The Beginning....

This is my Grandmother, Rosetta Finley. She lived through the Great Depression, a World War, and raised 4 children. This woman lived through some of the toughest economic times, and survived with family fed and healthy. How? By doing what good southern women have been doing for hundreds of years, growing and preserving her own foods. This is the woman who taught me that jams and jellies don't begin in the grocery aisles. She taught me that tomatoes and zucchini flourish in sunny areas, and that bees love flowering strawberries.
I was lucky enough to spend my summers with my grandparents, away from my Southern Californian citified existence. Arriving in Arkansas from Los Angeles was always like shedding my skin. I would leave all the noise, the expectations, and people at the airport, and arrive in a large open expanse of green pastures, welcoming smiles, and southern cooking. I could run wild on 3 acres of lush green grass dotted with large leafy trees. I could play 'pirates' on my Grandfather's small fishing dingy. I could watch cows graze along their property line from a porch swing, while bees buzzed around my Grandmother's nearby zucchini patch. I always knew I was "home" when my Grandfather would squeeze the life out of me with one of his Superman hugs and say, "Hey there, Sugarbabe." I miss those hugs.

On one of my first trips "home", I was taught the art of strawberry cultivation. I was 6. We spent hours picking red juicy heart-shaped jewels from a winding jumble of green. My Grandmother would tell me that snacking on them while picking was prohibited, as she put one in her mouth and winked. My Grandfather would watch us from his lawn chair "office", which consisted of 2 white plastic chairs set under a tall shady tree. After seeing we had picked about 5Lbs worth of berries I asked, "who are we selling these to?" My Grandmother balked at my question and my Grandfather laughed. I was quickly rushed from the strawberry patch to the kitchen, unceremoniously handed a large colander filled with our freshly picked berries and told "wash!" I washed. Then I watched in wonder as my Grandmother took out from her pantry (that scary walk-in food closet with the swinging light bulb on the ceiling) 12 beautiful empty glass jars with various fruits and vegetables embossed on the sides. "This is what we do with those berries" she said. "We grew them, we're gonna eat 'em." And eat them we did. Between crushing and cooking the berries, we produced one dozen ruby hued jars filled with the sweetest tasting jam I had ever tasted. I was hooked. "What's next?!" I asked excitedly. My grandmother smiled and said, "Shoot girl! We got a garden full of stuff!" And so my love affair with food in jars

began...

Now, I'm married and have children of my own. Three, actually. Three kids running around needing to eat, drink, and be kids. Except, it gets more and more disheartening to see on nearly EVERY ingredients label in the grocery store the one ingredient that should make you pause and ask, "REALLY?" High Fructose Corn Syrup is in everything from the Strawberry Jelly you spread on your toast in the morning to that diet soda you can't seem to resist... 5x a day. HFG is a very, very bad dude. Sure, it makes everything sweeter, but that is not always a good thing. It also causes our bodies to crave more sugar. Obesity rates are up around our country and others, and the rate of HFG in everything has also gone up. I never would have thought myself an advocate for healthy "hippy" eating (as a friend of mine puts it), but my own diet soda habit began taking a toll on my health. Then I watched our children devolve into wild lings in order to have a diet soda, and then another...and another.

It made me really take stock and ask myself if Diet Soda is really worth failing kidneys, thyroid issues, and weight problems. Then I remembered my Grandparents. They both lived long and healthy lives. Why? Because they might have smoked like chimneys, but they ate their own fresh and preserved foods. They never suffered weight issues, and from what I can remember, they were always active in their garden and on their land. I can still see my Grandfather sitting on top of his lawnmower, motioning for me to jump on for a spin around the yard. I wanted to give that to my children. A chance to grow up eating healthy and how healthy foods go from the garden to your table, no matter what season.

Then the most extraordinary thing happened. My husband was offered a job overseas...in Italy. We jumped at the chance to experience a whole new culture, life, and existence. We were lucky to find a home in the country, not far from the bustling city of Naples (Napoli) that included 3 lemon trees, 8 orange trees, 8 olive trees, a pomegranate tree, and a plot to plant a garden. We jumped right into planning our garden space and asking local farmers at the markets what the best times to plant and harvest were. The Italian farmers at first were perplexed. "But you are American. You come, you stay, you eat, you don't grow..." Oh no, this family is most definitely going to grow, and preserve, and live off the land as much as possible. Our friends Paolo and Theresa are always there when we need help with any major land cultivation. This year we get to learn how to pick and pack our own olives. Stay tuned for that one! Paolo also has the awesome (yes, I said AWESOME) habit of dropping off a few things from their own garden.

Free Zucchini is always welcome in this house. And so are peaches, tomatoes, strawberries, pears, plums, melons, onions, and... and... and....

By being garden and farmer's market savvy, I have canned our way into saving a ton of money on our grocery and eating expenses. I've learned new recipes for things I didn't know you could or would want to try (Watermelon pickles, anyone?) And I have become acutely aware of the need to store when the season is giving you an abundance at a great price Because come winter, having those fruits and veggies tucked in a pantry makes it extremely easy to whip up a cobbler, bake a pie, or enjoy the culinary masterpieces you created in a jar.

Thank you Grandma Finley, you have successfully passed down a valuable lesson to your granddaughter. I will be forever grateful for your patience, love, and understanding of a little misguided California girl. You would be proud of our pantry : )