The Fruit of our Labors

I have wanted to can peaches for the last year or two but never made the effort to do it. My wonderful neighbor and sensei took me under her professional canning wing this year and I did it!

My neighbor received a call from her "contact" that the peaches were ready, so last night we drove to Brigham to get them. Here is the awesome part- WE PICKED OUR OWN PEACHES! I have never done that before and it truly was so much fun. I took Carson along to pass on the memory to him, and he was an excellent worker. He also loved it and had so much fun picking. When we found an especially plentiful tree Carson would exclaim "We found the mother tree!"-(He said this because the mother tree had the most "babies" aka peaches) He learned which peaches to pick and I am sure he picked just as many as I did.



Not to get too emotional, but as we were picking I was filled with an overwhelming sense of awe and gratitude for God's creations. His creations are beautiful and made for the fulfillment of His children. I am thankful!



We picked 6 bushels of peaches at $24 dollars a bushel. Don't worry only two bushels were for me and the rest were for my neighbor (I told you she was a professional!)




I spent all day canning my peaches. My neighbor helped me with the first batch and then I did the rest. I canned 24 quarts- so my family is restricted to eating two quarts per month :) While the mess was out, I made one batch of raspberry jam, and one batch of raspberry/peach jam. I ran out of cans, so tomorrow I will finish by making two batches of plain peach jam. I also made a peach cobbler for dessert tonight! After my jam is made I think I will have just enough peaches that aren't quite ripe yet, for us to eat fresh for a few days. Yummy!

I know now I have passed into the "old lady" (or maybe just weird?) stage where canning peaches and taking pictures of them makes me happy! I really feel so proud and glad that I learned a skill that seems to be getting "lost." So here's my big :) and pictures of my peaches and jam!