Thursday, December 23, 2010

Canning Peaches ~ The Thomson Way

When the boys were little, there were moments when I would actually play little Miss Susie Homemaker. I would sew, cook, bake, decorate. There was a time when I would make homemade jams and preserves for my boys...cherry preserves, apricot-pineapple preserves, strawberry preserves. I would can dozens of jars and keep them in the pantry.

One year, a friend of mine let me know that her peach tree was heavy with fruit and I could come help myself to all the peaches I could carry. So, the boys and I stopped by one day and filled two or three grocery bags with beautiful yellow cling peaches. We took the fruit home and I placed the bags by the door inside the garage... I figured I'd get the large tubs to wash the peaches in and then take them into the kitchen.

Well, sometimes when you have four boys, life gets in the way and you don't always get to those little well-meant projects. Those peach preserves would have been so good, but I had waited too long and they had begun to spoil. The bottom of the bags were damp and I couldn't carry them to the dumptser by myself; Jim would have to help me.

One day turned into two, two into three and.....well, I don't know how long those peaches sat there, but one day  I was delayed in getting home and the older boys were home alone. I don't know how it started, but while in the garage, they decided to have a rotton peach fight! There were rotton peaches splattered EVERYWHERE !!! And you know that one boy got the upper hand in the fight and a truce was not to be had, so someone had to retreat into the house where one would think the food fight would end, right? WRONG ... there were peaches splattered on the door, splattered on the walls, splattered on the ceiling, even splattered peaches dripping from the blades of the ceiling fan !!!

The blinds were still swinging in the sliding glass door when I walked in the front door and the boys bolted out the back door !!!
I think we pretty much got all the rotton peaches cleaned up after I had my meltdown and threatened them all within an inch of their lives. I'll admit that there was one peach splatter left on the garage door when we sold our house..it was kind of left there as a momento.

That was the last time I considered home canning...I sold all my canning supplies at a garage sale and pledged my allegiance to Smuckers.

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