Today’s guest post was written by Fred McPeek.
Mom and dad always had an absolutely huge garden. Even when he had to barter for a piece of land to garden from time to time. The last year at the Wells Farm dad, my brother Tom and several nephews were helping dad pick vegetables from the garden and I can still see so clearly they picked 21 bushel of Half Runner beans, mom’s favorites, in one day. They brought them to the kitchen porch and because dad needed the baskets they had what was either a television or dryer box that they dumped them in. It was the most beans I ever saw them pick at any one time. Mom immediately started stringing and breaking beans. She loved nothing more than canning fruits and vegetable as well as what they had in two freezers and crocks which mom and dad called stone jars. They also dried green beans which you call leather britches and here we call them Fodder Beans. I like your name better.
My parents worked so hard their entire lives but as hard as my dad worked mom was the one that never seemed to stop. When we were growing up she’d work all day and when the rest of us went to bed she’d stay up and paint or wallpaper or whatever. It’s no wonder that that same summer as the 21 bushel of beans that she had her stroke. I don’t know what year it was but the most mom ever canned was the year that she canned just over 800 quarts. Dad would cut cabbage on the kraut cutter and they would fill those big stone jars. Most were around 10 gallon but the biggest must have been twice that. They also pickled meat, made salt pickles, school girl pickles, horseradish pickles, pickled beans and I can’t remember what else at the moment.
Speaking of pickled beans I’ll tell you a funny story.
Dad’s sister, my aunt Louise and her husband uncle Homer still lived down state where dad was from. So, dad’s youngest brother, also named Homer, and his wife who grew up in the city in Sandusky, Ohio where they lived were visiting my aunt Louise and uncle Homer one year and of course aunt Audrey was out of her element. So while they were there aunt Louise told her brother that she had a dozen quarts of pickled beans for him to take home. She told aunt Audrey how to prepare them.
So several weeks later back in Sandusky aunt Audrey said one morning to uncle Homer that she was going to fix him a quart of the pickled beans that night for supper. He was so happy. But, when he got home from work that evening and sat down to supper there were no pickled beans. He asked her where are the pickled beans? She said “You know Homer I opened every quart of those pickled bean and they were spoiled and stunk so bad I had to throw them all out.” He said “Damn it Audrey, they’re supposed to smell like that!” Poor uncle Homer. He had to wait till the next year when he went back down home to get him some pickled beans.
Mom and dad loved any kinds of greens and that included wild greens. Dad knew several by sight as did my older brother but mom could identify over 20 kinds. I wish I had written them all down. One spring shortly before my mom passed away my brother Tom phoned and told me to tell mom that he was going to pick her some wild greens. She was delighted. I hung up the phone and mom sat there in the kitchen with me a few minutes and she said “Hey, call Tom and tell him to make sure he picks some poke.” I did and hung the phone up only to have mom tell me to phone him back and tell him to pick some lambs quarters. Again I phoned Tom and he and I had a little laugh. I no more than hung up the phone and she said “Call him back and tell him to get some young berry briar.” Again the same thing happened..next it was squaw cabbage, then milk weed, and so on. She kept remembering all those names.
That is such a happy memory for me. He picked her a big mess and she told me just what to do to cook them. I made a big skillet of cornbread and her and dad ate until I thought they would be sick. I’m so glad I got to do that for them.
-Fred McPeek
I hope you enjoyed Fred’s post as much as I do. After all the years of growing and putting up green beans Granny still gets excited about it—in fact I believe her excitement and pleasure over putting up green beans increases with every year.
Last night’s video: Appalachian Birthday Supper & How to Make Roasted New Potatoes.
