Well, it’s that time of year again… football, school, sweaters (finally), haunted houses (ugh..), Indian corn, pumpkins, and don’t forget canning! Yes, that lost art of preserving goods grown in the family garden! Now, I’m one of the most selective eaters to ever walk this earth (some say picky, I prefer selective), and I’m not that into garden foods. Maybe some corn on the cob, and that’s about it. Although if you have some green beans, I’ll play with them, I make canoes out of the pod. Anyway, our garden is filled with tomatoes for the most part, eww. We also have a grape patch, which is highly ignored. As I would cruise by on the riding lawnmower, though, I noticed it seemed to be coming along rather nicely this year. Of course I don’t like grapes, but I thought my parents would be interested to know, and the next thing I know their stinking up our kitchen with grapes, steam, and what are they doing? Yeah, canning the grapes for grape juice. Why? Just go to super Wal-Mart and buy some Welches. In the kitchen I discovered the tools of trade. Then I went back to watching football.
With that said, anyone who takes on the task of canning should be admired. As I say, it’s a lost art form. Kids today know nothing of canning or how it’s done. And people defiantly don’t have time for a garden, or canning, so they think. What I find interesting, is the canning jars. Did you know that most early canning jars were made in nearby Washington P.A. by the Hazel Atlas 
Company? It’s true. Hazel Atlas headquarters were in Wheeling, West Virginia, and it’s also where a lot of the glass lids were made. Aside from canning jars they made a DELIGHTFUL assortment of glass containers that today are highly collectable. Most of these pieces are quite charming, Americana at it’s best. In 1956 Hazel Atlas was purchased by the Continental Can Company, and soon after that glass containers were history. The canning jars have also become collectibles. If you find one, and it has a certain blue tint to the glass, you’ve found a gem. When it comes to the blue tint jars, each has it’s own personality. The small bubbles and imperfections give them a certain aura. What’s even more important is they’re not being made anymore (at least ones with personalities!). Each one is a treasure! It’s also become popular to fill canning jars with buttons or marbles. That’s ok I guess. Buttons and marbles are cool too. Besides the jars, Hazel Atlas also produced miniature canning jars and sold them as banks. Quite cute. I’ll probably stay away from the grape juice when it’s opened,
but I will admire the effort that was put into canning process. If you’re an avid reader of my page, you know that I help with the removal of estates. When we handle a house that’s been lived in for 70+ years, in the basement it’s always common to find a box of the family’s canning jars. If they’re not of the blue tint type, then they usually don’t even sell at our actions. Sadly, my short tempered boss doesn’t even try to sell the clear glass canning jars anymore. Most times they are taken to the dump and broken, not even recycled! Tragic! But that’s what canning has become to many people, a mere act of the past that’s unimportant in today’s world of Super Wal-Marts. Although canning seems to interfere with football season, and fruits & vegetables are gross, I will at least pay tribute to the jars that once helped feed families during the winter months.
