What's Growing at Roots & Wings - August

This past week my wife and I did a canning presentation with the residents in Blackhawk Courts. We all piled into the van and headed over to Zion Lutheran Church which has a large meeting space adjacent to its certified kitchen.
 
The demonstration covered the safety and sanitation practices required when canning, and then we moved into the necessary canning equipment needed. Finally, we got into the actual processing of the cucumbers.
 
This season we had an overabundance of cucumbers on the farm, so this was a perfect opportunity to make some pickles. We had three participants, and we made two different types of pickles. The first was a bread and butter pickle, and the second was a dill pickle. As we processed the cucumbers, the participants started to get excited as they saw their efforts come to fruition.

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We brought several different vegetables we had canned previously to show them the possibility and for them to taste them. This included Salsa, tomatoes, and peppers. We also brought samples of recently canned pickles so they could see what they should anticipate.
 
As we started to wrap up, we got the assurance we were looking for, that “pop” from the canning jar lids to let us know they were sealed properly.
 
Everyone was excited and wholly engaged; we had to get out of the way after the first demonstration because they wanted to do it themselves. This was the first time any of them had ever canned, and stories started swirling about other things we could potentially can. We are already looking forward to plans to make salsa and jelly.
 
 - Tedd Snowden, Roots & Wings Program Director