Brent and I made Freezer Jam back in August.
Raspberry/Peach Freezer Jam and it is very delicious. Well the reason I mention this is because the only kind of jam I have ever made is the freezer variety. Well a cute little lady in my ward has a crab apple tree and she offered the apples to anyone that wanted them. I LOVE
crabapple jelly and was so excited to learn to make it myself. So Amy and I took her ladder and went to pick the crab apples. She says on her blog that we used our mad tree climbing skills but that was all her. She was up there chucking them down on the sheet and we thought we wouldn't have enough to make a batch for each of us but we did. I think that a large portion of the fun in canning is the harvesting. I have so many great memories of picking strawberries, raspberries, apples, and pumpkins with dear friends in Ohio. I think the memories makes the food even sweeter when when you eat it. The process was fun and a ton easier than I would have thought.
I think the peaches uprooted some buried homemaker something or other and now I am addicted to canning.
While I was in Utah for Craig's daughter, Nicole's, wedding, Jen, Katie and I went a little crazy with the canning and we had a blast doing it. It really makes it so much fun when you can do it together and laugh and talk while doing something so productive. It makes me feel like I am contributing to my family and making a difference. And yes, I admit that I love seeing all those jars lined up perfectly.
My grandma gave us tons of old jars, close to 100, 2 steam sealers, a dehydrator, and a pressure cooker. It was so fun going through her storage room and finding all the little treasures she had there and I think she got a kick out of seeing us so excited over them all. The spiders were a little creepy but hey it is October.
So Jen and Katie wanted me to show them how to do the
peaches so we did that first. We
put up 50 quarts of peaches not counting the 5 quarts that broke(they were very old bottles). Then we were sick of peaches but still had so many left so we made
raspberry peach jam but the cooked kind which I am excited about. That way I was able to bring it home with me and also it makes for better gifts. And then we did the
Morrill's salsa. It was a bit challenging to get the right feel for it and the right ingredients because Gaylene, Amber(who was using Grandpa Morrill's recipe) and Kelly were all telling me different measurements but in the end we kind of went with an in between thing and the results were great. It was so much fun doing it that we decided we want to can every year together. I love my sisters and it felt really great to do something so positive with them. They both have pictures and I hope to steal them as soon as they post them but, sadly, I forgot to take my camera with me on my trip( I realized this 20 minutes into the 9 hour drive but was not going to turn around).
Okay so next I went to Brigham and Amber showed me how to do
grape juice. She and Normy even went with me and helped me pick the grapes that Grandma Morrill had arranged for me. Brent was, as always, wondering(and complaining) about where we were going to fit all this stuff(I went shopping at the Downeast Home Clearance center with Katie and got the kids their own suitcase for 10 bucks and some cute clothes for 2 and 3 bucks) but, as always, he finds room. It was an interesting ride home. We had gnats and flys flying around our heads but it smelled like grapes despite Aylas 2 upchucks.
So when we got home we borrowed a friends juicer and made grape juice, Hence Amber's comment on grapes.
We ended up with 28 quarts which is way more than I expected. And if you have never had homemade grape juice then you are surely missing out. And if you have never experienced the sense of pleasure and yes, I will again admit, the pride from canning, then you really ought to try it. It makes me want to grow a garden and be more resourceful in other ways as well.
