Early Start, Early Finish

The old adage is ' the early bird gets the worm,' but today mine reads,

' Early to start, Early to finish.'

Do you remember these palm-sized peaches and

quarter-sized blueberries from the citrus truck delivery?

Well, today, they needed tending.

The blueberries went into freezer bags for future desserts and pancakes.

Oh, and of course, a quart in the frig' for fresh eating.

The peaches needed much more care. After washing the jars and rings, rolling the peaches in boiling water for a minute, then immediately cooling in ice water to make for easy peeling, the pitting and slicing began. Lil Granhelpers are always around and eager to do anything they can, with guidance.

The jars are filled, lids and rings are hand-tightened,

before the filled jars go into the hot-water bath for just 10 minutes. Some canners like to extend that time, but I start timing once the water comes to a boil, turning it down to mid-heat.

The end result for canned peaches that taste fresh as first picked, in the dead of a very cold winter, is the full purpose of going through the long process of preparing for any canning adventure.

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The small jars are full of the best peach jam , also made early today. The whole process from beginning to end was completed by 8:30 this morning, canned peaches, peach jam and frozen blueberries.

I'm rather proud of this. All of us girls, and there are 6 of us, have learned the art of canning, freezing, jelling and jamming from our mother while we were still hanging onto her apron strings.

Now, I have the pleasure of teaching my daughter and sons, and our grandloves, that same art that is too quickly becoming a thing of the past.

If I pass anything down to my family, I hope they remember me for loving the land and learning how to live off of it, from the ground up.

I can't get apologetic about getting all sentimental about something so dear to my heart., but I do apologize for this getting ' long.'

One last thing, AFTER the work was done, little Ben and I had the best fully loaded Blueberry Pancakes, made from scratch, topped with hot Peach Jam and homemade Maple Syrup from this spring.

Go out and make some memories with your family. I don't care if it's to pick a flower, enjoy each others company over milk and cookies or a phone call, but, just do it.

Have a wonderful day.

BlessYourHeart