Louise Johnson poses in her garden Saturday, Aug. 10, 2008 in Auburn, Maine. Johnson recently took a canning class and plans to can produce from her garden.
Posted on 09/03/2008 3:42:26 PM PDT by Graybeard58
To Amy Hobbs Harris, a dozen jars of strawberry preserves are worth $391 — the amount she estimates she'll save in a year by canning the fruit herself.
Not that she normally would spend that much on jam. But the savings add up once she factors in other uses — giving them away as gifts, for example, or stirring the preserves into plain yogurt instead of buying pricier flavored cups.
Harris, 33, of Tipp City, Ohio, started canning for the first time last summer, putting her a bit ahead of a trend seen around the country: as food prices rise and the economy declines, more people are turning to home canning.
"I started canning to save money," said Harris. "I really love the self-sufficiency of it, that I know where the produce started and what the process is."
Harris, a literature professor who chronicles her efforts to pay off her credit card debt on her blog, "My Daily Dollars," considers canning a frugal way to enjoy high quality ingredients. Though she has a garden, most of what Harris cans comes from her local farmers market.
"Especially in the winter, when I go down in the basement to get the jars, it's a nice feeling," she said. "So many things are unknown with the way food is produced that it feels really good to keep control of it."
The trend is reflected in the sales of the popular Ball canning jars and supplies, said Chris Scherzinger, vice president of marketing for Jarden Home Brands, maker of Ball products. Retail sales of Ball canning products have increased nearly 30 percent this year, and sales of the company's plastic freezing containers have doubled over last year, according to market data from Information Resources Inc.
"It fits with what we've seen historically from the 1970s and even before then: when people tighten their belts, they focus a little bit less on convenience items and convenience foods and focus a little bit more on staying home and making their own, whether you're talking about food or fun," Scherzinger said.
Louise Johnson of Auburn, Maine, grew up tending her parents' garden and has planted her own for several years. But she didn't start canning her produce until this summer, when she no longer could stomach the thought of paying higher prices for food packed with preservatives.
"The straw that broke the camel's back was the economy," said Johnson, a 33-year-old mother of three boys. "But the underlying reason is healthier food — we're tired of food that has tons of sodium, preservatives and all the nasty stuff they put in food that you don't have to be eating."
Alice Mullen of the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension said the canning demonstrations she offers at farmers markets around the state have begun attracting larger crowds.
Kathy Savoie, who has been teaching canning classes through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension for 12 years, said she usually offers four to eight workshops in a typical summer. This year, she has 25 scheduled through the fall.
She anticipated the demand back in the spring, when she heard from a huge number of people starting gardens for the first time.
"This year has been a real surge," said Savoie, who attributes the explosion in interest to three factors: the economy, retiring baby boomers seeking a simpler life and people who want to extend their access to local food.
Cramming everything from tomatoes to zucchini into glass jars is part of Johnson's family's overall plan to insulate themselves against economic uncertainty, she said. They've also cut down on driving and are installing a wood stove.
"We're working at more long-term solutions as opposed to being so dependent on oil and grocery stores, which seem to be whacking out right now," she said.
Louise Johnson poses in her garden Saturday, Aug. 10, 2008 in Auburn, Maine. Johnson recently took a canning class and plans to can produce from her garden.
Buying a couple of bushels of tomatoes this weekend.
It is not so much the “economy” as it is the slow food movement with people who like to cook. I know I have made many moves to cut my food costs, such as buying larger cuts and doing some butchering to growing my own things. All for love of food and preventing waste, not concern over cost or source.
Nice, I think it’s great that Americans are realizing they can do it themselves instead of buying processed canned food.
One dozen jars of Strawberry perserves cost 391.00?
That would be about 32.00 a jar!
Once you’ve stocked up on the supplies, you’re pretty much set. And even they are pretty inexpensive.
I used to freeze a lot of homegrown, but the cost of maintaining a big freezer in this economy ...well, it’s not very economical.
I freeze sweet corn off the cob. I also spent a lot of nights as a teenager cleaning smelt for the freezer.
“cleaning smelt”.....UGH....I remember doing that! They are sooooo small!
In Maine in the spring, we use a bucket in the estuary streams to catch them they are so abundant.
Does this bring back memories?
Smelt...omg, had a whole bunch of them this summer. I think they’re my favorite fish. The tails are like crunchy bacon.
For anyone interested in living ‘off the land’ and buying local, I highly recommend the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver. A family decided to buy only local for a year, the book chronicles their planting, harvesting, planning, butchering. A really great read, plus a ton of information about our food chain and absolutely great recipes in every chapter, based on homegrown goods.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.