Any Gardeners or Picklers?

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Backstory: I was raised in the house my grandfather built on his father's farm. Two doors down the road lived the family my father grew up with. The house up the road was owned by one of those kids. The next house down the road was owned by the daughter of the family three_doors down the road. I grew up with the kids that lived next door on both sides. Thus, we were all related by location.

By the early 1980s, my Father had retired, the oldest child of the family next door (down the road) had graduated college, but was working and living at home. The second house down the road was occupied by Grammy G's middle-aged confirmed bachelor son. When I was a kid, Grammy G, my mother, and maternal Grandmother would do canning together. On occasion, they would also do baking together, but frequently sent stuff back and forth between households. By the 4th grade, I was as wide as I was tall.

But, returning to the 80s, my retired Dad and the neighboring bachelors found themselves in a rather intense gardening competition. The guy next door, the youngest competitor, gave it a good few years. Being single and employed, he brought some new toys to the mix. The Older bachelor, having less income, responded with more tilled acreage. Dad bought a new 25-hp 4WD Diesel tractor to replace his 1930s John Deere B to easily plow and prep the expanding "garden". Initially, it was "how many rows did you plant"? But, that proved too easy........the younger ones had youth and strength, Dad had the tractor and free time. Of course, being overly proud of his new tractor, Dad surrendered his competitive advantage by plowing his competitor's gardens.

The new goal became how quarts did you can? The younger bachelor dropped out. The Old Bachelor was going great guns, his long-time girlfriend was helping. Dad's Girfriend was drafted (shanghaied) onto team Dad. This lasted a few years, more rows planted, more quarts canned. One year, Team Dad did 100 quarts of green beans and 100 quarts of tomato juice. Eventually, Team Dad ran out of shelf space in the cellars of both houses. Who really has use of more than 10 quarts of tomato juice in a lifetime, if you aren't Italian?

Instead of facing defeat, Team Dad found a new goal.........how much produce could he sell. He had a great sign, listing all the produce and the prices by the bushel. For every actual "sale", I'm sure he gave away 10-times that much. But, in the spirit of the competition, Team Dad "sold" all those bushels.

Sadly, time waits for none of us, Dad's girlfriend's health failed and we lost her. That ended the gardening.

But, recall all those quarts of canned vegetables? When Dad passed away and we prepped the house for the estate sale....my Aunt, my mother's kid sister, said........"The Amish will pay good money for those jars". For a couple of weekends, I, my Aunt and my oldest Sister......opened, dumped and cleaned hundreds of canning jars filled with years-old food. Some of it was 40-yrs old. On the day of the sale, the Amish had something else to do. I threw every one of those jars in the dumpster. Happily, I still have my Aunt and Sister to remember our great business venture...