In my older age, I grew weary of the whole gardening-and-canning process; I ended up throwing so much stuff away because it got old before Cliff and I used it. And the truth is, it just isn't fun any more.
But I kept my jars. A whole closet full of boxes and boxes of canning jars.
I resolved to give them all away; after all, I don't think I want to do much canning in the future.
Then I thought about the way prices are rising and decided to keep half of them.
As my sister-in-law, Rena, and I began hauling them to Cliff's shop, he figured we'd better keep them. After all, we may have to garden and can to survive.
But when he saw how many I had, he hollered "uncle" and said, "We have plenty; give the rest away."
I agreed, but there were certain jars I had inherited from my mother with which I cannot part.
Now for a special treasure....
But what makes these jars special for me is knowing my mother used them for years before passing them on to me; maybe my Grandma even used them! I have used them all, not even thinking about their possible worth. (Their worth isn't really all that much, by the way: Anywhere from $5 to $25, best I can determine.)
So, now that you know I can't part with them, do you have any suggestions for their use?
Somebody just shoot me.
Added later: I found an informative article with a chart which explains how to date Ball jars by the way the logo is made. Click HERE and scroll to the bottom.
No way would I ever get rid of anything that's still useful, so pretty and has so many memories attached to it!
ReplyDeleteI love the old blue canning jars. I keep my old marble collection in a couple of mine, complete with the zinc lids with the milk glass inserts. A lot of people use them as canisters for pasta, beans, baking soda, anything pretty or interesting that you're going to store anyway.
I keep my Grandma's and Mama's buttons in a couple of other old jars
Just a few thoughts....
Hope you have a great weekend, Donna. :o)
Love and hugs,
Diane
Ditto to all that Diane mentioned. I used them for cannisters at one time. And I have marbles in one somewhere in this messy house. I just saw on another blog where someone put their dad's old fishing lures in one....you'll think of the right thing!
ReplyDeleteDee from Tennessee
I think you should use those lovely jars as flower vases.
ReplyDeleteWow, those things are a treasure to folks like me...I remember them from my grandma's days, but I always thought of them as greenish. My grandma kept everything storable in glass jars...beans, rice, flour, rubberbands, tea bags, coffee, nuts, buttons, twist-ties, pastas, dried herbs...so many things. She was from the Great Depression era, and I guess nothing got wasted :)
ReplyDeleteHow crazy is this...your sister-in-law have the same name, and I LOVE blue jars! I buy them every time I see them. I think it's a sickness.
ReplyDeleteI use mine for a lot of bulk products (rice, tea, bread crumbs), I have wine corks in one, I have sand in others...I love them!
What a treasure you have!
Those are lovely jars. I do hope you find a prominent place for them.
ReplyDeleteNever could I get rid of treasures like that. It would break my heart. I hope you can find good uses for them. I think I'd just display one on a shelf somewhere.
ReplyDeleteFill one full of treasures you pick up on your walks; an odd shaped stone, a snail shell, whatever.
I have found a quart blue jar that has on the front "the wide mouth telephone jar" iI cannot find out any thing about it can you help me
ReplyDeletenmhoyt@yahoo.com