Canning

It's a little late this year, but canning season has officially begun.  There is something very special about canning.  It, of course, is healthier than what you can buy, but it's stewardship and saving without hoarding.  Naturally, I eat fresh food for as many months as possible, and I'm even considering a few winter experiments for the green house, but the bottom line is, not everything grows year round.  If I'm going to have any fruits and vegetables in the winter, I need to can them.  Besides, the abundance through the growing season is too much to eat, even in small gardens.  One tomato plant can produce up to 50 pounds of tomatoes!  Besides, if I don't raise it and preserve it, I'll have to go buy it.

The other interesting fact about the abundance of crops this time of year, is even to try to give them away, others are enjoying abundance, as well.  It's those special recipes through the winter months that really make eyes light up and guests feel special.  Nothing makes for better neighbor relations than home baked bread with a jar of preserves in January, or a jar of special relish.  Although we don't visit regularly, the neighbors are all cordial.  Just today, as I went about my business in town, I thought, as for my journey on this earth, I truly am home.

For the time being, things are in place at the preservation, and the canning season should, YHWH willing, keep me busy until Sukkot, or perhaps longer, as it's early in the autumn, this year.  Not to mention, just one more year of gardening before the Sabbath year.  I've truly been seeking and trying to learn and apply the Instructions for the Torah observant agrarian lifestyle.  I had no idea how far removed our culture is from that understanding.  I'm learning.  Every day, I'm learning the plans YHWH has for me.

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says YHWH, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.  a Prophet of Holy Scripture