As I’ve been working in the garden and putting the produce up, either freezing or canning it, I’ve been thinking. I have a question (or two) for you.
First Question: I know the answer is probably yes but .. is there anyone out there who has never had a garden . . either your own or your parents or grandparents that you remember working in and having fresh produce?
I have never lived in a city where you could walk or ride a bike to restaurants, museums, art exhibits, grocery stores and things like that. I can almost imagine what it would be like. There are times when I think I might like it . . I would like being able to get things that I can’t get locally — good bread, fresh produce, ingredients that I can only mail order and even then, some things just aren’t feasible to mail order. But, I’m truly a country girl at heart and I wouldn’t be happy in a city for very long.
While some of you cannot imagine the lifestyle we live – gathering eggs, chasing chickens out of Vince’s shop, battling rattlesnakes and always being on the lookout for one, having no cell phone service unless you walk up to the top of the hill, this is the lifestyle we love.
I’m definitely not saying that living in the country is better than living in the city, or vice versa. What is important is that you bloom where you’re planted and/or that you know where you want to be and if you aren’t there, you work to get there. Even now, if for some reason we had to move to a city, we would find a way to be happy and enjoy life and that’s truly what matters, at least in my book — enjoying life!
Yesterday Vince was cutting the grass and I walked outside and he had the lawnmower halfway dismantled. I asked him what was wrong and he said “I lost the middle blade.” It just fell off during the middle of him cutting grass so I went walking around with him, tracking back to where it began cutting on both sides and leaving an uncut section in the middle and we found it. He got it all put back together and he looked at me and he said “We’re not going to be able to do this when we get old!” I said “we’re not going to be able to cut the grass on a riding lawn mower?” I think he meant take the lawn mower apart and put it back together again. I wanted to say “We’re already old!” but figured that wasn’t a good thing to say at that particular moment.
I’ve mentioned this before but my grandparents lived on a farm. They had about 80 acres, though at some point they sold 20 acres and ended up having 60 acres. There was usually a milk cow on the farm, sometimes there were a couple of pigs that were being raised to be butchered, there were always chickens for eggs and for meat and there was always a big garden. I remember it being gigantic but in actuality, it may not have been as big as it seemed to me. Either my grandpa was a great gardener, he had great soil or I imagined both but it seems that his garden always produced so much – mostly I remember peas and tomatoes.
Gardening was something that I was never “taught” but it was just always part of my life and I can’t imagine not having a garden. I can only think of a couple of places I’ve lived where I didn’t have a garden. When we lived in Kentucky, we had a few acres in the country and I had a decent sized garden there but then we bought a house in town — it was a crazy setup but Chad and I pretty much stayed in town during the week and went back to the house in the country on weekends. I had the tiniest little back yard ever at that house in town but yet I had a garden. Here’s a picture of my efforts to keep the Japanese Beetles out of my tomatoes. You can see the size of my yard.
Garden
Anyway, after picking all the peas yesterday morning, I still had to get the carrots from earlier in the week canned. There were a lot of carrots but by the time I got them all canned, I had 7 quarts.
Carrots
Here, I can grow carrots all year but here’s how I think about it when I’m putting up veggies — If I can or freeze 52 packages of something . . anything . . peas or carrots or green beans, etc., that means we can have one package or jar a week — just once a week, for a whole year. 104 jars would mean we could have them twice a week for a year. That’s a dang lot of food — a lot of gardening and a lot of canning.
Second Question: Do you ever think what it was like back in the day when folks had to grow their own food and can it or they didn’t eat during the winter?
At some point, grocery stores came along but there was a time, especially in rural America, where you seriously had to grow it if you wanted to eat it. As much gardening and canning as I do, I cannot imagine that lifestyle.
Those are the things I think about when I’m out working in the garden or when I’m working so hard to can the veggies and end up with only 7 quarts!
shirley bruner says
1. i never had a garden when i was younger…although my mom raised a few tomatoes and peppers. my grandma always had a garden in her tiny yard…and chickens, ducks, and rabbits. the only things she bought at the grocery store were things she couldn’t grow/raise….coffee, sugar, etc. i love gardening now and have an 80×85′ plot with several kinds of tomatoes, several bell peppers, banana peppers, hot peppers, green beans, peas, corn, cushaw squash, cucumbers, popcorn, carrots, radishes. and a smaller plot…40×50′ with watermelon, cantalope, bushel gourds and cushaw squash. it’s all about to kill me, but i’m having a great time. also have 20 fruit trees in the orchard….apple, peach, pear, plum, cherry, apricot and nectarine. good times.
