My daughter and I worked all afternoon, making applesauce.  It is quite a process to wash, then quarter apples, boil them until they are soft enough to process them into applesauce with the Vitrola, and then can them and process them again in the canner until—voila—many hours later– all we have to show for our hard labor is 7 jars of applesauce.  Or is that all we have to show…..

We enjoyed talking with each other during this time, laughing and joking.  I relived memories of watching my parents can, and when I was old enough—helping them can.

My Dad was taught to can by his grandparents, and my mother was taught to can by her grandparents. 

Participating in this activity, links me to a tradition that has been in my family for generations—of producing food, and canning it to prepare for the winter.

Years ago, after canning tomatoes, my son Sean—who had helped with the process of gardening and canning—wondered why I went to all that work and labor.  “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just buy some cans of tomatoes at the store?”   He wasn’t wrong, it probably would have been less expensive in some ways—but now I have the memories of Sean working in the garden—ok—in some of those memories—he was complaining—and Sean helping in the canning process–ok–there was also some complaining going on there as well 🙂 , and I have memories of these things with my other children as well. 

Someday my children may have gardens, they may can, and honestly after this past year—the ability to grow and preserve our own food is a handy skill to have.

I am so impressed and amazed with how many of my siblings and cousins have beautiful gardens.  It is something that was passed down in our family tree—this love of the land, and the desire to grow vegetation.

I was talking to some of my International Friends this week, and we were talking about canning, and pickling.  One of my friend’s mother is a great pickler, and we joked about having her Skype with us and teach us how to pickle. 

Except I wasn’t really joking—I would love to learn from her mom about pickling.

If you have someone in your life that you want to learn a skill from—I encourage you to make the time to learn.  Make some memories–  Learn a skill—that you may be able to pass on to someone else.

Engaging with each other, talking with each other, working with each other—these are precious things—these are encouraging things, and since this is the National Day of Encouragement—I hope that you are encouraged!!  God Bless you!!