“It may be well to remind the housewife that the Pure Food Laws of this nation do not guarantee the purity of food products. All they vouch for is that the food complies with the label outside.”

I found this little tidbit in a book that I purchased about old-time brand-names. This book has a wealth of information in it. It is not all about food either. Women are described as having freedom in the kitchen and in the bedroom.

Freedom in the kitchen is attributed to the invention of the freezer. Meals are frozen and ready to pull out and cook. The book was written at the close of the twentieth century so there have been numerous changes since then. Now, you can purchase meals ready to prepare – the advertisement says in just a few minutes. I have never tried any of these meals so I cannot vouch for their ease of preparation.

As for freedom in the bedroom, they tout the arrival of contraceptives for that. Women can decide how many children to have and when to have them. Deciding ahead of time certainly trumps having an abortion after the fact.

The section on bananas interested me. There were pictures of bananas in various stages of ripeness. The book said not to eat bananas when they are partially green. What! That is the only way I like them. I always look for green bananas and let them ripen at home. I have found that if you separate them and put them into an opaque plastic bag, they stay edible for several days.

The book I referred to said bananas were at their peak when they had brown spots on the skin. Sorry, but that is over ripe to me.

Our ancestors ate by the calendar. What does that mean? It means that they ate whatever was fresh at the time. They ate strawberries only in June. They ate tomatoes and corn in July and August. Today we are so spoiled. We can get fresh produce all year round.

My daily devotion reminded me today that fresh produce is not available to everyone.

When a lady went to her food bank, she was delighted to see fresh squash provided by a farmer. She took some home. The next year she brought a load of squash to the food bank. She had dried the seeds and planted them. She wanted to share her bounty with the community.

On Sunday after the service, we talked about the general population being so unaware of how food is produced. Men and women actually plant what we eat and watch it grow. Presuming that they have a good crop they than have to harvest it and get it to market.

People are urged to buy locally. That means that they go to the farmer to purchase what they need. They may visit a market or go directly to the farm. I visit the little Amish market that is just up the road for most of my produce. I always check to see what they have ready. Yesterday I purchased a watermelon for $2.50. The butternut squash was $1.75 and they were big. The fresh tomatoes were $3.00 a basket so much cheaper than purchasing them at the store.

This year Ball canning jars are celebrating 140 years. That is a long time for a company to be in business. Today the jars are all clear glass, but in the past, they were a variety of colors. I knew they produced blue and green jars but I had no idea that at one time there were pink, yellow, and purple jars.

The website I visited showed the company logo. If you have some old jars, you may be able to date them by comparing the logo they give on that site.

The women before us used these jars to preserve food so that they could have some of the produce they grew during the winter season.

Canning is a lot of hard work, but it well worth the effort.

Home canned things have a different taste. When I canned my own peaches and pears, they were nothing like the ones I can buy. Even the applesauce is not the same. If you think you like the applesauce from a jar, try making your own. You will marvel at the wonderful flavor.

Ann Swanson writes from her home in Russell. Contact her at hickoryheights1@verizon.net.