Story
My name is Wanda Grisak. I live and work in Alberta, Canada. My husband Pat and I spend a lot of time camping in Western Canada and the US. One of my favourite things to do while camping is to investigate the small rural towns wherever we go. Not only is it interesting to learn about the local history, but most towns have a Farmer’s Market with goods and produce from the surrounding community. Fresh local produce from growers, meat and chicken from meat producers and a bottle or two of local wine make for fabulous campfire meals. We particularly like to support these local farmers and producers. Whenever I can, I will purchase in quantities large enough to preserve for winter meals. I have been canning and preserving over half of my life. In my early teens, it was expected that I would help out in the kitchen whenever there was work to be done. My mother was a hard worker, who always preserved the fall harvest. We had a very large garden on the farm. It was necessary as there were eight mouths to feed and even more when cousins, friends and other family members came to stay for days at a tme. Mom, my sister and I would spend endless days canning and preserving the vegetables from the garden, fruits like crabapples and wild Saskatoons and even chickens from the hen house. The cupboards and pantry were always full to capacity with jams, jellies, pickles of all types, raspberries, saskatoons, cherries and more. Canned chicken was one of my favourites along with the peas, carrots and beans that we preserved from our large garden on the farm. One of my all time favourite canning recipes I inherited from my Mom is her pickled beets. It’s the one recipe I think everyone should try. It will get you hooked on canning just like I am.
I started this business because of my love of canning and the desire to share that knowledge. Home canning has taken a back seat in the past twenty or more years. Fortunately for me, I have continued to home can. It has been part of my whole life. I was taught to can by my mother, who was taught by her mother and so on, through the generations. There has been a resurgence in the interest to can your own food, as a new generation has become more aware of where their food is coming from and as the farm to table movement takes hold. I’m now teaching my daughter and her friends how to can. Unfortunately, many people don’t know how to home can because it is a process that has skipped a generation. Hopefully, I can help to fill that void by sharing my knowledge of home canning gained through 35 years of trial and error and finally, success.
"The pride and satisfaction I feel when I look in my pantry, full of home canned items, never fades, year after year. "
As I said, my husband and I love camping. Camping is not only the perfect way to travel, to enjoy the country and to get back to nature, it’s also inexpensive. We have a travel trailer, which is the perfect size for a short weekend trip close to home, yet roomy enough for a longer trip that could be a month or more. It’s also large enough that I can actually use the kitchen for canning. What can be better than hitting the local farmers market, picking up produce that just came from the farm and processing it within hours? The cardinal rule of canning is too process the freshest produce at its peak ripeness. You’ll know why, when in the winter you open a jar of tomatoes for that sauce you are making or a jar of raspberries to go with those brownies and ice cream. The pride and satisfaction I feel when I look in my pantry, full of home canned items, never fades, year after year. I know exactly what went into that jar and I know exactly how much money I saved with every meal.
