2000-08-13 - 12:30 MDT

August 13, 2000

What Once Was

In the time of my early childhood some produce was shipped via refrigerator cars on the railroads, things that grew in tropic lands or things that didn't grow near Denver, like Washington apples - which shipped fairly well.

About the time the good, tasty, tender things began to ripen at the truck farms around town heavy action really began. I can't remember the order of canning, which came first has been lost to the dim past. But as long as the growing season was with us canning was Emperor.

I remember begging bites of the things I liked and tasting things not yet experienced, finding out now and then a new delicacy.

My helping was in the peon area, removed from where the boiling water was used, but I was a good jar and lid washer and pretty good as a gofer around the kitchen. I managed to help enough to be favored with goodies as they emerged.

Some of the things I loved were:

Tomato Preserves, Chow Chow, Picalilly (sp), Pickles of all kinds, Green Beans, many various preparations using tomatoes, Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Preserves, when Pie Cherries were canned there was at least one pie made for our enjoyment that night, later on in the summer Peaches from the Colorado Western Slope started coming in to the stores and all the various preparations of peaches were put up, including the peaches studded with whole cloves for the winter holidays.

The were breaks in between and the women did other necessary things around the house.

Around town there were many yards planted with green onions and crunchy radishes and with Concord Grape vines. Also the grapes could be bought at the stores and outdoor vegetable stands. During Grape Jelly time it seemed as if the kitchen area was totally purple. Even then my favorite phrase was, "Any Jelly is good as long as it is Grape Jelly," and that feeling remains to this day.

It seems that the kitchen was steamy and hot all summer when canning as taking place, and the different smells, wow. After the canned stuff had cooled, I helped taking the jars down to the cellar and watching the picky-picky process of shelving them. Some stuff would be there from the previous season and it was taken off the shelves and looked at for spoilage and set aside if it looked a bit off. The new goods were then put in and the old stuff put in front for first use. I remember the long rows of sturdy shelving at most of the houses I visited.

My uncle built a root cellar in his yard and stored stuff in it, when we visited he would send potatoes and things home with us.

The routine of self survival was evident to us, growing up around the summer activities in the kitchen. All this ended pretty much when the Great Depression hit -- out on the farms it still happened, but not much of it was done in the city -- heck, whatever came into the house was consumed then, there wasn't enough left over to can. Then World War Two shoved us backwards into a buzz saw, men went to war and women went to work for the most part, there wasn't time to can then.

In my memory I stand in front of those long shelves in the cellar and mentally taste all those good things, and wishing to be back there again.

After the War many women kept on working, the houses got smaller and there wasn't much room to store canned goods and canning became something what once was.

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