On Labor Day, my neighbor and I went to a local orchard which had half bushels on sale, $25 peaches or apples or mixed. I usually make Peach Ginger Jam, or Peach Lemon Verbena Jam, or Peach Butter this time of year. But I have a few jars left from last year, so I thought better of it. Instead, I bought a half bushel of apple seconds for less. Once upon a long ago time, I could have dealt with that amount in three days of more or less non-stop production...but now, older but not particularly wiser, I finished the third batch yesterday, a total of a dozen pints and three half pints. I made a gallon of unsweetened applesauce, and still have about a dozen apples left which I'll turn into apple bars or a apple maple walnut cobble to share with neighbors. I've run out of energy, but boy howdy, the house sure smells good! (Attached, the first two apple butter batches)
the old gray mare she ain't what she use... - My MSAA Community
the old gray mare she ain't what she used to be
That all sounds delicious!
delicious and amazing.
Thank you. I have to divide everything I do into stages because I can't stand for hours at a time anymore, nor can I move quickly. So I must be very careful. I have a small galley kitchen which means a lot of back and forth. Once the canner is set up (for days because once it's filled with water, I can't move it), there's almost no counter space. In between every stage, there's an awful lot of repetitive washing up...I can't start anything else (like putting in the fall winter garden) while doing this, but I've done this for more than half a lifetime,
I like working with my hands, and as with growing some of what I eat, working makes me feel competent and useful. But, if the ground will dry out some, and the weather cooperate, I've got to get busy outside to put in that fall winter garden! Garlic, leeks, and chard are ready to plant, and salad greens to seed. Although every single thing I do takes so much more time than it once did, I am so very grateful that I can still do some of what I once could accomplish.
I'm 74 and would love to be able to keep up with you. Of course now I don't have the canning supplies or access to all the fresh "free" fruits. I do make refrigerator pickles, but I'm the only one that enjoys them!
Do you have chair in the kitchen that you can sit on while you work? That helps to not have to stand all the time.
So, you don't attempt to move the canner off the burner when the jars are done? You just let everything cool naturally and then take them out? I'm very interested, because I want to get back into canning but don't think I'd be able to move the full canner, either.
After I broke my ankle, I gave away my waterbath canner. I splurged and bought myself an electric waterbath canner that has a drain spigot, It sits on the counter with the spigot at the sinks edge, so when I am finished with canning, I can still shove the canner full of hot water so the spigot is above the sink, open it, let the boiling water drain into the sink.
But BEFORE the broken ankle, because I became too unsteady and wobbly to carry that weight to the back door and dump it down the steps...(I never could lift that weight to dump it into the sink) here's how I managed the waterbath canner: when the jars had been immersed for the correct amount of time, and I needed the stove top space, I used tongs to remove them. I would set them on a folded towel to cool where they wouldn't be disturbed for 24 hours. When all the jars were out, the canner would still be too hot and heavy to move, so I would get a bucket with a handle and a long handled cooking pot. Then I would bail an amount I could carry from the canner to the bucket. Two or three trips later, the water in the canner would be low enough I could lift and empty it anywhere I wanted.
My family did not admire my stubborn nature, but I can almost always find a way to do something that I enjoy. They called it stubborn, I call it creative problem solving!
For health and safety reasons, you shouldn't let the jars cool in the canner. The lids will not seal tightly in the cooling water. Jars should be removed from the canner while the water is still hot enough to burn you...hence good tongs!
That's what I was thinking about leaving the jars in it, but it honestly hadn't occurred to me to just bail the water out. Thank you!
Easier to buy the tongs, then put Jars on wooden cutting board or a folded up towel so the bottoms of the jars don’t break
That all sounds delicious! I have made 12 pints of raspberry jam, 12 quarts of unsweetened applesauce (chunky) and 6 pints of blueberry syrup. I had to make waffles to go with the syrup. Yummy, it’s fun to taste and wonderful to look at.
Kelly, you must have been wearing your Wonder Woman cape and belt! Of course you had to make waffles! Nothing is better on a crisp fall morning than hot waffles, oozing butter, dripping with raspberry syrup. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water! 'Well done!!!
Good for you! You may be whooped but you got a lot done! And have quite a bit of yummy good stuff for a while.🧡
goatgal— 82??? I’m 75 and only managed to make a couple loaves of apple carrot raisin bread. Nothing wrong with you, you young whippersnapper!🤣👌😄😂
It all sounds delicious! If you were my neighbor I would be delighted to help you with all your prep. In my much younger days, I used to make my own "apple pie filling" process it an can it in gallon jars and I would have fresh pie filling for months Did the same with peaches, too. My girls were so young then, I don't know how I had the energy! Sure wish I had that kind of energy now. It's all I can do to prepare a meal.
if i was your neighbor i would show up with a fork and spoon.
Wow! You are amazing!
I wish you were my neighbor!
apple maple walnut cobbler sounds wonderful. Do you share recipes.
When my children were younger and I lived on a farm with my first husband I would can about 100 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Now I live in town and my husband plants about a dozen tomato plants. There is an ongoing battle between my husband and the neighborhood ground for the crop but we got enough for a few pints os stewed tomatoes. There is just something comforting about putting up food for the winter.
PS I made something new this year- Beet Jelly!
The recipe is from King Arthur's baking book. I have a neuro appt this morning. When I return, I'll photo the recipe page and post it.
I wish we were neighbors. We’d have a great time. Most I make now is refrigerator pickles!
Love your accomplishment and picture! What an inspiration & reminder of days gone by! So happy we can celebrate with you!
Yummmm.....
So rewarding to enjoy the fruits of your labor, goatgal ! You are amazingly inspirational! 
I bet it smells lovely! 🥰
how do you deal w the heat in the kitchen?
I haven’t cooked in half a decade due to heat and back & forth between fridge counter stove & sink
If heat sensitivity isn’t an issue, lucky duck!
Looks wonderful 😊
In my former life, I could work in shorts, t-shirts and sandals, and would also open windows and put a fan in the kitchen. Now I don't do marathon canning events. I'm very lucky, I have a strong fan above the stove, an air conditioned house, and don't keep pots generating heat all day.
our builder messed up & didn’t vent stove fan outside so ours is lacking efficiency.
Wonder if it’d make a difference if we install a different one?
List of future improvements 😉
Awesome!! It's almost been 20 years since I canned anything. That's really awesome you did yours !! Looks yummy. I can imagine how good your house smells.
Thank you! and thanks as well to everyone else for the support.
she might not be what she used to be, but she's still going!😀 sounds delicious!
I agree it is hard work. My father used to make peach preserves and it was delicious. Good with homemade rolls and biscuits.
Another fall
Needing a reminder to stay positive....
Hanging by that familiar thread again 
Habits
