The Week in Review

This past week was a fruitful one on the prepping/canning front. It also exemplifies a typical week during harvest and canning season. Here is what it looked like:

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Monday

On Monday, I had the opportunity to pick up some apples in town that a friend had. Since our eldest daughter is out-of-town, our youngest daughter and I made plans to try making apple juice with the steam juicer my mom handed down to me. It is a much older version of this one. My mom has made many different juices with this over the years, but the two I remember most are plum and grape. I have used these canned juices to drink, make jelly, make juice pops, and make homemade jello. 

Tuesday

The peaches we ordered arrived and on Tuesday I canned my first batch. A few were a bit green yet, but since I was going to the work of canning them, I wanted to be sure I filled up the canner. The rest were  much too green and had to wait until later in the week. After canning, I picked hawthorn berries. I put a few in the dehydrator and set the rest aside for jam. I picked and dried lemon verbena and calendula and then took care of the tarragon that I hung to dry a couple of weeks ago. I also brought in and finished preparing the garlic that had been curing outside.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, I made hawthorn jam. I picked and froze berries (haws) last year, too, but didn’t get around to making the jam so I used both the frozen and fresh berries. I cooked them down together and ran them through the Food Mill, just like I do with the serviceberries, to separate the seeds and the pulp. We ended up with 12 cups of jam. 

I also picked some of the calendula that had bloomed in the garden and put it in the dehydrator.

Thursday

On Thursday, our youngest daughter came over and we canned 18 quarts of peaches. It is a bit of a process to peel the peaches, slice them, and can them so it took up a good chunk of our day. We were each left with just a handful of peaches to either make a pie or to snack on. It was quite warm in the kitchen but we made ourselves an adrenal cocktail, which is essentially an electrolyte drink, to help us stay hydrated. 

Our Azure order arrived in the afternoon. Since I was at home canning, my husband picked up the order in town for me. If you are not familiar with them, Azure Standard is a health-food oriented company and farm based in Dufur, Oregon that strives to source healthy and organic products for their customers. They have drop sites where you can pick up your order (this saves you money on shipping), or you can have your order shipped directly to you. They were a lifesaver back in the day when I was struggling with autoimmune issues and it was hard to find organic food in our small town. We continue to order from them as it supports a small family business.

Friday

On Friday, I washed up the peach jars then went into town with my husband. We have a standing order of milk each week that we pick up. Since we hadn't picked up our milk yet, we needed to be sure to collect it and drop off jars for the upcoming week. We also had jars of peaches and a bag of gluten free flour from the Azure order to take to our youngest daughter. We made our pick-up and delivery and drove to a neighboring town to look at a potential job for his business.

The Weekend

On Saturday we drove to a friend's wedding that was to take place at a venue about three hours from us. We left in the late morning and arrived in time to settle into our Air BNB, relax for a bit, and then change into our wedding attire. Some other friends invited us to their campsite just prior to the wedding, so we headed over and spent a lovely hour at the creek visiting with them. It was a hot day so it was particularly refreshing to dip our feet in the cool creek. The wedding was lovely and attended by a group of wonderful people. We enjoyed chatting with the people at our table and the surrounding tables.

On Sunday we had breakfast at a local cafe and then made the trek back home through the mountains. The drive was long but beautiful. We saw a lot of wheat fields, creeks, and mountain views. We arrived in time to enjoy an evening drink on the porch.

And that was a wrap-up to a typical summer week. 😊