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I often feel like I was born in the wrong time. I have put up hundreds of jars this summer. Usually, the only limit for me is running out of jars. I can for other people, too, that either don’t know how or have lost the physical stamina to do so. This is in addition to raising a huge garden, 8 hogs, 40+ chickens, & sometimes turkeys. I go pick fruit at local places & put all of that up, too. We are actually having to go buy another freezer today. We just got our 600+ lbs of pork back & have completely run out of room. Hunting season started on Tues & Hubby got his first deer of the season with his bow. Space is the biggest problem for me. Next weekend we will make about 50 gallons of cider & I DO NOT know where that will all go, because we usually freeze it. I also have lard to render this weekend & 2 bushels of pears to can. I gave myself the ‘night off’ and went to have coffee with a friend last night. I was so tired. I had hauled filled jars up the stairs all evening to store in our crawlspace & then helped my husband lug the pork in to fill the freezers. The coffee tasted good, but being able to sit down ‘tasted’ even better. No free time, but its all worth it. There will be plenty of time for sitting & knitting in January.
Coxey’s Army (the organizer was a fellow named Coxey) was a protest against high prices and hard times in the 1890s. I’m too trifling to take the time to check on the details, but I’m pretty sure Coxey was a Midwestern fellow. The march of the army descended on Washington, D. C. and sort of set the standard for subsequent protests in the nation’s capitol.
Judging by the prices of stuff in the grocery stores and current economic conditions, we may be about ready for a modern day Coxey to emerge.
As for today’s story, I’m absolutely thunderstruck at the idea of 800 quarts of green beans. I have to reckon I’ve strung and broke my share and then some (Momma was mighty intent on canning a lot of beans), but it would take a lot of hands a lot of hours to prepare that many beans for canning.
I’m surprised that creasy greens weren’t mentioned in the list of wild salad greens.
Not to be too pedantic, but it was “Coxey’s Army” (the first march on Washington DC). The leader was arrested for walking on the grass at the US Capitol.
I really enjoyed the story today. I think back to when my parents had their big gardens each year and we all worked together to save everything we could and shared with neighbors and kinfolk too. I remember there was corn, green beans, peas, butterbeans, carrots, cabbage, squash, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, turnip greens and collards. I could always see the joy on my Daddy’s face during this time because he was so proud to provide for his family. We always had hog killings in the winter. It was rare that we ever went out to eat. My first time eating at a McDonald’s was when I was in high school. Seems like all the kids want now days is fast food and if you look at the lines wrapped around the buildings I would say that’s definitely true. I can’t get a good hamburger here unless I cook it myself. Have a blessed day everyone!!
Those were great memories Fred shared. I can’t imagine canning 800 jars of anything, but wow that would be one well stocked pantry/cellar!
Thank you for sharing Fred’s stories with us. They were a joy to read.
“I think of my canning as fast food, paid for in time up front.” –Barbara Kingsolver
I just told my husband and son this past weekend that they need to get us a deer this fall; I miss my canned deer meat!
Opening a jar of something you’ve canned is just so satisfying, and nothing tastes better.
Opening a jar of something you’ve canned is just so satisfying, and nothing tastes better. The jars of deer meat you opened for the girls girls birthday dinner looked so good I hope to try some one day . I love all animals and it’s hard for me to see one killed but I have to say Matt does it with such respect for the animal, the way he cleans it and is providing food for the family it’s not just the sport of killing something he has a purpose, for food. It’s commendable.
Thank you for the memories with this story, Tipper. I so love poke. Haven’t had it in YEARS!! My late momma could name the greens right off the top of her head too. She said my late Granny would take a paper bag (a poke bag as my Granny called it) and go along the tracks and bring it home plum full of different greens. Momma said she new they were in for a feast at supper time!!
I remember well how mom would can all summer long on up until sometimes past first frost. I don’t think she ever canned 800 quarts, but her goal was always 500. This taught me well, and I guess that is why I do most painting and deep house cleaning in the bleak months of winter. There are just too many interesting things to get into in the spring and summer to waste time pulling out furniture to clean.
The garden was started early with all children participating. We always made time to also go pick wild greens, but I do not trust myself on selecting them now. Early season would be wilted lettuce and tender mustard greens fried, then fried green tomatoes and whatever else was available. The busiest time for mom was when those half runners came in. She would go nonstop. An early memory was a big tub of water in the yard over a fire, and it would be full of jars of green beans. Later, at some point, she purchased an American canner, then another used one. I am still not sure why, but I enjoyed snapping beans, washing jars, and sometimes peeling potatoes. Life could be boring if you didn’t involve yourself in some kind of work.
