Well, most of a day, anyway.
On Monday my husband and I drove the 40 miles or so over to Sagle to a fruit stand to buy a box of peaches... and today was the day to get them processed and into jars for winter enjoyment.
Fortunately for me, he was willing to do the peeling and slicing while I took care of the rest, so we had it done in about 4 hours, including clean-up.
I also appreciate the fact that we have a propane-powered stove to set up outdoors, so I don't have the steam and splatters from the canner in the kitchen. It's a lot of running back and forth from the kitchen to the porch, but worth it.
Canning peaches was a part of my childhood - my Grandmother loved it so much that after she could no longer do it herself, she sat in the kitchen and watched while Mom and I did it. I'm thankful to them for teaching me how, and I expect that she was somewhere today, watching and approving.
I'm not going to consider the cost of those peaches - by the time you add buying them, gasoline, jar lids, hours spent, etc. I'm just going to enjoy having peaches this winter that taste ten times better than anything I can buy in the store.
So - that's it for me and canning for this year. My freezer is stuffed with green beans, broccoli, and beets from the garden, and I may freeze some corn, but the canner is back on the shelf in the garage.
I would have canned tomatoes - but the darned things refuse to ripen! Someone suggested that all the smoke in the air prevented ripening - I wonder if that's true? Whatever the reason, they just sit there on the vines, staying hard and green.
What's in YOUR pantry?
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