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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Doing the Can Can

MONDAY--
From sun up to sun down I was canning peaches.I always forget that canning is such an all consuming, multi-step, sticky task. It always takes hours and hours longer than I plan and the rest of the house becomes a nightmare.Lucky for me John took the boys bow hunting (no meat in our empty freezer yet, dang it) and Sydney had McKenna Moon over to play.With everyone else out of the way there was only Branson and he was well (sorry for this) just peachy.He was such a good boy. He played, crawled around, took good naps and hardly made a fuss.So on Monday he ate lots and lots of fresh peaches. And honestly I do not remember what my family even did for dinner, but they survived.

TUESDAY--
Well Tuesday was pretty much the same as Monday, except the older kids were in school. Branson ate a lot of fresh peaches, was a good boy and by early evening I had finished 8 boxes of peaches for the end result of 109 quart jars, 3 broken jars, and only 2 jars that didn't seal. We ordered pizza for dinner and the kitchen table was actually cleaned off enough to eat on.

WEDNESDAY--
The plan was to clean up the canning mess and attack the neglected house. I knew I wanted to can pears in a few days but after a trip to the farmers market all my purchased pears needed canned like yesterday.
So no harm done: the kitchen floor was already sticky from the peaches and everything was already out on the counters. A quick wash up and I was ready to start on the pears. So Wednesday Branson ate a lot of fresh pears.
Yes Cayden I can see you...your mom wasn't born yesterday. By 8:30 Wednesday evening my 3 boxes of pears were done for a grand total of 41 jars. There was a burner now open for a quick dinner of Mac-n-Cheese, which is Branson's new favorite.

So the canning is done...until apples are ready for applesauce.










19 comments:

Em and Ms said...

Whoa, I am so impressed Amy! That's a lot of work, but it'll be so worth it in the end. I'm so jealous you can get the fresh produce at good prices to can.

Jodi said...

Like I said Wednesday, when I saw you in all your canning "glory" - I've VERY impressed!! :) You're awesome and it looks delicious!!

Robin Beck said...

You are my new hero. I'm serious Amy what an amazing feat!
And they are soooo beautiful to look at!
Robin~♥

Brenda said...

I am jealous! First of all I no nothing about canning and secondly, I just want to eat a whole jar of those pears! They look delicious...

MichelleB said...

What an accomplishment! They look beautiful. I absolutely hate to peel peaches, but they taste soooo good it is almost worth the effort.

Debie Spurgeon said...

That is fantastic Amy, good for you. Branson is so cute with his little chopped up fruit. You have been so productive.

Debie Spurgeon said...

That is fantastic Amy, good for you. Branson is so cute with his little chopped up fruit. You have been so productive.

rip said...

Do you share with neighbors? I know where to go if there is ever an emergency. I've never done pears. They look great and I'm sure they are tasy too.

Kristen said...

Oh how awesome. My brother-in-law was canning homemade salsa the other day while we were over there. I caught a first-hand glimpse of the chaos you wrote about. I told Mike "We're going to have to try this someday." :o)

Unknown said...

i've always wanted to do this. but reading this made me not want to so much. you are superwoman.

SuzanSayz said...

Gee Amy, I remember canning. It really does take a whole day at least. I gave it up about twenty years ago when I realized a days work would be wiped out in as little as 3 months because people would eat them so quickly. My hat is off to you cousin!
Oh yeah I'm wondering if on THURSDAY, Branson had a non-stop case of the runs from all that fresh delicious fruit?

Kris said...

I'm very impressed too. How cute that little Branson will eat all that fresh fruit. I can't get Porter to eat fruit for the life of me. Canning is always such a big ordeal, but I too love the feeling of accomplishment. Great Job Amy.

aubrey said...

My goodness woman, where do you put all those jars???

There really is nothing like your own canned fruit. Do you find pretty good deals at the farmers markets? I need to visit ours I think....

Bren's Life said...

Wow- You go Woman!!!! I have never canned anything. That is amazing & they all look so yummy.. My kids would love it & have the jars all eaten in a month..

Ms. Kristen said...

Your grandma mathews would be proud of you! You are amazing!

I laughed out loud when you sai"Yes, Cayden, I wasn't born yesterday.."So funny!

Your family is set on great canned fruit!

Jan said...

Gals, do you think that you can learn to do the can can.....

You are amazing. And that goes way beyond canning skills. Hero was mentioned in the comments. I think that is quite true. I have seen your compassion and have learned more about you in the last 2 days, than in the last 4 years. I am starting to realize the truly wonderful Amy J, that never dares show her true awesomeness, until it is really needed. I have seen it and I am grateful to know that deep awesomeness that you have. Hero is not to far off of what I think of you. And the canning, well, that only "seals" my thoughts. Wonderful job girl.

Alicia Leppert said...

Love that Branson ate lots of peaches on Tuesday and lots of pears on Wednesday. And now he won't poop for a week.

ashley said...

Wow Amy! I am so impressed! What a great treat for your family! I've always wanted to learn how to do canning but...maybe I'll start with something small. I cant believe all of those jars!

Mike 'n' Cindy Brinkerhoff said...

Wow, as I type this, our second batch of pears tonight is almost ready to come out. Cindy and I make a pretty good team for canning - we did peaches a few weeks ago, and will wrap up the pears tomorrow.

We have nowhere near your 150 quarts though!