'Gardening is our time together'

Gardening is a way of life for 91-year-old Wanda Sanders and her son Jim, both of Fisk. Wanda learned to garden from her parents and she and Jim are sharing her knowledge with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Wanda began gardening as a “young girl at home,” she said. “Mom and dad farmed. We raised a garden. We did all our canning and putting up meat.”

As Jim spreads out seed catalogs, University of Missouri Extension information sheets, the Farmer’s Almanac, as well as canning and recipe books his mother has used for decades, Wanda said, “Here we go again.”

Wanda Sanders, 91, proudly continues to use her mother’s pressure canner. She routinely has the gauge checked. Photo provided

“My seed catalogs are coming in,” said Jim, explaining he enjoys “sitting, looking through them, figuring out what we are going to plant. It is a good thing to do at night.”

Farmer’s Almanac has a vegetable planting guide Wanda’s family “use to always get.” They also use the vegetable planting calendar from the University of Missouri Extension Service.

Jim looks in the almanac to see when the phase of the moon is the most favorable and “if the weather is right, I plant. You plan, but depending on the weather some years I just plant when I can.”

Jim and his wife, Kathy, thought it might be a good time to buy Wanda a new pressure canner, but Wanda’s reply was a resonating “No.” She would continue using the same pressure canner she had used all her life — her mother’s. Wanda remembers her mother buying the canner at “the old (Montgomery) Ward store on Fifth street (in Poplar Bluff).”

The canner doesn’t have a gasket, Wanda said. It is metal against metal. They have the pressure gage tested routinely at the extension center.

While Wanda is insistent on using the canner, Jim got her to ride the four-wheeler to the garden last year. Their garden started with a half acre and presently has grown to three-fourths of an acre.

Jim Sanders and his mother, Wanda Sanders, pose with some of the reward from their garden. Photo provided

“It has turned into a pretty good sized garden and just keeps growing. I try to plant something each year I have not planted before,” Jim said.

Wanda explained, Jim comes in and says “I got this seed or that seed.” Last season the new vegetable was kohlrabi.

Another reason the garden keeps growing is Jim’s grandsons and Wanda’s great-grandsons are involved. Daniel, 8, and his brother, 7-year-old Liam, spend six to eight weeks during the summer in Fisk and have been going to the garden since they began to walk.

“Daniel calls and says, ‘we need to plant watermelon and cantaloupe.’ When he says it, I get it,” Jim said smiling.

“Usually in the fall I plant turnips and different things for cover crops,” Jim said. “We do a lot of fall gardening — cabbage, broccoli, turnips, kale — so when the kids come Thanksgiving we still have things in the garden to pick.”

They planted a different variety of okra last year which didn’t grow as tall as the one the previous year.

Daniel Sanders, 8, and his brother, Liam, 7, enjoy the summers in Fisk helping their grandfather, Jim Sanders, and great-grandmother, Wanda Sanders, in the family garden. Daniel enjoys suggesting new plants to add to the garden. Photo provided

Daniel called to consult about the okra.

“Papaw I’ve been thinking about the okra. We need to put more water to it this year,” he said.

Chuckling, Jim admitted they’ll be planting the taller variety this year.

While the old ways are often best for Wanda, she doesn’t hesitate to try something different and finds she often prefers Jim’s “new” ideas. They use shredded paper as mulch in the compost. They also use newspapers which helps keep moisture in the ground for the plants. She especially enjoys the Chinese cabbage they’ve been planting and recommends others might want to try it in their gardens.

She also likes teaching the “younger” generations.

When Jim wanted an apron with a big pocket to wear to pick okra, Wanda replied, “I will show you how to make a pocket.”

Jim explained, she showed him, “At 91 she knows a lot of things I don’t know. My seam was not near as straight as hers,” he said.

Daniel helped can pickles, he and Liam snapped beans and shucked corn, Wanda said.

Kathy told the duo whatever they grow and bring in, she’ll cook. She really wasn’t interested in helping in the garden. Jim did “get her to drive the tractor last year to do the tomato posts” and was pleased when she said “I might like to do it.”

Last fall, the cabbage crop was so good, mother and son for the first time decided to can coleslaw.

“We thought we’ll just try this,” Jim said. “When Kathy makes a meatloaf we open a jar of green beans and a jar of slaw and we are ready to eat.”

They also freeze and dehydrate a variety of vegetables.

“We freeze tomatoes and peppers to later use in making salsa,” Wanda said. “We freeze corn.”

They cook turnip greens and kale before putting them in the freezer.

“We dehydrate quite a bit,” Wanda said.

The list includes apples, squash, tomatoes and okra. They vacuum pack them in bags or in jars.

Dehydrating squash to fry works really well, Jim said. They boil it in water about 10 minutes, drain it and Kathy rolls it in flour and cornmeal before frying it.

“Gardening is our time together,” Jim said. “It is a family thing. As far as the expense, we do not save money. We could buy canned goods a lot cheaper. It is just a neat way of life. We know three hands have touched our food: God’s, mom’s and mine.”

Liam and Daniel Sanders help their grandfather Jim Sanders harvest vegetables. Photo provided