Fruits of My Labors

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(Brett took this picture of a ripe, fallen peach. Pay no attention to the thistle in the top of the picture...we keep them around so the kids will wear shoes outside.)


It's hard to remember where the last month has gone...A good portion of it was spent canning peaches and pears. Our house came with established, but neglected, peach trees, so I did not think they would produce well. One had been overtaken by aphids, and the other didn't get enough water and was ransacked daily by the pesky squirrels. So, when the opportunity came to buy fresh peaches and pears from the Western Slope at a great price, I pounced. I got 50 pounds of peaches and 75 pounds of pears. That turns into a lot of quarts of fruit.

Baby Matthew is very good at sleeping through the night, but does not sleep much during the day. (I am so totally NOT complaining about this!) As a result, I did most of my canning between 10 pm and 1 am. I was tired, but I have beautiful bottles of fruit to show for it.

Then, just a few days after I had finished all the fruit I purchased, the peaches on our tree were so ripe they were falling to the ground. The peaches were small--about the size of large apricots--but delicious and juicy. There is nothing like a tree-ripened peach. Delicious! With the boys' help, we sorted through the peaches on the ground, saving the good ones, and tossing those the squirrels ravaged. The pesky critters would often take one bite and leave the rest of the peach on the ground with claw marks on either side. Grrr.

We ended up with at least 50 pounds of peaches from our tree! This time I made fruit leather and jam, and froze about 10 quarts of peaches. We will definitely enjoy them all this winter!

Comments

Karyn said…
Yummy Cath! Good for you- home canned fruit is the BEST!!
September 26, 2008 at 3:51 AM
Anonymous said…
It was interesting that in the cooing, gurgling sounds that Matthew makes in the last video. Some of the gurgling sounds like he says, "I love you." It may take a certain amount of imagination and it is hard to hear since there are all of the Steven ex-kid sounds that partially drown it out. Matthew is a genius who takes after his paternal grandfather (like the other boys.)
December 2, 2008 at 8:03 AM
Anonymous said…
Sorry for the incomplete sentence in my post.
December 2, 2008 at 8:04 AM
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