Summer Nights and Apple Butter Sandwiches

Outside of all of this, Mom did all of her own canning each year, around the time of the harvest. Mom and Dad worked very hard to feed us kids, Dad growing the vegetables and fruit, and Mom canning it. She would can over two thousand jars in the hot summer months, doing most of the canning at night when the temperature was a little cooler and us kids were asleep. Sometimes I think Grampa stayed up to help her. She canned every kind of preserve, pickle and tomato you could imagine. Her apple butter was my favorite. I would have an apple butter sandwich every day, after school. She had thousands of Ball jars and huge crocks. A basement full of what would be very expensive treasures today. I remember the day, after us kids were all grown and Mom was at card club, Dad decided his wife wasn’t going to do any more canning. He packed up every one of those jars and big crocks and hauled them off to the junk yard. When Dad told Mom the wonderful news, she was furious. I am not sure she ever forgave him for that little favor. Just one of those large crocks would bring a small fortune today. (Note: There’s a good list of Mom’s canned goods in Bob’s memories)