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The Wonderful Kay Davis of the Greenbrier Ext. Agency

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Some of a participants delicious canned salsa! Fresh from the garden!

The Alderson Canning and Freezing two day workshop was truly a learning experience for ALL involved. I made sure to emphasize the word “all” due the fact even the most experienced canners and freezers left the workshop with new and important information to take home. Before taking the workshop I had heard several ( and I mean SEVERAL) ways to can, yet had my supposed canning knowledge shattered when Kay Davis from the Greenbrier extension agency came to town. I quickly found out that how my wonderfully sweet grandma had been doing it for the past fifty years was far from the correct way but most importantly safe way. The word Botulism never concerned me and now every time I see a jar of my grandmothers marinara sauce the big, bad B-word flashes right in front of me. I know, I know… it really is probably safe to eat that delicious jar of marinara but from now on I will have to say goodbye to Grandma Gleason’s canning methods and stick to the ways of the WVU extension agency just for safe measure. At the end of  both canning and freezing workshops I definitely left the Alderson Community Center with a greater confidence in my canning  and freezing abilities than when I began and more importantly I left with a a few delicious jars of sliced tomatoes and blueberry cinnamon jam!

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               We were very protective of OUR tomatoes!