2. i thought about that last year when the late frost killed all the buds on the fruit trees and we got nothing. and the way prices are going in the grocery stores….i may have to learn how to clean rabbits and squirrels. LOL or give up meat.
The weather in the world seems to be changing and it is a greater challenge to plant and grow things at the proper time. and fight all the bugs and caterpillars and 4 footed creatures eating the goodies.
Diane says
I personally have never had a garden, but my daddy always had a garden year round while I was growing up. My parents didn’t earn much money so they grew what we ate mostly. We lived in the city and had a pretty big garden and rabbits. My grandparents lived in a rural area not far from us with a very large garden, pigs, chickens and a cow for a while. We shared everything. We traded them rabbits for chickens and swapped veggies so everyone got everything. A couple of times a year we would go to grandma’s and we would make huge pots of vegetable soup and can it, or kill chickens and clean them or dig potatoes, etc. All the aunts and uncles shared their bounties and we all ate well.
It wasn’t until I got to be an adult and especially since my mom passed away last month that realized they worked so hard to feed us but enjoyed it so much too. Their work might have been hard but they knew the work they did fed so many of their loved ones so it was important for the gardens to do well and the animals to reproduce. I’m not that old, just turned 50, and grew up in Houston, TX, but I can see how quickly the skills of feeding your family has been lost on “running to Walmart”.
Helen says
Judy, I’ve always been a small-town city girl. I actually live in the house where I was raised. It’s a small town, but a college town, so there is a lot of activity.
When I was young, my parents had a “lot” in a neighboring town where they had a garden. I was VERY young, but I remember going there. I had an aunt and uncle who lived out in the country and Mom and Dad had friends who had working farms, animals and the like.
I don’t have a lot of land, but I get a couple of tomato plants in my yard. If I really wanted to be more active about it, we have “community garden plots”. We have several “Farmers’ Markets” in our community and neighboring communities…so fresh produce is at hand.
When I was younger, with a bigger family to feed, I made nearly all our food from “scratch” and canned everything I could get my hands on. Lots of folks have too much produce and often look for someone to take it off their hands. My children never had “store-bought soup”…I would can enough soups and chili to last us for at least a year. In fact, one of the strangest things I did (and didn’t tell my family until it was gone) was to make my homemade vegetable beef soup with raccoon that my brother used to hunt. I had to do some “justifying” in my head, but it was delicious and they didn’t know till I told them later on!
Your post today brought a lot of memories back to mind. Have a wonderful weekend.
I’ have bronchitis right now, hubby has had it for nearly two weeks (but he’s on the mend) so we are spending our time lately just trying to get back on our feet.
Hugs
AngieG9 says
We had gardens all my life, until I moved to town after my divorce. Now there is no place for one. I still buy produce from the Farmr’s Market and make my favorite relishes, jams, and ketchups. A friend gardens at her friend’s place in the country and brings me poppers and sometimes tomatoes if she can smuggle them out. It is hard not havin my own, just for the pleasure of picking a tomato or a turnip and eating it right after I picked it in the garden. The turnp has to have the dirt rubbed off on my pant leg, but the tomato just pick and eat. Same for peas, corn, and green beans. A pressure canner would set off my fire alarm, so I can things by cooking them, putting in hot jars and sealing the tops, then placing on a cookie sheet in low oven until all the lids have popped shut. That was the only way my aunt canned, and she was a great cook, so after moving to town and learning her way, I do that now. I’m going to make squash relish as soon as I can get the 8 pounds of squash I need. Life without a garden just isn’t much of a life in the summer — or winter either, for that matter.
Sherrill says
RE: your second question–I was watching a show on Alaska and people who actually CHOOSE to live up there (UGH, too cold!!) and they’re homesteaders. Of course, they have no fresh produce for much of the year. One couple was traveling on snowmobile 3 hrs. from home to ICE FISH because they wanted something fresh. Only about 5 hrs of daylight meant they had to camp overnight in a tent and continue to try fishing next day and I think ultimately only got 2 fish for all their time, effort, discomfort, etc. NO, I cannot imagine!!!!!
