Gardening. Canning. Preserving. Freezing. Slicing. It is so much work.
I really don’t have time for this. But I also don’t have time not to do it. So I make time, or somehow, as always, God provides the time. The family pitches in to help, and eventually we get it all done.
The beauty of working so hard to get garden veggies and orchard fruit preserved in the summer and fall is that this winter it will all be convenience food for our family! It will be super easy to pull these goodies out of the pantry or freezer and serve them quickly with our meals. That’s why I make the time – that and because it saves us hundreds of dollars. That’s pretty nice too. :)
It’s been a few years since we canned any peaches. We’ve only had enough to freeze some for smoothies. This year, we got ourselves set for smoothies, and filled several jars to eat plain or with cottage cheese. These peaches turned out so pretty!
We’ve made loads of applesauce. What you see below is barely a sampling. Thanks to cucumbers a friend passed along to us, we are all set with dill pickles and sweet pickle relish for the year. I also made a few jars of salsa (my mom’s recipe). Sometimes, I just open my pantry to stare at all the pretty jars full of food. That alone makes the hard work all worth it. :)
It was ironic that I was gawking at my jars of home-canned produce and taking pictures to share with you today. Just as I was doing that, the UPS man showed up on our porch with part of our Amazon Subscribe and Save order. FUN!! (See many of the specifics here.)
I snapped a picture of the packaged food (and household items) too. I thought it would be good to show you those along with my home-canned produce. Yep, sometimes I rely on packaged cereal on busy mornings. Sometimes we like chips for a treat. It’s all about balance, right?
I just LOVE a full pantry, and thank God that he has provided so much (mostly) free produce to preserve. I also thank Him for the great deals I find online that are delivered to my door. How fun that I got to stare at so many household blessings for my family today. Thank you, God for the bounty!