I have felt iffy about whether I was going to indulge my desire to preserve this season.  So many little kids and other demands just made it feel impossible, but here I sit at 9:30 on a Friday evening with a pressure cooker heating up and a whole weekend of preserving ahead of me.

I ordered a 100 pounds of peaches which are ready for canning tomorrow, but of course the garden is producing and I found lots of things that needed canned when I did my rounds today.  Green beans had been picked earlier in the week and I snapped them tonight and got seven jars to fill the pressure canner - thus my wait for it to heat up.  I also found that pickling cukes could not wait any longer and I got a steamer canner full of them.  This is all before we tackle the peaches tomorrow.

The girls helped with the picking, washing, peeling/cutting, and other prep work.  I also had to put together a big lasagna for our church potluck on Sunday.  Because of several special events in the coming weeks we have three church potlucks scheduled during the next five weeks - the heighth of canning season around here.  And oh by the way, soccer season too. 

So with all of this ahead of me for the weekend, I was driving home with the kids trying to keep a positive outlook that we would get it all done.  The cell phone rings, it's DH.  Our pastor has called and wants to know if we can host the missionaries that are visiting this weekend.  I remind DH of the 100 pounds of peaches.  He says he already said that we would.

On the bright side . . . DH took it upon himself to give all the littles a bath and put them to bed!  Yeah!  Happy homesteading to you, may your gardens be bountiful, your pantry full, and your hearts merry.

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Posted by mulberrylane

I have been canning and some days i wonder if it will be done. Other days I enjoy it thoroughly. I bought a bunch of fresh produce to make some more pepper jelly and cantaloupe jam and zucchini jam and (some of the produce I had) and then we get sick. I don't know what we have, but it is like having the flu in the middle of the summer. We feel awful, I hurt all over and am so whipper tuckered out! Now I wish I was canning and I hope my peppers, cantaloupe and everything else can wait for me to do something with them. I'm glad to hear that you got some canning done, even if it is on a pressured schedule. Sometimes there is something so fulfilling about canning and filling that pantry up.... just makes one smile.

Warmly,
Melissa

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