I am very fortunate to have an amazing cook for a mother.  I learned much from her in my early years.  I also had grandparents that loved to have the kids in the kitchen with them every year as then canned and put up all of the wonderful bounty summer brought us.  Canning is one of my most favorite hobbies and I'm so thankful to them for teaching me the craft.  I have an Native American Indian heritage that came from Oklahoma that offered such a wonderful southern influence to our cooking style.  My husband, being a Tennessee native, lived in an area that had a large Amish community.  Thankfully the family recipes of the deep south (with an Amish influence) have been shared with me.  His family as well were a long line of canners so he actually gets into the kitchen with me when its jam and jelly season taking up his official taste testing duties with a serious diligence.