Canning, Canning, More Canning

I have never canned. I have never done anything, really, that has to do with being domestic. :) I like watching baseball, football, and wrestling. I like to bake - cookies. I like to cook - dinner. That's it.

This year, I realized that I had to do something for financial reasons. My mom offered up her apple tree to us. My brother and sister-in-law offered their apple tree to us. One of our peach trees was producing like crazy. Martha gave us a lot of amazing stuff, and walked me through freezing, canning, etc.

So far this past month, I have bottled one dozen quarts of applesauce (which Josh made and it's beyond delicious), two dozen quarts of apple pie filling, and two dozen quarts of peaches. We also did pickles earlier. I used the rest of our apples to make four dozen apple cinnamon muffins. I baked them, bagged them, and froze them for breakfasts or snacks. I also bagged and froze a dozen bags of peaches. I love grabbing these for easy lunches! We have about another two dozen quarts worth of peaches to bottle.

Soon, we will have grapes ready to make grape juice and pears ready to bottle. I still have corn that needs to be cut and frozen, as well as tomatoes that need to be made into salsa.

I am beyond grateful for the examples of my mom and grandma, who canned all my life. We always, always had bottles of fruit in our house. I am grateful for the lessons that I was taught young so that I can be the wife and mom I need to be now. I am also so, extremely grateful for the fruit and veges we have been given and for the tree that produced our peaches.