Apricots and Cherries!

I ordered a box of Apricots and Cherries from Bountiful Baskets this last week and did a little, I mean a lot of canning.

Cherries were first. Cherries you have to have a pitter and well it makes a big mess and makes your hands turn a dark brown. I ended up making 5 quarts of Cherry Pie filling and 4 quarts of just bottled cherries. I can't wait to be able to try these out!

The next day we did apricots. These have to be the most simple fruit to bottle. Wash them cut them in half and take the pit out and then stuff them in the jar. For the syrup I used have apple juice and half water. I got 8 quarts of apricots. I saved some so I can make some fruit leather. Yummy!!!

We used a wet bath to seal them.

I don't know what I would do if it weren't for my talented and knowledgeable sisters, Rachel and Shelley. They are the epitome of Homemakers! Sorry Rachel I know you think differently but come on you have all the skills!

We had a full house doing the apricots today. Rachel was watching some of Shelley's kids and I had Jessica and Kash with me. It was like a tornado went through Rachel's house. We still had fun.

One down side to all this fun canning and yummy fruit is that I can't have any of it. I so wanted one of those wonderful apricots. It so reminded me of eating them out of my Aunt's tree in Moccasin. And the best way to eat a cherry is right off the tree! But 20 more lbs is so worth the wait.

I feel so good doing canning or bottling. I'm actually adding to my food storage. Little by little. Sale by Sale I'll have some yummy food to eat if the time comes. We can eat Pie for every meal. I have Apple Pie filling and now Cherry! Now all I need to learn is a great Pie crust recipe!