Peaches, peaches, peaches

I was able to buy a bushel of peaches for a decent price last week and have them all used up now....Since I want a record of what I was able to "put up" this year....I thought I'd just do this here too

1 bushel of peaches yielded....

7 quarts canned peach slices
7 half pints peach preserves
5 half pints peach butter
2 pints, 2 odd jelly jars (between half pint and pint size), and 3 half pints peach jelly.
1 big cobbler
several fresh to eat and gift a few.

The peach slices are beautiful but I'm not sure I wouldn't prefer them frozen in the future.  The preserves and butter are perfection itself.  The jelly tastes more like slightly peach flavored sugar to me so we'll see what everyone else thinks.

The cobbler was great and the fresh peaches in our oatmeal so so yummy!

Still finished up with the tomatoes although I'm almost ready to just mow them down.  I'm so tired of canning and my cabinets are FULL.  And I know I have apples and pumpkin to do in a few weeks.  

MIA!

I've been MIA for a while.  I've been on facebook because I can do that in 30 seconds or less.  But I've not blogged and I've not really seen many people in the last few weeks.

We finally made it to a homeschool hangout yesterday and people were like "Woah!  You are out in public"  yep, we've been a bit reclusive for a while...but not without reason.

In the last 4 weeks or so I've canned

40 quarts of green beans
24 pints of pickles
21 pints of salsa
7 pints of pizza sauce
5 pints of pickled tomatoes
7 pints of pickle relish

and frozen

45 or so quarts of corn.
And a few bags of shredded zuchinni
and some chopped green peppers (I chop these and add them to a big freezer bag...and use them for soups and stuff-just busting off the bits I need)

I wish I had double or so the green beans and corn.  I wish I had a few more bags of zuchinni.  And I'm hoping for at least 24 pints of pizza/pasta sauce.  Next year, I'll know how to plant and plan differently.

All that produce has been grown, picked, cleaned, prepped and processed by little ole me.  The family has helped a bit.  We all plant together.  The King helps with the tilling some and so did A.  But I do most of it. The kids snapped 8 gallons of green beans one afternoon.

We were supposed to start school on Monday.  But I have at least 3 more canners of tomatoes to run thru (they'll be pizza sauce) not including the tomatoes still left to pick on the plants (which will likely be unseasoned tomato sauce or BBQ sauce).  And I have a crisper drawer in my fridge full of green beans I have to decide what to do with (eat fresh or can).  So school is being pushed back one week.  I have the boys first week of lessons all laid out but I still need to get L's preschool work figured out (that takes more planning from me).

If i can get my hands on peaches, I'll can/freeze those and make peach jelly and later in the fall we'll be doing applesauce and apple butter and pumpkin puree and butter.

Sometime this fall, the pig will be ready to butcher (which we'll pay to have done so we can have bacon, ham, and lard) and deer season will be rolling around.  We process all of our own venison.  By December or January, we'll also have a cow to butcher.  And we'll be borrowing a billy goat so we can have baby goats in the spring....when gardening starts again.

Although it is a never ending cycle, which has never been more apparent than when typing this out, the few weeks of canning and freezing the garden's produce are crazy.  I hide out.  Frankly, I neglect my house and the kids watch too much tv/play too much wii so they aren't in the kitchen with all the hot/boiling stuff.  But it always feels so great to have a pantry full of food knowing that if the winter is like it was last year (which is being predicted), that we will have plenty to eat without leaving the house.  :)


(PS- Although I totally enjoy sharing things like this about our lives, I am also sharing so that next year I can remember how much of each thing I had in the cabinet so I know how to change up my plans and have enough to last the year without much leftover-I don't anticipate any leftovers this year.  If I write it on a paper I will, without a doubt, lose the paper HA!)

Strawberry Time! Strawberry Time!

Well, now that its June and we are out of school, I think it is safe to say it is officially summer.  We've been to the pool, we've swam in the pond (I haven't yet I guess), and yesterday the kids played slip n slide at a friends house.

For me, though, one of the biggest "steps" to it actually being summer is strawberry season.  I love strawberry season.  And so do the kids.  They don't even complain about the picking part.  HA!  And we enjoy the "fruits" of labor all year long.  Well, as long as it lasts.  

The kids helped pick these 2 flats of berries at our local strawberry patch.  And they are still smiling.

