I have been quiet here because I have found myself not knowing what to say after coming out about how Charcot Marie Tooth has affected my life. I had kept it quiet for some time and only those who were very close to me knew I had it. It seemed that once I let it all out I had trouble on being able to say anything else because I was not sure what my future was going to bring. I knew life was going to be very different after hearing those words: "it is the neuropathy affecting your back and neck; you need to be careful." I have been trying really hard to be careful and some days it works and others it doesn't. It is hard to know when you will get hurt because you got away with doing something the day before, but today it gets you!
I know what CMT has already taken and was not wanting to think about what else it could take from me. Not being able to run and play with Colton was very difficult and still is years later. This year I knew that things requiring the use of my arms and back may be out and was scared that gardening and canning might be one of those things.
We planted the garden and put in all of our beans, beets, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, squash, cabbage, and peas and the weeds took it over pretty fast. I feel horrible for letting it get that way and thankfully James and Colton found most of the stuff. I found the peppers and some of the beans, but I realized the garden will have to be much smaller next year. I thought about canning season since it would require being able to lift the canner, plus all of the motions of preparing the food to can and again that sick feeling came over me. What if I couldn't do it?
Someone on Facebook mentioned a store having cherries on sale and I love canned cherries! To me they are like candy so I though I would get some and try canning them since they are easy. I picked up about 10 lbs and figured I would start by canning plain cherries in syrup so I set to work washing jars, washing the cherries and pulling the stems off. Everything went smoothly and even lifting the canner full of jars and water wasn't too bad. I still had quite a few cherries left so I looked for recipes for cherry sauce to put on ice cream or cheesecake and found "Danish Cherry Sauce." Of course, it used pitted cherries so I looked around and found my great-grandma's cherry pitter. I used it a few times years ago, but it seemed like a huge pain because it only did one at a time. I started pitting the cherries and my thoughts wandered thinking about great-grandma standing over the sink with a bowl of cherries one by one taking the pit out. Then that made me think about a fresh out of the oven cherry pie! I kept pitting those cherries until I had enough and put them in the simmering syrup that smelled of cinnamon and vanilla. Then I ladled them into jars and processed them like the first batch I had made.
When the timer went off I lifted the lid and set the jars besides the other's to cool and was so happy to hear the first "pings" of the canning season! All of the jars had sealed! I picked up the canner and dumped the water down the drain and then realized that CMT hasn't taken this away from me! I washed all of the dishes and when I picked up that cherry pitter I thought about great grandma again. She wouldn't have had all of the fancy stuff we have now and at the time that pitter was a wonderful invention! It made making a pie with fresh cherries an easy task! Today we are so used to buying a can of prepared food and not thinking what goes into it. Canning makes me think about my grandma's and my mom. If it wasn't for them I would have never learned what it takes to be more self sufficient and to be more responsible for what goes in our bodies. It is a great feeling to pull a jar of food from the shelf and know what went into it--especially when it comes from your own garden! I feel more confident in the rest of canning season now and can't wait until the snow flies and I can pull out some cherry sauce and pour it over cheesecake!
I know what CMT has already taken and was not wanting to think about what else it could take from me. Not being able to run and play with Colton was very difficult and still is years later. This year I knew that things requiring the use of my arms and back may be out and was scared that gardening and canning might be one of those things.
We planted the garden and put in all of our beans, beets, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, squash, cabbage, and peas and the weeds took it over pretty fast. I feel horrible for letting it get that way and thankfully James and Colton found most of the stuff. I found the peppers and some of the beans, but I realized the garden will have to be much smaller next year. I thought about canning season since it would require being able to lift the canner, plus all of the motions of preparing the food to can and again that sick feeling came over me. What if I couldn't do it?
Someone on Facebook mentioned a store having cherries on sale and I love canned cherries! To me they are like candy so I though I would get some and try canning them since they are easy. I picked up about 10 lbs and figured I would start by canning plain cherries in syrup so I set to work washing jars, washing the cherries and pulling the stems off. Everything went smoothly and even lifting the canner full of jars and water wasn't too bad. I still had quite a few cherries left so I looked for recipes for cherry sauce to put on ice cream or cheesecake and found "Danish Cherry Sauce." Of course, it used pitted cherries so I looked around and found my great-grandma's cherry pitter. I used it a few times years ago, but it seemed like a huge pain because it only did one at a time. I started pitting the cherries and my thoughts wandered thinking about great-grandma standing over the sink with a bowl of cherries one by one taking the pit out. Then that made me think about a fresh out of the oven cherry pie! I kept pitting those cherries until I had enough and put them in the simmering syrup that smelled of cinnamon and vanilla. Then I ladled them into jars and processed them like the first batch I had made.
When the timer went off I lifted the lid and set the jars besides the other's to cool and was so happy to hear the first "pings" of the canning season! All of the jars had sealed! I picked up the canner and dumped the water down the drain and then realized that CMT hasn't taken this away from me! I washed all of the dishes and when I picked up that cherry pitter I thought about great grandma again. She wouldn't have had all of the fancy stuff we have now and at the time that pitter was a wonderful invention! It made making a pie with fresh cherries an easy task! Today we are so used to buying a can of prepared food and not thinking what goes into it. Canning makes me think about my grandma's and my mom. If it wasn't for them I would have never learned what it takes to be more self sufficient and to be more responsible for what goes in our bodies. It is a great feeling to pull a jar of food from the shelf and know what went into it--especially when it comes from your own garden! I feel more confident in the rest of canning season now and can't wait until the snow flies and I can pull out some cherry sauce and pour it over cheesecake!
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