Hey there,
My name is Kathy DiStefano Griffiths. You’d think that with a maiden name like DiStefano, this site would be about cooking Italian food rather than about canning and preserving. And… boy… can I cook up a mean pot of spaghetti.
But… this site is about the long standing tradition of canning and preserving food that was pass down from the other side of my family…the Confederate, Southern side.
My grandma Ella came from South Georgia and was… as she put it… “dirt poor.” Her momma, Victoria, worked in the fields and planted a garden with the help of her 6 daughters and one son. They learned to live off the land. They bottle, canned, and dried everything they could get their hands on to prepare for the winter. Even though it didn’t get real cold there, winter crops were limited.
My momma was born and raised in Savannah, Georgia and came to the West to marry my Italian father. (That’s another story.)
Out of necessity, my momma, learned to can and preserve food and of course my five sisters and I were trained to do the same. The old tradition was passed on.
I was born and raised on the Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains in Utah. I still call it home.
This site is about sharing. Sharing, not only the techniques and skills of bottling and preserving food… but the stories that I remember that went along with the process. This site is dedicated to my grandma, Ella and my momma, Evelyn.
Thanks, Grandma and Momma, for teaching me the skills… and above all thank for the memories.