Judy says
1. My father and his parents all gardened. When I was growing up we had a garden, but my mother didn’t really participate. It was my father’s project. Now I love to grow things, but I don’t have anything along the scale of your garden. I grow herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, thyme, and mint) as well as okra and tomatoes. I also have many pots of ornamental peppers that are very hot but good for dishes like curry.. This year I’m trying some sweet peppers just so I can pickle them.
2 – Yes, I do think about that! And I always give thanks that I have a very well-stocked grocery store nearby! I can’t imagine canning 52 or 104 jars of one item. I wouldn’t have anywhere to put the jars! I like to make pickles and jams, compound butters and pesto. It’s very gratifying to open a jar of something I’ve put up or pull some frozen pesto out of the freezer in the middle of winter and enjoy the fresh flavors of summer.
Stephanie says
I remember my grandparents always had a garden when I was younger. I can remember following Granddaddy through the rows of corn and beans, and helping Grandma gather lettuces for salads. My dad played at having a garden for a couple of years, but he was never very serious about it. My husband and I are trying to grow a few tomatoes in our tiny little yard this year, practice for me and my “black thumb”. He thinks he can teach me how to farm, and I hope he really can…
I love reading your blog. You and Vince have the life that my husband and I want. I married a farmer. Unfortunately, he doesn’t happen to have a farm at the moment. But, while we figure out how to acquire one, he’s trying to teach this town girl how to do all of the things that you do every day: gardening, canning and preserving, etc. He’s been threatening to bring home some chickens, too. Every day I expect it to happen. 🙂 But I won’t really panic until he shows up with a cow! 😛
We’re trying to become a bit less dependent on “StuffMart” and move back towards healthier eating and knowing exactly where your food comes from. I think that’s something people in this country have lost in the last decades, and that’s a shame. Hopefully, we can get our farm going in the next few years and teach our girls what real food actually is and where it comes from. So much of what the grocery stores carry doesn’t resemble any food found in nature anymore. Plus fresh home-grown vegetables will always taste better than anything that had to ride across an entire continent to get to my grocery store! (I can’t wait for some yummy fresh tomatoes. I hope they come in before too long…)
Sharon Spingler says
Growing up on a 1000 acre farm in Ohio, we always had gardens. And a terrible problem with Japanese Beetles. Dad would attatch mason jars half filled with gasoline to posts around the outside of the gardens. Within hours they would be full of beetles. That way nothing was sprayed.
Bobbie Schneider says
Grandma and Grandpa always had a large garden, it was how they raised their 9 children during the depression. Grandpa also had a blacksmith shop and traded his services for the meat the family needed. Grandma always had “starter” near the space heater (their only source of heat in their home in mid-eastern Wisconsin) for bread. Thinking about Grandma”s garden brings back lots of fond memories of tagging a long and “helping” her pick fruit and vegetables. Of course I have a garden, a small one because I work 9 hour days and hour away from home.
Angie says
I grew up in a big Italian family, all immigrants. Everyone, cousins, aunts, uncle, granparents and parents had a garden. Bill grew on a farm in Minnesota and his family had gardens. And while we live in the country on 5 acres, we have attempted very small gardens hit and miss. Just for the fun of it as we found running the pump for watering and canning and battling the bugs just not worth the effort for the two of us now—kids all grown. We do like fresh produce though and in Sonoma County CA. it is very abundant with Farmers Markets and roadside stands. The two of us don’t eat a lot of food, so a bag of produce last us all week. Lettuce, a few tomatoes, a melon, a few apples, a doz. carrots, some squash, 4 potatoes…we are set. Love to read about gardening though.
Angie says
I forgot to add: Vince is right about the getting old part, and repairing equipment. And you both are not old–yet! We are. And be prepared to budget for upkeep and repairs if you continue to live the “country lifestyle”. We now pay extra hire for some projects around here. We love living here, but body parts do wear out with age!
