We are blessed to live on 12.5 acres with huge, beautiful fruit trees that produce some really great fruit. We also have an excess of blackberries. It’s always a shame to see any of it go to waste. I haven’t ever done any canning or food preserving myself and we always try to give as much away as possible. I grew up with my mom and Grandma canning every summer/fall, then we would have pears, cherries and peaches and raspberry and strawberry jams all year long. That holds such great memories for me. This year, I decided I wanted to do some canning. Auntie Kristen came down from Portland on Sunday and we got to work!
First, we spent over 2 hours picking the fruit…{don’t judge, it’s more than what it looks like plus we had Ry with us}
We didn’t finish picking until after 5:30 that night, we made dinner, Ry had a bath and while I was putting her to bed Kristen got to work. That night we made a batch of blackberry jam and got the apples cooked down for applesauce.
The next day, we were up and canning before 8:30 am. Ry was quite the “helper”. Oh, and let me tell you, if you don’t have an apple corer/peeler/slicer jobber and you are planning on doing a lot of canning, for the love of all things holy, GET ONE! It makes things go so much faster.
We had 2 canners going at once so we set-up shot outside. We prepped all the food in the kitchen, then when it was ready to can we brought it out. It worked so much easier this way…good thinking sister!
Like I said, Ry was quite the helper. Rylee enjoyed taking the apples from the dehydrator and putting them in her mouth the ziploc back for storage.
After nearly a full 24 hours of straight canning (minus 7 hours for sleep) we came out with all of this goodness! 17 quarts of pears, 5 quarts and 5 pints of applesauce, 12 jars of blackberry jam, 6 quarts of apple pie filling, 6 quarts of apples, 4 pints of salsa and a bag of dried apples. The best part? All the fruit came from our property. The really best part? Spending the time with my sis.
Now I need your help! A lot of these items will be used for gifts so I want to make up some fancy-schmancy labels for them…the trouble is…what do I call them? Almost like a brand…As in: _____ blackberry jam. I hate “Rice Ranch” and I really don’t like “Rice Farm” either. I was thinking maybe Rice Acres, but I am open for suggestions and better ideas…ready? And…GO! If I choose your name, I may or may not send you some blackberry jam!
Next on the list? I’m going to make lemon cello. YUMM!
