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.