can tomatoes, but very little else.

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