Peaches! WIP Wednesday, September 13th, 2017

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Creating is my passion, my sanity, my sense of being "up to something", my way of contributing a little bit. I always have a few projects going, many left to the side for months or even years before I pick up the best and carry on. Here's some of what I'm working on this week:

Aside from the invariable "getting by" one does when solo parenting, we've been having a marvelous time of it!

After a week without HandsomeJoe (while he was preparing to ship out for Hurricane relief, then not, then for a different hurricane, then not) we had a grand weekend together. We to a local orchard and bringing home 45lbs of peaches (little box picked by us, big box is "utility" peaches) and a half bushel bag of apples. We also attended a family seafood cookout with family friends, and spent a day putting food by.

I'm very excited about canning after buying a copy of Marisa  McClellan's newest canning book:

I adore canning, preserving, putting up, and putting food by.

I also avoid sugar.

For most standard canning books these are somewhat incompatible. Every recipe I've tried from Marisa McClellan has been scrummy, but I found I had to stop following her blog as it was getting harder and harder NOT to make the various white-sugar and cream laden recipes.

This book solves all of that. (Yes, I know there are other books)

From the book (so far) we've made:

Peach Salsa
Lemon Apple Chutney
Smoky Apple BBQ Sauce
and
Peach Jam

All naturally sweetened and incredibly delicious.

I have about ten more recipes bookmarked and am very much looking forward to filling my pantry shelves.

I gave away about 5lbs of the peaches, thinking I wouldn't be able to get through them on my own (Nat Guard tried a third time to send HandsomeJoe to help, taking him away all this week) and now I'm thinking I might need to go back for more peaches!

I think we will need to have pancakes with peaches again in the morning. I've only frozen a couple gallons of peaches, made peach sherbet once, and haven't dried any peach slices, made liquor, or slippery jims (canned peach slices)... hmm.

Although that 1/2 bushel of apples might start calling me next. :)

What are you working on? What are you excited about attempting? What are you proud to be working on? Take a picture or two and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link or a few words in the comments.

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