Sunday, September 30, 2018

It's Over.........


Yesterday I stood on the patio, a bright sunny Fall day and realized I had just run out of propane.  Hooking up a spare raku tank, my igniter was out of butane too.  I was also out of jars and vinegar, all signs it was time to stop canning, walk away, get out of the kitchen, save yourself!  I had given myself one too many vinegar facials.  Pictured above is  the final list of everything that has been packed away.  I did the final inventory this morning and fell to my knees when I realized I had not put up one jar of pasta sauce!  I checked this morning and they are still picking tomatoes out at the local farm but I talked myself off the ledge and double counted the jars of chopped tomatoes and thought just use those!  Do 2 people really need another half bushel of tomatoes..... NO! 

Here are the final pictures of very full shelves. (converted pottery shelves as this was my very first studio some 30 years ago).  





Soooo many people have pointed out how much work this is.  OK, it's NOT!  I prepped in the evening and canned the next morning.  Usually finished by 10 am or noon depending on what was being processed.  
I have memories of my great grandma's basement canning parties, butchering parties, lekvar parties (prune butter) being kind of fun for the old ladies. I am using the term "party" very loosely here, as these were short, wide woman rocking hairnets and sweating over bubbling pots or as memory serves me..... cauldrons, yup they must have been cauldrons and the Hungarian flew off their tongues.  As a little kid, ducking the under arms of these large woman washing jars, stirring pots and yelling, my only thought;  they had just had us kids to run stuff up and down the stairs a million times.  We ran dead, beheaded chickens from behind the garage, through the back screen door, down a flight of steps where a gaggle of women waited with open arms and scalding pots.  I can still remember the smells vividly.  It was a family affair and I was not super happy with any of it.  But at the end of the day, the food was pretty good, everybody was tired and the shelves or freezer was full.  Today it's a solitary adventure and I'm still running the stairs and counting jars on shelves and freezer.  Whatever happened to community canning centers or kitchens?  

The amount of food three woman could put up on a Friday or weekend, if it was high holy canning season, was staggering.  My great grandmother was still leery of the Kroger that had just come to town.  I remember riding in a big old Dodge every Thursday morning with the same woman now clutching coupons and comparing notes on what was on sale, while Great grandpa Frank got behind the wheel.  He could barely see over the wheel and after a couple blocks has to take a Nitro pill because there was no power steering.   I think back and can't believe how big that Dodge had to be, 3 large woman, one small man and two kids, who sometimes had to sit in floor wells behind the front seat.  It held all the groceries and got us back home.  We were not really squished.  Oh and they worn good clothes to go grocery shopping, sometimes rocking a hat........  Have you been to the store lately and looked around?   
Speaking of the store....... I spent $170.00 TOTAL.  The woman checking out in front of me spent $283.00 on food.  Because I am that creeper in the check out line, I had to ask;  How long will that last you?  She was feeding 5 and it would get her through about a week.  Catch me, I had the vapors!   I had been doing a quick inventory as her groceries rolled down the belt.  She did have a lot of processed food, frozen pizzas, pop tarts, some cereal with a gorilla on the label,  frozen pouches of doughy goodness, large Styrofoam trays of meat, lots of soft drinks, chips, large loaves of white bread and those things called Lunchables I didn't know they still made those.  Not being judgy, just observant..... ok maybe a little judgy.   I GET IT!  She works, is raising three kids, and and and .... I really do get it!!!  My Mom worked full time from the time I was five and it was nuts and thank god for the grandmas or we would have never eaten a real canned tomato.  And besides the woman dug a credit card out of her Michael Korrs hand bag and kept her credit card in Kate Spade wallet.  She smelled good and her nails were "done".  I looked like homeless person paying with change dug out of my garden jeans with holy knees and I probably smelled like a goat who sprayed down with barnyard pheromones .  So I guess it is about what makes you happy and what you want.  I want comfortable shoes, a shelf full of garden fun and I will work on smelling good .  

I have not done this for three years due to the gallery and show obligations.  I ran pottery pretty hard these last three years and didn't have a lot to show for it.  This year I realized my life is bigger than just pottery.  I have loved my yard and outside stuff this year.  Finding bugs, figuring out if they were good bugs or bad bugs and then blasting there little butts in a jar of soapy water.  I lost a few battles and won a few battles, like cucumbers and terra stigillata (studio stuff).  I learned hydrogen peroxide works on all plants and a bit of Epsom salts works wonders on the tomatoes and roses; not just as a flocculant for glazes!  I heard the birds again and left the spent echinacea heads up in the garden for the gold finches, now wearing there Sunday best colors.  I guess my worlds are starting to merge a bit and I'm kind of liking it.  

