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| Jarring: A family affair |
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Most mothers would love being able to enjoy the company of their grown daughter during a day of cooking in the family kitchen.
For Kathy Keylor, it’s an everyday occurrence.
Kathy’s daughter, Paula Morris, travels from the nearby Keylor family farm (where Kathy’s and Daryl’s son, David, still tends the soil) to help with the preparation, cooking, jarring and labeling of Kathy’s Kitchen products.
On the day Marketplace visited the Keylor homestead in Virginia, pickled beets were being prepared.
“I got up at six this morning and started to put 50 pounds of beets on for cooking,” said Kathy, who buys fresh beets in bulk from Michigan producers in late fall and keeps them in cold storage. “At eight a.m., Paula arrived and we measured and prepared our mixture of white vinegar, sugar and spices. We added the beets and brought them to a boil before simmering.
“We then cool and jar the beets. Tomorrow we’ll print our labels – with a freshness date – and put them on. From there they will be put on pallets and taken to our warehouse here in Virginia, where they will be picked up by or shipped to clients.”
The Keylors purchase their jars from Arkansas Glass Company “by the truckload,” Kathy said. Approximately 65,000 jars were used to meet demand for her products last year.
Though many of the Keylors’ products – such as jars and sugar – must be purchased from non-local vendors, Kathy strives to make the production of her delectable condiments a community, as well as family, affair. For example, in 2007 the Keylors purchased two tons of cucumbers grown by a local FFA chapter. |
| 5/21/2008 |
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