Last Saturday, Steven, the kids and I headed over to the LDS Orchard in Caldwell. We had heard that if you picked peaches for the cannery, you could get peaches for 23 cents a lb. (Thanks Melissa W. for that information.) Steven called the day before and they said they were done with picking for the cannery and had moved into "gleaning". Which means I got to pick all the peaches that I wanted for free...the catch...because I could only pick the peaches that were left, most of them were over- or underripe. But hey, they were free.
We fairly quickly filled 6 buckets (yes, Brian, I am using and LOVING those empty buckets from the prison kitchen) and headed home. When we got home, I took Kim and we got 1/3 a bucket of plums from the trees by my house to get the juicer going while I sorted out the peaches.
I got my kitchen all set up and ready for the canning process. Here are a couple pics....which don't do any sort of justice to the mess that was my kitchen.
This pic shows my stovetop with the juicer and pot with boiling water. For those who don't know how this process works...you take a ripe peach and put it in boiling water for a minute or so...then immediately dunk in a bowl of ice water. This loosens the skin and it should come off like butta' but that only really works when the peach is ripe...so I had to fight with a majority of the skins. So you see the bowl for ice water, skins, and the peaches bound for the juicer because they didn't want to cooperate.
This pic has the bowl I put the peaches in once they are skinned. From there you need to cut up the peach and discard the pits (cutting board and knife MIA in this pic for some reason). Then there is the bowl with a water and lemon juice mix to help with browning of the peaches and the 2 bowls of peaches waiting for me to stuff them in jars or sauce. 
I spent Saturday afternoon and evening canning. At 11:30pm, Steven turned off the juicer and I called it quits. This is what I ended up with. (5 qt. plum juice, 3 qt. peach/plum juice, 6 qt. peach juice and 7 qt. peaches). At the end of the day I had only gone through 2 buckets of peaches...4 more to go.
I decided not to work on the Sabbath since the Lord provided me with free peaches and figured that I would be blessed if I didn't break the Sabbath. My hubby, being the WONDERFUL man he is, made sure that the entire kitchen was clean and ready for me. He washed all the dishes in the sink, filled then emptied the dishwasher and had the counter free of everything....Ahhhh. That made my day. (Plus I think he now had an appreciation for all the hard work that goes into canning and wanted to make my life just a little bit easier.)Bright and early Monday AM, I was at it again. The juicer was roaring all day. Instead of putting it into jars because I already had a ton, it went into some empty juice bottles in the fridge. I knew it would be drunk quickly and also needed some for some of my recipes.
My loving husband came home from work and made dinner so I could continue canning. At the end of the day I finished with 14 pints of peach jelly (2 of which have been given away)
8 qt. peach pie filling and 2 more qts. of peaches. At the end of Monday, I had gone through 2 more buckets of peaches....2 more to go.
Tuesday AM, I'm rolling again. Ready to finish up those 2 remaining buckets. Somewhere around lunch time I decide I'm tired of peaches and the crying (some was mine and some was the boys). I called my friend to see if she wanted a bucket almost full of peaches...she's not an idiot so of course she takes them.Here is what I netted on Tuesday...3 pt of Peach Honey, 6 pt of Peach Butter (plus a little extra in my fridge) and 6 pt of Peach/Apple Spread. (One of which has found itself a new home.)
I know you are dying to know how I did this with 3 little boys and Kim in school....well...let's just say, my boys are very familiar with Toy Story 1 and 2 along with Curious George 1 and 2. Here they are watching one of the movies....
Also...some of this...Evan in his high-chair while the two others are napping. He loved chewing on the strap. (If you look closely you will notice the vampires on his outfit...that's what happens when you send a 4 year old to get an outfit for his baby brother who so rudely pooped out of his outfit.)
And most definitely some of this....sleeping.
So all in all, things went good. I have a great stock supply of peaches and spreads. When the Apocalypse comes, head on over to my house....bring the bread and I'll supply the topping. :)
1 comment:
I am sick of canning just READING all that... I will pay you to can stuff for me... I don't have the patience!!
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