Jammin’

This year I had aspirations of becoming a domestic goddess by canning all sorts of delicious treats that could be savored during the winter and given as homemade gifts. Two weeks ago I went to a farm and bought two bushes of peaches (two bushels) and three bags of apples along with all sorts of other veggies. My goal was to make some ridiculous amount of items – I think I had 7 recipes all planned out. Let’s just put it out there right away that I accomplished two.

Preserving is hard work. The ladies who lived in Little House on the Prairie times had it rough doing it over a stove because for me, in my un-air-conditioned kitchen, I get a sweaty mess. I can’t imagine making preserves over a fire.

What I accomplished was not the delicious peach jam I intended, nor the apple butter or applesauce. Instead I made peach salsa (which I won’t eat) and peach chutney (which I might eat but is pretty iffy). Good work, Kate!

This weekend I did better, with a great deal of help from Wonder Boy. We harvested the grapes from our backyard and spent the better part of Saturday skinning, de-seeding and cooking grapes. In the end we got 26 jars of jam that I already have people dibbing. (Lesson: Don’t Facebook and Tweet the things you are making and cooking.)