Lisa... how did our grandmothers do it? Well... both of mine DID have pressure canners. On wood stoves, sure. One grandma had the best set-up of the times, though... she had a full "summer kitchen": a separate pole-shed type building, real roof, wood floor, and the "old" wood stove (I think she had TWO, at that), plus a very large hand-made wooden table, all surrounded by screen walls. She never canned a single thing inside the house - that would have been torture. Grandpa build a number of shelving units that got carried out there from the celler mid-summer, so things could cool etc. out there... then, they eventually ended up back in the cellar, loaded with jars. Compared to her sisters, and to many neighbors, Grandma thought she was treated VERY well!
