Although I grew up in a creative household, one that assumed "making stuff" was not only normal but expected, I still get jazzed when I do some makies that have an historic element to them. In this instance, the history involved canning tomatoes using jars that my mother used when we were kids and her mother used on The Farm. I'm guessing some of the jars in my stash go back 80+ years. Add to that the canning kettle that I found at Goodwill (for a mere $6.99!). It was dinged in places and a tad rusty - clearly it had been used for some years.
The tomatoes came from a pick-your-own farm near north of here that's provided acres of well-grown vegetables for a couple of decades now. Since The Farm has long since been sold, goodbye to the massive vegetable and fruit garden my grandparents kept each year; and since the grape vines that grew in our backyard when I was a kid met their maker over 40 years ago. . . this vendor farm is near and dear to my culinary heart.
So that was my day today: washing, coring, blanching, peeling, 'jarring', and hot-water-processing 18 quarts of tomatoes. Is it the best thing I ever did? Not really. Does the world stop to notice? No way, and why would it? But do I feel like I stepped into History with my makings? Oh yeah, a very big yeah! Some personal fun and glory is what went down today.
hey! it's been a lovely day! everything is going my way
i had so much fun today and i'm on fire
god it's been a lovely day everything's been going my way
ever since you went away hey i'm on fire.....
i'm on fire...
i'm on fire...
so you don't want to hear about my good day?
~~ from the song "Good Day" by Amanda Palmer
