Bobbie Green, UC Master Food Preserver Online Program Volunteer
County of residence: Stanislaus
My name is Bobbie Green. I’m a fairly new Master Food Preserver, having completed the training in 2024. I'd been looking for an opportunity to get involved with the MFP program for several years, since first learning about its existence while living in Oregon for a few years. After retiring, I found that we just didn’t have a program in Stanislaus County, where I currently live.
Nonetheless, after retiring from teaching elementary school for thirty years, I started preserving a plethora of food using a variety of techniques: canning, drying, pickling, and freezing. I perused the internet, looked through many books, and used methods passed down from past generations. Slowly I filled my pantry shelves with pickles and peaches, jams and jellies, and vegetables from the garden, mostly pickled. I used my seal-a-meal, continuously sealing filled bags with dried tomatoes and fruits.
Finally, I heard that an online program was opening that specifically catered to counties that did not offer a MFP program. I jumped at the chance and filled out the paperwork immediately. I have to admit, I thought I might have a bit of a jump start, and that it wouldn’t be difficult for me given all the practice I put myself through over the past few years. I mean, I thought I already knew a lot about the topic but knew I had some holes to fill.
I’m going to admit, now, that I was way off base! It turned out that there is so much more to learn about (safely) preserving food than I even thought possible. My belief that I knew a lot because my mom did so much food preservation when I was growing up was slowly replaced with the realization that I was just doing what I was told as a child with no thought as to why I was doing it. By the time I was old enough to give thought to our purpose, our lifestyle had changed as she had started working out of the home and no longer preserved the food from our garden. By then, we didn’t even have much of a garden anymore!
Once we started the training, as I progressed through the videos and lectures, I went through my kitchen and pantry. Instead of worrying about always using nontoxic cleaners, I worried more about preparing my kitchen with thorough sterilization. Some of my products ended up in the compost bin as I realized my less safe methods could be a danger to my family. I now have so much more knowledge and skill, but most importantly, I have the resources to ensure that I am practicing safe preservation methods as I prepare food for my family and friends as well as teach others about the preservation of food.
In closing, I want to give a shout out to the leaders of the Master Food Preserver program here in California. It’s obvious that they have put in an enormous amount of time and thought into laying the program out using many teaching methods. There is a balance of videos, interactive lectures and hands-on experiences along with easily accessible resources to enable all of us to continue our learning journey and share with our communities.