I’ll just go on record and say that until today the only canning I’d ever done was as a little girl helping my mom. But, it’s peach, tomato, corn, green bean and pickle season. And soon it will be apple and pear season. So, Mike and I decided that it would be nice to put up some supplies for this winter. We are by no means trying to put up enough fruits and veggies to get us through the winter. I’m crazy, but I’m not nuts. Instead we’re just trying to do enough that we can get a feel for what we do and don’t like.

So today, I went to Fred Meyer and bought myself a canning pot and rack, some tongs and some jars. And then went to the farmers market where I made some deals on buying tomatoes and peaches in volume. And with a little sweat, more than a couple four letter words, and much consultation of the Joy of Cooking canning cookbook I already had.

This

Became this

And then this
 

And then finally 7 quarts of this, plus enough left for dinner tomorrow night
 

And this

became 9 pints and 5 quarts of this

The last of the peaches are in the pot right now, the buzzer should go any minute - oh! there it is!

I was a little over the top on the peaches. The chickens, and our lunches, are going to enjoy some extras this week. I asked the peach guy how many peaches he’d give me for $20 and he offered me a box. Yeah, way more peaches than it looked. I had 6 peeled ones left after filling the jars. Not sure what you do with a warm naked peach except feed it to a chicken? And we have another 6 un-peeled ones to each for lunches.

Yay! Wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought, or may not as scary as I thought? Anyway, tomorrow night we’ve got some sweet corn to blanch and freeze. And then Thursday night I’m going to make some pickles. Probably some dill and some bread-and-butter for Mike.

So, there you go. I, a total novice, managed to can tomatoes and peaches. And so far, all of the lids have popped as they’re supposed to…

To paraphrase MasterCard:

$20 for canning pot and rack, $4 for jar tongs, $25 for 20 lbs tomatoes, $20 for way too many peaches, $16 for jars, 21 jars ready for winter? Priceless.