s a kid, I absolutely loathed canning days. My mother had a garden that was so huge, it put the crop fields to shame. Over time, as my siblings have grown and moved out, her garden has gotten smaller and smaller. But, back then, it was enormous. My mom grew everything from sweet corn and green beans to peas, squash, potatoes, and tea.

During the summer, there were many, many canning days. Freezing and/or canning applesauce, beans, peas. Anything you can think of that you may buy in the grocery store, my mom grew in her garden. On top of that, we raised chickens and sold them by the hundreds every 6 weeks or so. I could cut up & bag a whole chicken (that had already been butchered, mind you) in less than 30 seconds. It was a science.

I remember complaining about all this work often because I was apparently an ungrateful, lazy child. One time, I said, “I will never do this when I’m grown up.” And my mom said, “What if you have a husband who likes homemade applesauce?” I responded, “Well, he’ll have to visit you then.” I told her that store-boughten food is fine and no one has died from it yet so I would just buy all my groceries.

Clearly, I wasn’t afraid to speak my mind. Also, how did I not drive my mother crazy? Or did I and she never told me?

I actually do buy most of my groceries in the store, but I can definitely tell the difference between store chicken and farm chicken. I don’t mind fruits & vegetables from the store either, but one thing that will never taste even slightly similar is frozen corn. So yesterday, I went to my parents’ farm bright and early to clean, cut, and prepare corn for the freezer. And now I have some beautiful bags of sweet corn that I can use throughout the rest of the year. Yay!!

I’m still not super interested yet in growing my own garden, but maybe that’s something that comes with age…