Sarah M. says
I was born in the depression. My folks were better off than many, but some of my kin were not. My Dad and Mother and my two Grandmothers had gardens to feed everyone. Dad plowed up the back yard only leaving a small place for the kids to play and put a garden st the rest, back to the alleyway. He dug up the east side of the house flower beds and planted asparagus and strawberries. Where the small garden they all ready had was, they moved the chicken house and pen (which was pre-existing) there behind the peach and pear trees that had been there for years and turned the old chicken lot into more garden. On the west side of the house, we had ducks and rabbits all for meat. At one Grandma’s house ( they had 2 lots 100 x 100 ft. which they made into garden space. Another lot of the same size, they put a cow and shed for it’s shelter. Thus having milk, butter, etc. The back yard of the home was all garden. Also all the beds where non annual flowers were turned into garden. We ate well. Everything was canned, no freezer then. That meant long hot days, for there was no A.C.then. Most of us just do not realize howblessed we are today.
Vicky says
Daddy said if they didn’t grow it, or raise it and butcher it, they wouldn’t have eaten. No going to the corner meat market. I’ve always had a garden or at least tomatoes in the flower beds until I moved to CA. I hope to get back to some semblance of gardening before too long!
Debbie Rhodes says
watching my parents (81 and 87) age I can see having us kids nearby is all that keeps them in their own home.. If they were out on 40 acres they would have had to learn to live somewhere different and make big changes a couple years ago… I don’t think my parents would have handled that good. Giving up driving and doing for themselves is hard enough here. At least for now they can stay in their own home of 50 years instead of having to leave everything that they worked for. to go to some small assisted living place. So it all depends and matters on your health and if you can stay were you feel comfortable.
Diana says
My Grandparents were farmers, my Aunts and Uncles were all farmers (matter of a fact some of the cousins still are), and it was a hard life. I can always remember Grandma stating that she had to can or they didn’t eat, same with meats, fruits. They cured their meats, canned fruits & veggies. Great Grandma was a stickler about making sure the food was there always.
I grew up in the city and only starting a garden when I was married and had 2 kids. My Dearest Hubbyman’s Grandmother wanted to teach me and I said YES. So I learned many ways of canning, curing and putting up jellies, jams to have for the wintertime. Her husband had died and she was going down hill fast, so I got the jars, canning equipment and away we went ! LOL
Fast forward to today .. Both grown Daughters know how to can, make jelly, jams, juices. Neither of them wanted to learn curing the meats. Oh well what they do know is a good thing !
Diane says
I grew up with no garden and only grow a couple of tomato plants every summer even though we have an acre with raised beds on individual sprinklers. I know–most people would LOVE to have this set-up. I’t’s hot here and I don’t like being outside much. My sewing room is my sanctuary. Living in northern California, we have local, organic produce of all kinds year round. We’re totally spoiled! I leave it up to the knowledgable farmers in my area and am happy to pay them for their wonderful produce.
Helen P says
I also was born during the depression, 8th of 9 children in the hills of Virginia. My father was a coal miner, so when he wasn’t working in the mines, he was in the garden. He worked different shifts so he was able to go to the garden for a few hours each day, we had two horses that he used to plow the garden with. (he went around on the side of the mountain not too far from the house, and cleared a big spot off for the garden) . I remember mom canning in half gallon jars on a coal/wood stove. We had chickens, one milk cow, so we had plenty of eggs, and chicken to eat, Dad raised two hogs every year to butcher, so during the winter months we had smoked pork. Mom canned some of it when it started to get too warm. There were times that Dad would come home and tell Mom there was a family that was hungry. He would get a box and she would go thru the can stuff and the smoke house to make up a box for them. He and mommy would take it to them. A “funny” now but not when it happened was when I was too young to help but insisted on it, so daddy gave me some onions to plant, well I got tired of planting them so I picked up a flat rock, put the rest of the onions under it. Daddy asked me if I was finished,, and of course I said ‘Yep”. He knew better cause he knew how many rows that bag of onion sets would fill.. well, a couple of weeks later, Daddy said he needed me to go to the garden with him..I was so excited until I got there and he picked that rock up and told me I needed to finish planting those onions. Those darn onions decided to grow out from under that rock , so he found them. I never pulled that one again. Daddy and mom both had a lot of patience..
