I’m having a little mini-obsession with the idea of canning. It all came about in an organic kind of way.
I did a Blog Love Week last year where I highlighted five of the blogs I was reading on a daily basis. One of those blogs was Small Measure, created by Ashley English. Her current life of homesteading represents in reality so many of the natural, back-to-basics concepts I believe in. Shortly after I wrote about Ashley, I won the September giveaway of Fig & Thyme Jam from her blog. Every month, she had been giving away a canned item that was in her upcoming book, Homemade Living: Canning & Preserving with Ashley English.
We used the jam as she suggested: baked with a wheel of brie (minus the phyllo dough) and oh. my. goodness! The smell alone could have won an award. The sight of me and hubby hovering over that dish of heaven while we consumed every bit of it was shameful. I needed to thank Ashley with more than a handwritten note, so I designed some simple canning tags for her to use in spreading that joyous, homemade food-love to all the people. She even posted about them here.
I was hooked. I love making tags. And thinking about designing a whole line of them with matching stickers was exciting. Plus, these were to label food…
homemade food…
from fresh ingredients!
Two obsessions married into one creation.
I’m excited and a little impatient for my CSA to catch up with my plans for canning. I purchased Ashley’s book and am loving it so far. I can picture all my jars of foodie goodness lining a shelf or two in the pantry. I’m enchanted by the possibilities!
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If you’re a canner (is that a word?) or if you know someone who loves canning, you can check out the tags and stickers in my Etsy shop here. They will also be available on my regular site soon with some customizable options.
Here’s to this paper nerd proudly turning into a canning nerd.
Oh I can so feel your canning enthusiasm! The labels are so sweet! I’ve always wanted to do canning, and reading about it on her blog (and yours!) makes it seem doable.
It sounds so exciting, having jars of goodies all put together by your own two hands. Canning is on my wish list of things to do. I love how you winning the jam, and making the labels, and the whole thing merged together.
I’m hoping to write about my own canning experiences here and perhaps share a simple tutorial, if I get the hang of it. Wish me luck, Anna. And thanks for your kind words!
[…] paper goods for the people who “put up” (you can read about how that came about here), I’ve had a few experiences canning my own food from our CSA. While I’m proud of those […]