My guess, if we’re honest, is Not very often.
Last week I attended my first Cooperative Extension “Preserving Alaska’s Bounty” class. It is taught by Roxie, a woman who’s been teaching preserving food for longer than I’ve been alive.
Over the next 7 months we will be learning canning (fish, meat, tomatoes, beans…), jams & jellies, sausage-making and more. A different topic each month with an angle toward what we can grow or gather here in Alaska.
I went in with great trepidation, afraid of looking like some kind of ‘nut’ who’s got the audacity to imagine I could live off the land with just a few more of these skills.
What a relief to find the class overflowing with folks that are just plain interested in having more control over the food on their shelves.
“I am a home economist,” Roxie said, introducing herself. “I teach living better at home.”
Before we left for the night Roxie gave a blurb about the cheese-making classes she’s teaching later this month. Her way of warning the mozzarella was *work* was saying that most students continue to buy it just because it’s such a complex process.
She didn’t ever try to hint that “better” meant easier, and she made no apologies or conditional statements to go along with that. I am delighted to meet such a knowledgeable and energetic lady, and look forward to learning all I can from her.
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It was useful to step back from the EXCLAIMITORY! aura of the marketing world that insists one can have both easy and better. My experience has contradicted that enough times that I now gather encouragement from simple truth-telling.
Yes that novel is worth the extra draft.
Yes eating at home is worth the health benefits.
Yes working with weights is the way to go.
Yes, eight hours of sleep each night will make everything better: relationships, attitudes, health, stamina, creativity.
Is it easy? Uh, NO. But I have no doubt it is better.
It never ceases to amaze me how the best things in life are the hardest.
I can’t wait to find out how sausages are made!
Great post! Especially with food, easier is not better. I’ve been reading Ruth Reichl, and the work she puts into food – sourcing it, cooking it, and writing about it – sounds so worth it.
I second your thoughts completely! Anything worthwhile is so worth the efforts, too. The difference it makes in living, in creating, is so noticeable, and beneficial, in so many ways.
It’s taking me a while to learn this, I think. I’m lazy by nature, and so I want easy and better. I think I’m getting there, but very, very slowly. Thank you for this reminder that I need to work, and that the work is worth it.
I do quite a bit of canning, but more for my own personal desires and tastes more than whether I think it’s better for me or not. I can’t stand store-bought jam, peaches or applesauce so I make my own of all of those. I usually do grape juice and tomato soup as well. The rest I’m not ready for yet.
This was a great post–I was wondering how the novel was coming along and how you were doing in general.
That cooking class sounds really great. My mom used to “put up” green beans, tomatoes, jams and jellies, etc. I don’t. Beans, maybe, but never jelly. I appreciate them in the store.
Hope you are doing well!
chris