My cousins and an uncle still laugh about my uncle trying to blow up something with firecrackers, and the blast sent all my aunt’s green beans flying. Nobody was hurt! Honestly, all I could think of was how much work my aunt had put into canning all those beans, so I never saw the humor.
800 quarts! That’s enough to feed Coxe’s Army! There is probably a very good story in just where all of them went.
It would be a very good read if one could find a “Complete Story of Home Canning”. Done well, it would have to have the context of economics, transportation, jar production and innovation, kitchen ranges and fuels, alternative preservation means and goodness knows what all else. I suspect that overall home canning was a bridge between a primarily agricultural society to an industrial one, a time of major transition. I came along just at the frayed ending of it when electricity and/or gas had become commonly available and largely changed everything.
And about transitions – I blundered into an example awhile back. We were in a hospital cafeteria and I was going to go back and refill my water cup. The lady there said, “You have to get another cup. You can’t reuse that one because of covid.” I was not going to do it at first then she said again, “Just go back and get another cup. It’s OK.” I told her, “Old habits die hard.” My raising stays with me. I am not a throwaway kind of guy. I find it troubling that we have come to mostly that mind.
Ron, you brought back a memory for me! Mama is the only person I ever heard use the term “Coxe’s Army.”
As I have said before in my comments, we grew and depended on a large garden for our food when growing up. At least 95% or more. Only a few items such as coffee, tea, cornmeal, flour, milk and a few other similar items.. We knew nothing about a lot of the food we eat today. I have always loved green beans, to the point of eating so many when I was a kid until I made myself sick My wife’s parents continued having a large garden and canning and freezing a large amount of their food. Two of the largest chest freezers would be full by this time of each along with over 100 quarts each of beans and tomatoes. She would sometimes add a touch of vinegar to her green beans that I loved and this is truth, her creamy Merit corn was so good, I have ate some for desert. They continued to do this until they past away in the last few years, both in their mid 80’s. They would work 8-10 hour shifts and come homes and work over into the night in the garden and putting up their food. My parents also did the same.
I have been thinking about this and I want to ask everyone to say a prayer for one of the members (Gene) on the BP&A. He lives in Daytona, Florida and seems to be close to the forecasted path of Hurricane Ian. I know he will get a lot of rain, wind and maybe a .tornado
Oh, my, yes. There is nothing to compare to those pickled beans, preferably with some corn in them, and a big cake of cornbread! Food fit for a king.
And yet another gem…this time the humor is understandable…pickled anything might have a ‘funky’ odor. God bless Tipper and yours.
I so enjoyed the story myself from Fred! It was almost like I could see his busy mother and dad working hard! The take away from these stories is Americans used to work hard and enjoyed the fruits of their labor. If we last, we will head there again. It was a wonderful way of life because people loved and respected each other, lived by a moral code, and didn’t shun hard work. Something fundamentally fell apart starting in the early 1900’s leading to the full blown dissipation in America today…
My southern Ohio Grandma and my west central Illinois Mother-in-law were the only ‘greens pickers’ in my recollection. Grandma was visiting us on the farm in the early ‘50’s when she introduced me to picking Dandelion in early spring. I don’t recall the flavor of the dish…only that someone went out & picked weeds!
Many years later in the ‘80’s I do have a clear memory of the picking, washIng, scalding, frying with bacon grease, sugar, vinegar & chopped boiled egg when my husband’s mother prepared Dandelion greens. Delicious!
What a lovely story Tip! I’ve cooked a lot of those wild greens she mentioned, and they were really fine to eat. These were the old ways. My grandmother also had hundreds of jars full of food in her cellar. My granddaddy said she had so many because she had lived through a time when there was not enough to feed the family and she wanted to make sure that never happened again.
Thanks, Fred, for the memories!