The Joy of Harvest Time

"Oh, the joy of harvest time! Picture the scene of ward members canning peaches, sorting eggs, or cleaning vegetables, all for those who are in need. Brows are sweat-lined, clothing is soiled, bodies are tired- but human souls are refreshed and lifted towards heaven." -President Monson

I love canning. Last year I went nuts canning jam, and I thought it was mostly because of the nesting phase of pregnancy. But, this year I went a little nuts too, and I'm not pregnant, so I guess I must just love it. There's something so satisfying about it. My mother-in-law was just saying tonight how at the end of a long canning day and the work is finally done, she doesn't put the bottles away. She leaves them on the counter so she can admire her work. I know exactly what she means. The bottles always turn out so beautiful. My bottles stayed out for days (mostly because I had nowhere to put them in my tiny kitchen). It always makes me feel so self-reliant when I can something, and that is such a satisfying feeling. I also love canning because it makes me feel so domestic, and I love that! I especially love canning in my 50s style apron. To me, they just go together.

This year I canned peaches, tomatoes, raspberries, raspberry peach jam, and grapes. The peaches I did with my mother-in-law and 5 of my sisters-in-law. It's become kind of a tradition to can peaches at Annette's house. She finds out how many everyone wants to do and goes up to Brigham City and gets bushels of peaches. This year I think we had 5 bushels. We ended up with 157 quarts, with 2 casualties. Wow!! It took us all morning and most of the afternoon, but it was so much fun. We talked and laughed, while our kids made their own memories playing with each other. We had a great time, and Mom worked too hard, as usual.

I did the tomatoes and raspberries with my Mom. They always have a beautiful garden every year, overflowing with tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, corn, potatoes, carrots, raspberries, not to mention all the flowers. They're always so generous to share their bounty with their poor children.

The grapes I did all by myself, I am proud to say. Well, I guess Joel helped by picking some of them, which is probably the hardest part. Noah helped too, in his own way (thanks you two!). Some previous owners of our condo planted grapes along the fence behind our house. There were so many, and they looked and smelled so delicious that we couldn't see them go to waste. My mother-in-law lent me her juicer/steamer, and gave me instructions on how to use it. It didn't sound too hard, and it wasn't. The only trouble I had was when I hadn't clamped off the hose that drains the juice into the jars and all of a sudden my jar was full and very quickly overflowing. I lost at least half a jar or more of juice onto my kitchen floor. At least it wasn't as bad as Joel's Grandma Orton. She got grape juice all over her carpeted kitchen floor! So, other than that and the fact that it took a long time, canning grape juice is pretty easy. I got 26 quarts, and Joel wants me to do more. I'd also like to do some grape jelly, but I'll have to figure out the color problem since the juice is white. I'll either use grape jello or food coloring. Hope it works! I've had so much fun canning this season. I can't wait until we have a real yard with a huge garden. What fun!