Monday, September 12, 2011

Canning Crazy

This past spring, a woman from church was talking about how she buys blueberries in bulk.  She then freezes them and eats them on her cereal all winter long.  I really liked the idea of getting fruit in bulk.  In 2008 I had learned how to can peaches and pears, but I had not done it since then.  Thus, this past May, I went out to Mishnler's General Store ("the Amish" on Barry Rd) and ordered myself some fruit.  I am not sure what I was thinking in May because two weeks ago when I went to pick it up I about had my eyes fall out of my head.  I had ordered three boxes of peaches, two boxes of pears and one box of blueberries.  I was canning and freezing non-stop for four days in a row.  My feet hurt, my back hurt and I never wanted to see another piece of fruit or a glass jar again.  I have two gallons of frozen blueberries, six 8 oz jars of peach freezer jam, 30 quarts of canned peaches, a quart and a half of peach ice cream or pancake topping, a gallon and a half of frozen sliced peaches, three 8 oz jelly jars of pear butter and 38 quarts of canned pears.  I should have had two more quarts of both the peaches and pears but darn it all they died in the canning pot.  When the final jar broke I was so exhausted from doing this that I stood crying in the kitchen.  I might have been a slight mess, and I swear next year I will not do this unless I have someone to help me, but at least I can say it is done. 

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