Canning Day

Yesterday was Labor Day.  In a very real sense of the word.
The Big Guy continued harvesting smaller fields he could manage by himself.
Grace, Laura and I worked to put up apples and pears. Rachael enjoyed a day of quiet reading and crafting. 
Here's a look into what canning looks like at our house:

I've done this long enough that I've learned how impossible it is to clean hot, melted sugar from countertops, stovetops and floors.  It doesn't matter if it's me or the children, there's bound to be fruity sugar goo dripping, sliding, dropping from pots and utensils. We cover the stovetop with double duty aluminum foil. I tape down the edges and use a Sharpie marker to draw the approximate location of the burners underneath.

Laura washing the apples

We also use beach towels to cover the floor and an old vinyl tablecloth I picked up from an after-Christmas sale to cover the kitchen table.

Laura  making apple slices for canned apple pie filling.

After washing the apples, one of us quarters and cleans up misshapen, bruised fruit for applesauce.  The pretty apples take a trip through the peeler-corer-slicer for apple pie.

We run a number of pots at a time. The roaster works well on the bridge burner for sliced apples seasoned with flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. The large burner on the other side works well for boiling apple chunks that will be softened and run through the food mill. We also use the large burner for the humongous hot water bath .

Grace using the food mill (gotta love the Kitchen Aid mixer!) to process pears boiled in white grape and lemon juices.

Our pear butter recipe calls for slices of lemon and orange, cinnamon, cardamom, and a vanilla bean.

While we were busy cooking, Rachael began an old-fashioned rag rug with scraps of fabric from the collection in her room.

The beginning of Rachael's rug.

Due to the manufacturing-state of the kitchen, we ate supper on the back porch.  The Big Guy grilled for us and we enjoyed yellow squash and pico de gallo with ingredients from Grace's garden.

Supper on the back porch--Laura's our camera bug.  Rachael--her back to the camera--is our resident recluse.

 This is my favorite part of canning: when I strip the aluminum foil off the stove, pick up and shake out the beach towels, put away the vinyl tablecloth and the kitchen is clean and shiny.  Hurray!!

Tuesday morning.  The dishes are almost done and put away.  I have one more pot of pear butter to boil and seal.  The children are at school.  The Big Guy is off combining and his helper, Mike, should pull into the driveway soon. Laundry is started. The calves are fed.  I hope someone remembered to feed the big cows but it wasn't my job, so they may have a hungry day.  Ahhh. 

It's time to run errands and meet my friend, Joy. I'll put up a picture of yesterday's complete production when we finish.... Maybe.