San Francisco Bay Area Leadership Circle Oct '08 - Feb '09

   There are many things in our lives that we do differently today than we did years ago. As I reflect, I am beginning to question the modifications to some of these processes. I have often heard the explanation that it is a reduction in cost, time, consumer demand, and energy, or some combination of these to manufacture an equivalent product. Here however, I disagree. The product is not equivalent.

One example of something done differently today that comes to mind is a simple jar of blackberry jelly. Growing up on a farm in a home that once housed four generations at one time has provided me with a wealth of experiences. One such experience was that of helping Grandma make blackberry jelly. She, my sister, and I would go out to the berry patch to gather as many berries as we could in the morning. In the afternoon, she would start to wash and cook the berries to get the juice. Then she added sugar and SureJell (funny how we remember the brand names of the important stuff). It would cook for a little while longer. Grandma would spoon off the little bubbles that formed around the top of the beautiful purple liquid as it cooked in the pot and put them into a bowl, she said the jars would not seal right with the bubbles on top of the jelly. We got to eat some of this on saltine crackers through out the day as a sort of reward. When it was time, she would put the jelly into the jars that would later be stored in the basement until we needed them during the cold winter months ahead. That evening though at dinner we would get to have some of the jelly on a slice of homemade bread and butter. There always seemed to be enough leftover in the pot to nearly fill a jar but not enough for it to “seal right”. We would get to use it then. By the time that jar was emptied, the snow was beginning to fly.

            Today as deer season is upon us in Ohio, I am reminded of cold packed venison. When it is preserved in this manner, the meat has a wonderful taste and is so tender it practically melts in your mouth. It is not difficult to do either. First you must find a hunter willing to provide you with a deer. Next, cut up the meat as you want. {My best friend’s father taught me how to butcher years ago on his farm.} Fill the canning jars to the neck of the jar with the meat, fill the jar with water, and add a pinch of salt. {I am not sure if the salt is for taste or better processing but Mom said we’ve always done  this.}  Finally you put a flat, a round piece of metal with a coating of rubber on it that will form the airtight seal, on top of the jar, and a ring, a threaded metal band that will hold the flat in place during processing, then just process the jars. Once again, the jars are taken to the basement for storage until they are needed in the future. And of course the last jar wasn’t quite full and its contents were dinner that evening.

            After  a jar was brought up from the basement and the contents used, it was washed and returned to its shelf to be used again next year. Only if the mouth of the jar was chipped would it be removed from the line up of jelly jars. Even then it would find its way into a new line up, holding something like coins, washers or something that did not need an air tight seal.

I still preserve venison. But rather than cold pack it, I freeze the cubes and ground meat in plastic storage bags. It is a much easier process. Cut the meat, put it in bags, and put them into the freezer. Then, when I want to eat it, I just get it out of the freezer, thaw it and cook it. This meat is good enough to use for main dishes. However, even after it is cooked,  it is not nearly as good as the cold packed venison straight form the jar.

            The bushes are still there though the fruit are not nearly as big nor are there as  many. I would still have time in the summer to find my way to the berries yet for a wide variety of reasons, our family has resorted to purchasing jelly at the local supermarket. I find myself grumbling this jelly isn’t like what Grandma made.

At our annual Farmer’s Market meeting it was noted that the consumers are still looking for home baked goods and a wide variety of produce raised without herbicides and pesticides. There is a demand. The resources exist. The knowledge of the processes is still firsthand.

 I began this  paper with the assumption that no one does things the way they used to do them. As I continue to look around me, I find that many people actually do complete tasks in the old ways. There is a desire to find these products again. One may simply need to work a little to find the products or producers.

 In my classes, students are often amazed that I am able to find something to keep myself occupied when I do not have the necessities of highspeed internet, satellite or cable  television. Some wonder out-loud how it is that I am not bored stiff with nothing to do. I have explained to them on numerous occasions that I live on a farm.             There is always something to be done on the farm.