It's Canning Time

With a half of bushel of peaches sitting in the kitchen, tomato's needing to be picked, and blackberries that needed to come out of the freezer, Mother realized that it was time for us to begin our summer canning.

"The Process Begins"
So the canner was pulled out of the cupboard, jars were sterilized, and we began canning yesterday morning. Momma had me skinning the tomato's while she did the actual canning as well as keeping me supplied with fresh tomato's. Working together made the time go by so much quicker as well as making it so much more enjoyable! We talked while we worked and shared allot of laughs!
After a quick run to the grocery store for more pectin we began to work on the peach and strawberry jams. Everything was finally canned and was cooling by five-thirty so we took a long awaited break.

"A Helper"
Even though Momma and I were the ones doing the canning, we had others who were a big help. Collin went and picked the tomato's as well as taking all the stems off, Sayre kept Sawyer out of trouble and was very willing to go get more jars when we needed them, and Sawyer did little things that were just his size-like carrying the buckets out to the porch. What a blessing to have happy helpers!

"The Fruit of Our Labors"
By the end of the day we had canned twenty-two quarts of tomato's, twenty-two pints of peach jam, four pints of strawberry jam (we have more strawberries to do), and three pints of a peach/strawberry jam mixture. We couldn't believe that the two of us accomplished that much! The fact that we can everything in a water canner makes it even more amazing!

"Blackberry Seeds"
At lunch-time today, Momma began running the blackberries though her berry press so that we can make "seed free" jam. Sawyer and I ate our lunch while watching her and his favorite thing to say was "Oh! look at those seeds!!" or "You good cook Momma!" He also kept asking if the seeds were muddy... not sure how he came up with that one.

How very satisfying it is to see our pantry stocked with goods that we have "put up" with our very own hands.