As I tucked the last jar on the shelf this chilly Sunday morning and climbed back up the steps to sunlight my brain boarded the pottery train.  Yes, just that fast!  I set up for a four day show on Wednesday!  Again, out of business cards and it's time to climb the pull down stairs in the studio and start bringing down all the booth stuff and empty boxes.  I have way too much inventory as I did manage to make pots all summer.  But the thought of digging all the crap out for a booth is a little dizzying, especially with the reoccurring theme of stairs in my life. 
I'm kind of over the woven pots.  Ya they are nice and the gallery's love them but they just don't sell that often.  I look at my shelves right now and I see fermenting jars, soup bowls, tea pots and for the most part.....  functional work.   I did sell one woven piece at the Lakeland opening and that was great!  But as I look over the past few months I've sold nice decorative stuff in the $45-$85 price range with no weaving, mugs, and a few bowls.  The woven stuff takes an incredible amount of time to make and I found myself weaving on the patio wishing I was anywhere else doing anything else.  I have an attic full of woven pots but the galleries want "new" work; something that hasn't been seen before.  These are all sure signs to move on to other things.  

I guess I'm getting there although I'm not sure where ........ peace out for now blogosphere :) 

6 comments:

  1. Well done you..I'm aiming to get back to canning instead of freezing next year.
    Woven pots?...They'll sell occasionally,like you say, but draw attention so that the functional ware sells...

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    1. Hi gz! I froze a bunch of stuff several years ago and hated digging through a freezer of frozen food on a winter day! I enjoy the jars much better. Mugs will always be my go to for warm sessions in the studio ........ and they do seem to sell :)

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  2. I have enjoyed following you on Facebook, but I so much MORE enjoy these full reports---you have such a vivid way of writing, I can just feel the canning parties... the large ladies... the headless chickens!

    BUT... prune butter?
    That I cannot place.
    Is it cooked-down plums? It sounds like something that you would spread on sweet dough, and bake into a kolachy or some such breakfast roll.
    (mmmmm)

    Enough tomatoes, and enough woven pots---I think it is very wise to recognize when enough is enough. Good for you!
    "It is about what makes you happy and what you want."
    And AMEN to that!

    You haven't mentioned the dog lately. Has he been helping?

    Have a good week ahead, and happy potting!



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    1. Hi Fresca! There is something about sitting down and actually writing. It takes me a while to collect my thoughts into some sort of conscious stream but as my kids are so far away these blog post seem a bit better to convey what in the world is going on on this half acre :)
      I have loads of pictures of the Kirby but I never seem to get his good side LOL! He doesn't do heat very well so the pictures would have been: This is Kirby sleeping, this is Kirby snoring, this is Kirby holding down the floor. We had several beach romps and quite a few very short early morning walks before the heat took him out. Now that the weather has cooled he is back to his puppy self and we are rolling again! Thanks so much for asking about him!

      Oh plum butter is just the best IMHO! I now cook prune plums down in the crockpot instead of bubbling cauldrons. I don't add nearly the sugar they used to either. In fact if the plums are sweet I don't add sugar at all! I like it better than butter because it has flavor and I really like on oatmeal instead of sugar. Pretty easy, just the way I like it LOL! And yes they are delish in kolachy!

      I think when I finally round the bend of my 60's the picture got a little clearer on what important and for me and what is enough. My these days it doesn't take much! Birdseed in the birdfeeder is currently at the top of my list :)

      Have a super fantastic week and loving your posts!! Running over to read your latest entry!

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  3. Busy days..enough to keep you out of mischief? I didn’t do much of a garden this year. We spent most of the time cleaning up mess from caterpillar infestations from past two years.
    The woven pots are beautiful, but I can see why you would be over them.

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    1. Hi Suzi!! No mischief this Summer but Fall is here so look out ;) Gardens...... they are amazing because I walked away for three years and thought I should just tear everything out and seed it with grass but then dug in and still it produced. Totally neglected and it waited for me to come to my senses. Argh on the caterpillar infestation! It was a pest year in the garden, I have never seen so many different sucking, munching, egg laying bugs! It was a battle this year! Not sure if it was the heat or the humidity or what I was growing but toward the end of July it felt like all did was walk through the gardens picking bugs off tender plants.

      Thank you on the woven pots but I have an attic full of woven pots and if I count up the hours of sitting on but weaving it's staggering. I do make them for me but as I got ready for the last gallery show and looked at how many I had I thought Wow you need to start exploring new avenues because you do not have the room to store one more pot. And so it goes........ have a great week. Can't believe it's Oct 1st!

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