Busy Days

In the past few weeks I’ve done a lot of canning and freezing, which is one of the reasons that I haven’t done much blogging. Other reasons are taking care of my family, new chicks, caring for teething baby (I'll be glad when the teeth come through), home schooling, etc.
We canned nectarines and jam. I got them on sale at a local orchard, and one of our bus riders came over to help. I froze green beans (from my garden) and green chili’s. The kids helped out some. I am happy to see them old enough to start helping with things like this. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of canning week when Grandma came to help us can and freeze. I love the way canned foods look in the pantry.

My husband’s work has slowed a bit and he is not getting as much overtime, so we have had time to do more hiking as a family. Here are a few photos from our most recent hike to Potato Lake. We told the kids that we were hiking to a lake so Robert carried a rock from the parking area to the lake (about a mile). There were plenty of rocks along the way, but he kept his rock!

Not much has been done in the way of official home schooling, but learning continues to happen throughout our day. I have gone to several yard sales this summer of teachers who were retiring or changing grades and I have bought games, visual aides and more – too much maybe, but they were a good deal! We are fairly well set with curriculum for first grade. I really enjoy using My Father’s World. It is very gentle, fun, and hands-on. The kids like it, too. They ask to do school, if I skip a few days. They are really enjoying art and continually ask to do more. I am having trouble staying ahead of them in reading the book.

Peaches

Monday, I canned peaches. It was a real experience to can by myself with three kids under four. I’m experience at canning, but doing it without help is a first.

My dad grew up on a farm, so we always had animals and a garden. Now that we have land of our own I also have a garden and my own animals. Every summer Grandma, my dad’s mom, would come for a week to help can. We would go to an orchard to buy our peaches and other fruits, but mostly peaches. We would can around 300 quarts of peaches in about one week with Grandma’s help. My dad built an outdoor canner where we would blanch the peaches and later can them. He used the tub of an old wringer washer and built a brick fireplace around it. We could can 24 quarts at one time in Dad’s canner. It kept the heat and mess out of the kitchen.

I started early this morning by washing jars and cleaning up the weekend mess in the kitchen. After feeding breakfast to the kids and doing our chores, I put in a Baby Einstein movie about colors for the kids to keep them entertained and out of danger. I usually don’t let them watch any TV so this was a treat for them. While they were busy I got the peaches blanched and peeled. Then they got tired of the movie and started running around the house. In between breaks to check on what they were doing, I got the peaches cut and into jars. By lunchtime the first batch was in the canner. We had a quick lunch and the youngest went for a nap. I spent the afternoon cleaning up and getting the second batch in the canner. They looked great when they came out of the canner.
I was worn out that night, and very thankful that the kids all went to bed early.