Peaches!

This weekend we drove to a nearby orchard and picked up a bushel of Contender peaches. These were, unquestionably, the most delicious large amount of peaches I've ever had. You know how sometimes you eat a perfect peach - exploding in your mouth with sweet, tart flavor? That was almost every one of these peaches.

The only down side to these peaches all being deliciously ripe when we bought them was that we were in a race to get them canned while they were still ripe and before they dissolved into peachy goo.

Peaches come from a can

They were put there by a man

In a.... er.... house... downtown

If you've ever wondered what a bushel of peaches looks like all jarred up, here it is. We also ate a good number and froze two gallons of chopped peaches. Since this was my first time canning a large amount of peaches, I decided to try a number of different methods to see how we like them best. There are quarts of raw pack and hot pack peaches, pints of peaches in a spiced syrup, two batches of spiced peach jam (yum!), and one of all-fruit, sugar-free peach jam for a family member who doesn't eat sugar.

Peaches on the shelf, potatoes in the bin

Supper's ready, everybody come on in now

And taste a little of the summer,

Taste a little of the summer, you can

Taste a little of the summer, Grandma's put it all in jars

I heard this song at a concert in the park while we were visiting family in Minnesota a couple weeks ago, and I love it. It's my new favorite song to listen to while trying to find motivation to start putting up more summer produce after I've finally gotten the girls down for naps or bed. And, now that I've worked my way through all the peaches, it is awfully nice to be able to see those gorgeous golden jars on my shelf now and think about how we'll still be tasting the summer this winter.

Now that the peaches are gone, I can finally get caught up on all the laundry and cleaning that's been put off this week, and... what's this? The pears on the gnarly old pear tree in our back yard are almost ripe?

Well, clean clothes are overrated anyway.