During the monotony

Straw cattle shed on my grandparents farm

When you finally determine efficiencies in your process and begin to produce hundreds of jars of pickles or jams on a daily basis, there are some good things that come with that and then there are some bad or shall I say 'less good' things.

The good things are obvious, such as being able to sell to more stores, be part of more farmer's markets, etc. The 'less good' are things like - you wake up after a busy week in the commercial kitchen and find yourself staring at 1,000 jars that need to be labelled. Hopefully one day I will look back on this post with a warm fuzziness and find myself laughing at how time intensive the process used to be now that I own a labeller and it is all done more or less automatically. But for now, I sit and swear and feel my mind turn to mush as I label jar after jar after jar.

To break up the monotony of this task I will do things like watch tv, get up after every 2-3 cases and get some water, make a tea, read one of my favourite blogs to see what other people have been up to, annoy my dog Betty Boo, call someone, etc. But more and more often in this moments I find myself turning to my gran's journal.

On this day in the years 1937-1942 here is what she found herself doing.

June 20, 1938

So very hot and sultry. Smoke all the way from Peave River. Worst fire in history of the province ravaging North Country. Over to Grandma's in the afternoon. Roy works at shop.

June 20, 1939

Bright sunshine. So under the weather. Roy had to mix bread. 13 little chicks from pig pen. Roy thrown from plow in afternoon comes in sore and stiff. Can 6 qts of rhubarb jam.

June 20, 1940

Cold and windy. Reseeding peas. Roy tilling summer fallow. Cultivate garden in evening. Some things reviving so rows to follow. Beans, tomatoes and cucumbers quite gone. Ray wieghts 17.5lbs

June 20, 1941

Cold and cloudy, strong wind. Light frost this morning. Roy ploughing about sick with cold. Carol and I pick nice lot of strawberries. Children to Rosyth to play ball. Win for once.

June 20, 1942

Rain stopped. Rosemary at school. Garden gorwing fast but so many weeds. Cut out shirts for Kenny. Misfit somehow, must make alterations. Leo walking around in crib.