from our sweet 4 year old peach tree that is bending under the weight of all the ripe ready peaches.
It was fun to pick off the ripe ones and see the branch lift a bit as some weight was released.
I realized it IS hard to can food because you have to balance the fickle nature of fruit being ready and abundant with creating a time to focus as well as the time and ability to pre-organize and collect everything you will need in a very particular manner.
I did my best this time, with much less swearing and a bit more awareness of what step would be next. I was feeling proud and accomplished, calling Lily to come witness my Laura Ingalls Wilder triumph as I set the 6 quart jars of peaches with syrup into the huge canning pot filled with boiling water. I hadn't predicted that the jars would displace so much water or that the wave of it would splash menacingly, making Lily question my canning competence (rightly) and jump up the stairs. The tidal wave also put out the gas stove so I had to turn everything off, try and re-start the burner and then, after filling the kitchen with gas, I had to move the million pound searingly hot pan to another burner and get that one to light. Somehow the water had cooled enough during this fiasco for it to take 10 minutes for the water in the pot to boil again, meaning my peaches sat wilting in their hot syrup even longer while waiting for their 30 minute official and preserving boil bath.
When I finally pulled the jars from the pot the house was 115 degrees from hours of boiling. The peaches were a bit shriveled and floaty, but damnit; I did it!
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