When I think of learning how to make homemade jam, I think of grandmas teaching their grandchildren. However, I never had this experience growing up. One grandmother is Asian, where I’m pretty sure jam doesn’t exist, and the other one, I’m not sure if she knows how to make jam. So one of the experiences I was looking forward to on the farm was jam-making.
When I first arrived on the farm, I saw that the jam was for sale in their farm store. It came in multiple varieties such as blueberry, raspberry, apricot, peach, you name it. There were so many, all neatly lined up on the shelf. As I met all the different employees and family members on the farm, I quickly learned that it was my boss’s mother that made the jam. Actually, she was more than just a jam-maker: everything she made was delicious!
Recently I got the opportunity to learn how to make jam with her. I joined her in her kitchen, where she had her jars and ingredients ready. I followed her instructions as she taught me how, and listened to her stories about the farm and her family. As I was proportioning the sugar into the bowl, she mentioned how her grandson usually did it, and it just made me smile. The boys on the farm were so lucky to have their grandmother so close to them, and to be able to spend that time with her, learning how to make jam and other food. And it made me realize that even though she might not be my grandma, I was still getting a chance at that experience I never had. I got to have somebody older and wiser than me sharing their knowledge that their grandmother shared with them. It was so much fun, and it was so exciting seeing our finished product in the store.
homegrowntiger 