“Home canning in the United States made a pronounced appearance during World War I, maintained a steady following through the Great Depression, peaked during World War II, suffered a substantial decline after the war, and has been regaining popularity since the 1970’s (USDA.gov).” Canning is a skill that is not only beneficial to a family to keep fresh fruits and vegetables all year long, it can help a family save money by using local agencies that have equipment share opportunities. Boyd County Homemakers view food preservation as an important life skill and partnered with local extension agent and SNAP Ed assistant to make food preservation as a focus of a plan of work implemented for the JR Homemakers and for summer day camp classes. Through these efforts over 300 pints of pickles, approximately 100 jelly jar size of jams, over 60 bushels of beans, and 30 quart size jars of spaghetti sauce were properly preserved using either pressure canner or water bath boiling method.  The National Center for Home Food Preservation conducted interviews about home canning and freezing practices with 501 adults from households randomly selected across the U.S. (nchfp.uga.edu/educators/natl_survey_summary.html). 

Results from these surveys show that food preservation is not as popular as it may have been and not everyone uses approved researched based methods, equipment or recipes. A few statistics discovered during the surveys: 27% of respondents reported canning food at home in 1999; 48% of these individuals obtained their canning instructions from friends or relatives while 19% consulted cookbooks for the purpose; 67% reported using their home-canning instructions "as is", while 29% adapted them for use; most common products canned were vegetables (71% of respondents), followed by tomatoes/tomato products (60%), and then fruits and fruit products (47%); USDA recommends boiling water or pressure methods for canning fruits and tomatoes. 58% of 103 respondents canning fruits and tomatoes used a boiling water canner, 15.5% a pressure canner, and18% a pressure cooker. A rather high percentage (21%) used the "open-kettle" method (no processing after filling), and almost 4% reported using the oven for "canning" method. 

Establishing food preservation classes for adults, families and youth allows Boyd County to take a proactive approach to increasing the number of individuals with an interest to preserve their own food as well as increasing the number of individuals and families that know the approved scientific based correct method and proper equipment to preserve food safely. Attendance at the classes totaled 33 adults and 243 youth and everyone had at least two one and a half hour class sessions focusing on food preservation with the maximum being four sessions. This is the third year this program has been growing and 12 of the 33 adults made this their second time attending. This is the first year that the program spread to include so many youth. The youth sessions focused on basics: what is food preservation, how can a food item be shelf stable, what is a safe way to preserve food, what is a low and a high acid food. Continuing to teach the safe correct methods and equipment to preserve food at home will create individuals and families that have the knowledge that will allow them to help their family during a time when preserving food at home may be a necessity, but it also allows them to cut down on food waste as well as keep their harvest throughout the year.