 There aren't more pictures of us picking (although I wanted them) because the kids are the "slacker police" and will call you out on it-loudly.  One year my dad came with us and ran into someone he knew (which isn't hard) and the kids STILL get on to him about what a terrible berry picker he is cause he runs his mouth too much.  :)

2 flats = 26.5 lbs of berries.  Nom nom nom.

First batch of strawberry jam!  I love the color when you make strawberry jam!

Berries in the dehydrator....you can not fathom how good this makes the house smell...but it doesn't yield much so I don't plan to do it again but I'm glad I tried it!

Some of what all those berries yielded.  On the left-jam, on the right-sliced berries in syrup, and in the center dehydrated berries.  (yes they are sitting on my floor-it is less cluttered than my kitchen counter-don't judge)

From all the berries we picked, we yielded 10 pints of jam, 1 pint of dehydrated berries, and 6 pints of sliced berries in syrup.  Plus plenty to eat fresh and bake with for a while.  On my list for next year, a raised strawberry bed.  It is gonna happen!

We're so Sappy!

Well, its that time of year and we're hoping its a good one.  Maple Sap Season.  Every couple years we tap a few trees and make our own maple syrup.  It is something I love doing....and the kids have a great time too.  Plus we get awesome homemade syrup.  Here's some pics of the day.  And by some, I mean A LOT!

We started by building lids for the buckets we would be collecting in.  Each of the boys got a chance on the different power tools.  Only one made this mama clench....

A with the circular saw...

M takes a turn with the power saw.

G has a go....

They all did great

 A getting the measurements just right so he can.....

drill the holes in the lids.

A saws off the 1/2 inch PVC to make the stile.

M has his turn  (G was missing for this step)

Since the PVC was half in and we used a slightly smaller drill bit (1/8 of an inch smaller) the boys used a grinder to whittle down the end to a point.....this is the part that made mama clench.

By doing this....the pipe will have a tight seal within the hole in the tree preventing leaks

M was smoothest with the grinder.  Whew....glad that's done.

 And off to the woods we go....

L just sitting on a log supervising.

G taps the first tree.  When I was little we used an old school drill (and did it by hand).  power tools all the way now.

First taste

another taste

drill the hole at a downward angle so the sap can run out more easily....

Hammer in the stile....

getting herself a taste

another kid....another tree

This is our collection method this year.  Tap in the tree with plastic hose running down through a hole in the lid on a 5 gallon bucket.  the block is wedged under the handle keeping the lid down....

Focus is important.

 Work is done....time for play!

slackline fun over the creek.  

Pappy and L take time to chill.  :)

PIckles, Pickles and MORE pickles!!

So my mom has a killer great garden.  I tried but mine just isn't doing as well as hers is.  Thankfully, she likes to share.  And since she is unable to tend her garden this weekend she asked if i wanted to check her cucumbers.  HOLY SMOKES!  I got 2 Walmart bags full of nice cucumbers.  Now, I like fresh cucumber as much as the next lady but, seriously, that is A LOT of cukes.  So I decided to make pickles.  I made relish last week with much success so why not, I asked myself.

I made 2 different varieties of pickle.  Now, since pickles have to "cure" in their brine for a while I have NO idea if either of these pickles will be good.  But, since they are dill (and not bread n butter-blech!) I have hope that they will be stellar.  I would take some good pictures and share but the King has to finish cleaning the virus I got on our other computer before I can do that.  Anyway,  I'll post pictures later. :)  On to the recipes..

The first recipe is for "Claussen" style pickle spears.  I have great hopes for these cause I love Claussen pickles.  YUM!  Instead of typing out the whole recipe, I am just going to link you to where I got it.  She is very clear and anyway, you need to see her blog....she has great recipes.  So just go visit foodie with family


The other pickles are standard canned dill pickles.  I altered a recipe found in More With Less (which is my go-to cookbook).  Here is my recipe (which I haven't tasted yet)  I used 8 pint jars.

Fill each of the pint jars with
small cukes, or cucumber spears, or slices (I did slices)
1 sprig fresh dill
1/4 of a small onion (or cut a larger onion into 8ths)
1/2 clove garlic (opt)
1/8 teas red pepper flakes (opt)

Heat hot water bath canner half full of water.
In other saucepan combine
6 cups water
3 cups vinegar
1/2 cup canning salt
Bring to boil and pour brine into filled jars.  cap jars with rings and bands. Process jars for 5 minutes in boiling water bath.  Ready to eat in 2 weeks.

** I put onion, garlic, dill in the bottom of all the jars first.  I put red pepper flakes in half of them.  We'll see how we like them. :)