Super Canners!

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We visited Don and Bonnie on their homestead north of What Cheer, Iowa today. They poured a new root cellar last year and now have it pretty well stocked, although they aren’t done canning yet- those empty shelves and jars are waiting to be filled.
This was a poor garden year in Southeast Iowa with constant heavy rain and flooding. But Don and Bonnie can as much as possible every year, and so their root cellar is still well stocked. Notice the canned beef and chicken from their own animals, jams, jellies and pickles, tomato products, beans, carrots, potatoes, etc. They are digging potatoes now, and will can the small ones, storing the larger ones in a box in the root cellar.
This reminds me of Don’s and my husband’s Mom, who canned this way, as well as Myrna’s and my own Mom. We had this kind of “fruit room” when I was a kid. Don and Bonnie share their bounty with their adult married children and grandchildren, who also help plant, pick and can. Then they can “shop” at Mom and Dad’s.
Myrna and I get our eggs from Don and Bonnie, and after the egg recall this month, were glad to know we get our eggs from a clean, well-run henhouse, where feed is kept secured from rodents, and the chickens are free-range, not overcrowded.
Thanks for the pictures to share, Don.

12 comments:

  1. Oooooh! Be still my beating heart! That is AWESOME! I LOVE it!!!

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  2. WOW! I certainly have canning lust after viewing this!

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  3. My DH thinks I can a lot but this is awesome! I'm so jealous!!!!

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  4. WOW!!! It's all I can do to get 8 pints of green beans done!

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  5. Call me weird, but I like pictures like this. All the jars of food are so colorful and pretty.

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  6. Beautiful! I hope to have that much one day!

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  7. I just recently started canning - maybe two years ago - I started with jelly and jam, and then pickles and salsa... I wanted to spend the summer with my gram to learn more about what she does to can, but she just passed away about a month ago, so I was blessed to find this site - Very informative! hopefully I can make Gram proud!

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  8. So sorry to hear about your Grandmother, she would be proud of you for just trying. Glad we could help.

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  9. So jealous! What a great job!

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    1. They are still canning this much...although every year they say they aren't going to garden this much.
      We're happy they share some of their garden bounty with us that we can cook and can...neither of us now has room for the size gardens we had in the past.
      Bonnie shared cherry pies this week made from their cherry tree pie cherries that her mother planted years ago - what a treat!

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  10. WOW!! How long does that take to can??

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    1. They can all summer as their garden produces, and like us, can meat and poultry when they butcher, usually in the fall or winter.
      Luckily, they both are proficient at canning and work as a team, although Don canned alone after he retired and Bonnie was still working. Their married daughter also comes to help, as she benefits with food for her growing family too.
      I'm lucky that their mother taught both Don and my husband to both cook and to help with canning...sure nice to not have to do it all alone!

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