I could not be happier with the change from hot, humid and miserable summer weather. We had a nice, soaking rain to refresh the lawns and gardens. My lawn almost immediately changed from crunchy and brown to green and soft.

As a child of Depression-era parents, I’ve always had a complicated relationship with food. I’ve been growing and preserving my own for more than 50 years. This column is most likely redundant as my comments probably have been expressed multiple times. Also, I apologize in advance for coming across as “preachy.” If you, dear readers, have had any experience with home food production, you already know this fact: food probably doesn’t cost enough given the time and effort to put something on the table.

Please allow me several paragraphs to describe my week.

Around 1975, I planted a tiny shoot of a Concord Grape vine. I never could have imagined what it was capable of providing. In the 2000’s my son constructed an arbor of locust poles to hold up the aggressive growth. I did some sporadic pruning and fertilizing over the years.

This week, my daughter picked about half of the crop and two bushels needed to be processed. The cleaning of the fruit is messy, time-consuming and annoying. The cleaned grapes are covered with boiling water and simmered to force them to release their juice. Then, they need to be run through several strainers, making sure to dirty every pot and pan in sight. Errant grapes are under foot and staining the floor. Finally, after hauling out the canning equipment, the actual preservation process can commence.

I have two old standbys for information. One is the 1977 Rodale Press copy of Stocking Up by the staff of Organic Gardening and Farming. It gives the proper time in a water bath. Then I use the 1963 edition of Freezing and Canning cookbook put out by Farm Journal. It tells how much yield in quart jars a certain amount of produce will yield. I never have to look in the index as all the pages I need are stained and crumpled by years of use. I’m happy to report that 30 quarts are on the pantry shelf and more in the fridge. For me, given the uncertain times in our world, it is one small measure of control.

I would encourage everyone to pick up a few non-perishables each time a grocery trip occurs. What with the tariffs and loss of farm workers through you-know-who’s deportation debacle, we don’t known what the coming months might bring. Just when I thought it could not get worse, I watched the senate hearing with RFK, Jr.

In 1796, the smallpox vaccine was invented after observing that milkmaids who had cowpox did not get the often fatal smallpox. When I first went to elementary school in Rexford, Pa., it was the only vaccine we received. It left a tell-tale scar. Some of my classmates had polio and all of us got measles, mumps, chicken pox and who knows what all. Thankfully, I was a polio pioneer in second grade and was spared that terrible affliction. My own children never had to experience any of the other childhood diseases.

Now, thanks to our present administration, we are facing a potential reboot. Have mercy!