Just Peachy!

Fruit has kept me so busy that I haven't even been able to blog about it. This week, however, the wind is blowing and the temperatures have turned cold. It is finally feeling like fall. I feel so blessed to have enjoyed a long summer. I know back in Big Timber, the wind probably started blowing weeks ago, and the furnace in my house has been running, too.

This is the first year that the peach trees on the family homestead have produced. It's probably mostly due to the fact that Nathan has been watering and tilling around them, and he's made sure that we were going to get a harvest. We went out one night and picked six boxes of peaches. I took two home to can, and my mother-in-law took home the rest. I worked on and off for two days and ended up with 24 quarts of peaches. I sent twelve over to my sister-in-law who just had a baby. I know she's not going to get much canning done this year. The rest I put in the shed, and I was feeling pretty content. No need to do more, because I still have peaches that I'm trying to rotate out.

A couple of days later, Nathan said we needed to harvest again. This time my mother-in-law was out of town. It was a Friday night, and now, all the trees were ready, so we clean picked the entire row. Here is the guy responsible for the bountiful harvest.We picked all our boxes full and then had to round up more-- thus, the diaper boxes and my laundry hampers.
All told, we picked another 8 boxes that night. Oh, they were so yummy, but they just don't last long enough fresh...
So, I started canning, and canning, and canning. I tried to convince my husband to give away some of the peaches, and I got the, "Michelle, there are nine kids in this family, all with families to feed," response. Yes, I know that among the clan, we can use all eight boxes, but you see, this time I was canning alone.
I sliced them as I bottled them. You can really stuff the jars that way. By the time I was done, I had another 54 quarts of peaches. 78 quarts! From five trees, and that isn't counting the ones that the other picked to can and dry.

After it was all said and done, I feel blessed that we had such a bountiful harvest. For now, I'm just glad the hard work is over!