When you get the urge to can, you gotta can. When you have all of the equipment, which has been sitting in the shed for more than a couple of years, and you had the foresight to plant fruit trees, all the better.
I haven’t canned or preserved for several years for one main reason. Maniacs. Not my own..I bottled everything when my kids were little. One year we planted 20 tomato plants and I bottled whole, diced, sauced and salsa-ed tomatos. I did green beans that year also. I’ve done peaches, pears, apples, raspberries, apricots, relishes, jams, jellies, and juices. I’ve dried quite a few things too. I remember one year a local grocery store was selling very ripe bananas for .10 a lb. I bought SO MANY and dried them for days. Our apricot tree is big and I’ve dried apricots nearly every year we have apricots.
This year, our very sad peach tree decided to produce some lovely big peaches. We haven’t gotten very many from that tree, and I’d love to plant another one. Our plum tree finally managed to produce this year as well. Every year, the maniacs pick them green and throw them into the canal behind our house. We’ve had a terrible time defending that tree. Our big mistake was planting it in the main yard.
Once you start picturing yourself doing a thing, and doing it, more opportunities to do that thing seem to pop up everywhere. I mentioned our apple trees to a few friends and one of them offered me her apples. While we were picking the apples, I noticed she had a LOT of grapes so I asked about those as well.
Now I have the beginnings of a large amount of grape juice. I also have a kitchen full of fruit, canning supplies, sticky dots and drops everywhere and a medium sized burn on my hand.
I also have pride in knowing I did it. I grew some of those apples, I picked everything and I preserved food for my family, the same way my ancestors did for their families.
