Guest Post: Necessity or Luxury?

Okay, today we have a great friend, Lorie from Vintage Country Girl

She is from the Midwest, in fact, lives only a short 45 minutes from Vicki.

 And they got to meet this past early spring. It was awesome!

Lorie lives on a farm, with a big garden, barn animals and enjoys life with her hubby and two beautiful kids.
She blogs about all things creative... food, decorating, life on a farm, and her amazing kids.
I hope you stop by and meet Lorie and get to know her and her family.

So, take it away... Lorie!

Necessity or Luxury?

Canning and freezing food is not for everyone.

My mom was a canner.  She always had a huge garden and put lots of food away.  I  never thought I would do it. Then I had kids! And found out feeding them is expensive, and you never REALLY know what's in stuff you buy. The cost of food, good food, just keeps going up. It's ridiculous!

When I started, I started off small.  I made applesauce with my mom and sister.  I froze strawberries and made freezer jam.  My kids loved this, and I loved that I made stuff that I knew the ingredients of. My garden got bigger each year, (still does.) I've had help along the way.  I haven't done it on my own.  Phone calls to my mom asking whether I can do such and such are frequent.  As my kids got older, they started helping and Brent, my husband, does too.

Books like these are helpful.

Each year I try to master something new.  This year it was a copy-cat recipe for Pizza Hut pizza sauce.

 

It's good!

My one freezer is full already.

The other one holds meat from the pig we butchered. Don't get me wrong, it's a lot of work and often I wonder...is this really worth it?  Especially when a big chunk of money goes out for baskets of peaches or apples or grapes.  But in the end, it always is. There is such a surge going on right now for buying locally, buying organic, and going green with our eating.  If I'm the one growing it in my garden, and then canning or freezing it, I know what's in the final product. So even though I may complain over the hours it takes to prepare something to freeze or can...I know it's gonna taste good this winter to pull fresh fruit or grape juice out of my own stash.

So here's a challenge.  Start small.

Ask a friend or family member for help.

You'll reap the rewards over and over.

Thanks, Lorie! 

Gosh, I think I missed out!! I was supposed to head to Lorie's over the summer and learn this process, but life got crazy busy and I couldn't add another project to my life. BUMMER!! 

We hope you are enjoying our guest bloggers! We sure are!!

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Vicki and Barb