Neighborhood Canning

Here is a way for local leaders to boost food storage efforts and also strengthen friendships.

Each Labor Day weekend, Bishop Mark Harston and Sister Karin Harston of the Buckley First Ward, Auburn Washington Stake, have been inviting ward members as well as friends of other faiths to join them in a fall canning project.

• On the Saturday before Labor Day they organize a two-and-a-half-hour trip to eastern Washington, where they pick and purchase fruits and vegetables from local farmers.

• Then on Monday, Labor Day, the participants gather at the Harston home, where work crews inside and outside the house prepare food for canning.

• Using camp stoves and tables set up in the driveway, the group keeps six pressure cookers operating all day long.

A few weeks later, Bishop Harston goes back for grapes, then a week or two later he makes a trip for apples; both fruits are made into juice.

The canning activity does far more than contribute stewed tomatoes, salsa, soup, or juice to the food storage for these families. It also nurtures feelings of goodwill and neighborliness.—Edgar Eaton, Auburn, Washington