One of the annual events that I started once Babci moved to my town is making red current jelly. It is truly a team effort and it reminds me of the old barn raising days where the community gets together to help each other.
A Great Sense of Community
Every year, my mom grows a bumper crop of currants. She has about 8 bushes and each bush has loads of tiny berries on it. If 1 person were to try to pick them all, it would probably take 2 full days to do it. So when it’s time to pick, I call up all my friends and they’re kids and we go currant picking in babci’s yard. In 2 hours, the bushes are picked clean, people can take what they want and babci cooks a big polish meal for anyone who wants it.
Most people who’ve tried to clean the berries and make they’re own jelly have realized it just takes too much time, so they leave the bounty for us and collect a can or two of jelly later. Babci spends about another day washing and sorting the berries. They grow like little tiny grape vines, so she separates all the stems and reject berries and it usually yields a batch about the size of those 3 pots shown. This year we had a late frost so we only had about 1/3 of what we usually do. Unfortunately there is just as much picking, but there were way more rejects.
Canning
This summer, it was just way too hot and I was way too busy to do my canning until this past weekend. These berries freeze perfectly, so I waited until it was nice and cold outside before I had all the burners going on the stove. I’m definitely a clean freak when it comes to canning, so after dinner on Sat night, I sterilized the whole kitchen with vinegar and hydrogen peroxide and at 4am on Sunday, I got to canning. It took about 8 hours from start to finish before I had everything done and I’m very happy with the results. I made about a case of currant and 1.5 cases of seedless raspberry/currant jelly.
Slow Food
You know, there’s something about cooking food from scratch that makes me feel more sane. My husband totally doesn’t get why I would spend 8 hours on a weekend making jam when our lives are so packed as it is. First, I’m not wired to sit around, but second, giving myself the luxury of doing something that’s time consuming gives me the illusion that I do have time to spare. If I can spend a day canning, then life’s not so bad after all. Plus, I don’t want to wait til I’m retired to do all this stuff. I am convinced that you can make time for the things that are important in your life. If you really want to do something but don’t have time, ask yourself if it’s a priority or if lack of time is just an excuse to not do it. (Exercising comes to mind.)
My kids love to cook with me too, so I usually get to kill 2 birds with one stone. This year they were still sleeping during my canning madness, but usually my son loves the mashing the berries step.
Questions:
Does doing something that takes a long time make you feel more busy or less busy? For me, it does help me slow down and relax. Committing myself to several hours to one task forces me to stop rushing around. Try it sometime and see if it’s the same for you.
Do you foster a sense of community in your neighborhood? Part of the reason I love the Berkshires so much is that people are willing to help each other. It just makes me want to do more and more of it.
Does anyone want a can of red currant jelly? I’m thinking of doing my first giveaway tomorrow. You think folks would want a little piece of Babci?
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