Eliminate the canning overwhelm
These days, we are working on eating down our 2024 canned goods from our stock to make room for the fresh products in 2025. I was reorganizing my tomato sauces the other day and reminiscing to our first year on the farm when I tried (and failed!) so many things.
I grew up canning with my mom, but she always was leading the project. I’d often be chopping apples, or stirring the pots, or filling jars. She would take the lead but I’d help out as much as I could.
As a kid I didn’t think a whole lot about the process for canning. I knew how to do it, but I didn’t actually can on my own until summer of 2017 when I decided I wanted to can peaches in the small kitchen in our townhouse that we lived in at the time. I remember feeling a level of anxiety not knowing exactly what I was getting myself into, but once we got going and figured out a process it worked great.
Fast forward to the summer of 2019 which was our first season on the farm. I did everything - and when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING. I had over-planted my garden and ended up with more produce than I knew what to do with. I found myself canning tomato sauce, pickles, jams, applesauce, and so many other things during the course of that year.
I learned a lot. I made more mistakes than I can count. But, I found that canning really gave me a level of joy that I had never experienced.
I am the kind of person who dives in and asks questions later. I had the framework and understood the canning process from my years working alongside my mom, but even I felt a sense of overwhelm that first year on the farm in 2019.
Canning is such a rewarding experience, albeit, it is a lot of work. I realized that if I was feeling a sense of overwhelm delving into my own projects, people who were starting out and venturing on their own for sure were feeling that stress.
This eventually led me to write an e-book to help demystify the process of waterbath canning. I wrote this e-book thinking of the true beginner in mind, someone who had bought the jars, the canner, and the jar lifter….but didn’t know where to even start.
I had the privilege of meeting one customer who had bought our e-book at one of our farm markets a few years ago. She showed me a picture of her 80 tomato plants and told me that reading my e-book allowed her to feel confident canning tomato sauces, salsas, and more.
You may want to start canning but you’re not sure where to even begin. We can help! Learn more about our ebook at the link below.