I still garden but I do container gardens now as I don’t need as much stuff but still seem to have too much. I am thankful for my parents in the way they raised us kids, and I have been able to pass the same love to my children also. I know that if the time ever comes, they can garden, hunt, and cook from scratch. Some of my grandchildren cannot cook if it doesn’t go in the microwave , but when they come to visit they are interested in ‘helping’ me cook.. Hopefully some of it will rub off on them.. The sewing ‘bug’ has found my oldest granddaughter so I am pleased that I am able to teach her to sew just like my mom taught me.
Love your blog, you keep life interesting.
JudyL says
Helen: What neat memories. Thanks for sharing. I do believe those who grew up during The Great Depression, or had parents or grandparents who did, have a whole different attitude towards so many things. Maybe living off microwave meals is fine .. it’s something I hope I never do but the younger generation sure seems to do things differently. I am glad your granddaughter has an interest in sewing. You never know what kids make decide looks like fun.
Susan says
My grandparents owned a very large spot near Leesville, LA. They had a lumber business, grew their own vegetables, butchered their own hogs, the whole thing. I often imagine what it was like. My mother always had a garden, my aunt always had one, and I’ve often had one. It’s a method of provident living, and it’s a good skill to hold on to – gardening and canning.
Susan T says
My father grew up on a farm, but my Mother was a city girl. When they bought the house I grew up in, Dad planted the whole backyard in potatoes for the first two years. Then it was all transformed to lawn, trees, shrubs and flowerbeds. When they retired, they bought a home in the country and Dad was able to have a big garden. My family ate very well during that time, as we lived just ninety minutes away. I had veggies gardens at each home we owned over the years of military life. Some were tiny, but they all produced great veggies. Now we are retired and live in a town home. I have a small flower garden in front, but we made the largest garden we were allowed in the back. The “rules” state that only shrubs and flowers can be grown, but I tuck in a couple of tomato plants, some beets (a family favourite), and I grow herbs and cherry tomatoes in large pots on the patio.
Our eldest son and his wife are city lovers, and only have some house plants and herbs on their balcony. Our younger son and his wife have turned their balcony into a full garden, with only enough room to reach them all for watering. They are saving for a house, and want to plant the largest vegetable garden that they can. They’ve been looking, and have a list of “needs” for inside and outside as well. Fresh picked veggies are the best!
Regina says
I was at a historic civil-war era living museum last week, and one of the people there was demonstrating that it took TWO HOURS to grind ONE CUP of corn meal flour – and three were needed for one pan. It really put a lot of things in perspective -especially to the kids who were with me and were taught how much they would have had to help with things around the house just to eat. We also talked about the trees planted there – and the idea of planting trees as a food source and not just as ornamental objects. Totally different mind set.
Linda Steller says
We had a garden when I was young. I’m fortunate that I live in a city where I can walk or ride a bike to get wonderful things — go to a good restaurant, a fish market, twice a week farmer’s market, etc. I also have enough land that I can have a garden here in the city, but I too would rather move out of town.
I actually think people were healthier back in the day when you couldn’t buy all the packaged, processed foods. Sure, they didn’t live as long because they had to work very hard and didn’t have any modern conveniences to help them out. I sometimes think I was born 100 too late.
Rebecca says
Late to the party, as usual, but wanted to weigh in. I am totally a city kid. I grew up about 20 miles from where my mother lived when she was in high school (and her mother lived for the rest of her life) on 5 acres. My mother had to take a bus to school (there are now three high schools covering that area), so could never participate in extra-curricular activities. They raised chickens and turkeys, although my grandfather had an office job, and my mother just hated them. When I was growing up, my grandmother just grew fruit: apples, raspberries (yum), and wild blackberries we would pick by the gallon! My mother was an avid flower gardener, but not vegetables. We always had the Pike Place Market for fresh produce! In fact, we’d make a yearly “pilgrimage”, filling the Cadillac trunk with cucumbers for her fabulous sweet pickles and dill pickles, too. So to me, produce came not from the garden, but from The Market (at least it IS a farmer’s market).
In answer to your second question, I never thought about getting by on your own food–my mother did can things other than pickles, but there was always Pike Place–until I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. I had heard her on PBS talking about “ethical eating” and read her book. It really made me consider what is local, but I still don’t garden. I keep thinking about growing my own herbs, though; I know some would do well here in southern California!