Canning

So it's canning season and we've caught the bug.  For the past month we have taken every free moment to can, freeze and dry food for our pantries.  We've had a blast hanging out and feeling very domestic!

It started with corn.  Jeanie called me up and said that her cousin had corn that we could go pick and have for free.  So we did and then set to work cutting it and bagging it to freeze.  Hayley and I and all the kids worked hard for a few hours and got a lot done. 

 Pickles were next.  Hayley taught Rease how to use a knife and cut off the ends of the cucumbers.  She was super excited to be able to help.

 Then we did green beans. 

 We got peaches from my aunt in Tooele and we canned them and also made peach jam. 

 And peach leather.

 Then we raided Steph's garden and got all her peppers that she wasn't using.  We also went to a local farmer's market and picked our own tomatoes.  So we made salsa.  Delicious!

 Jeanie found us a great deal on beautiful pears.  So next we worked on canning pears.  These are my kids' favorite so they were happy to see we canned a lot!

 Last thing on the list was grape juice.  Caleb's grandma gave us a lead on a friend of hers that had grapes.  So we called them up and they were more than happy to let us have their grapes.  They were beautiful grapes and made delicious juice!

I'll have to admit, we are tired of canning!  But I am so glad to have it all.  Hayley wrote down what we started with and how many jars we ended up with.  Here's the breakdown:

1 bushel of green beans - 47 pints

1/2 bushel pickling cucumbers - 20 quarts

12 dozen small ears of corn - 30 quart bags

3 bushels peaches - 30 half pints of spiced peach jam, 20 half pints of regular peach jam, 32 quarts peaches and 6 pans of fruit leather

2 1/2 bushels tomatoes - 20 quarts bottled tomatoes and 5 batches of salsa (made with 1/2 bushel of peppers)

130 lbs pears - 75 quarts

4 bushels grapes (white and purple mixed) - 48 quarts grape juice.