Canning and Baby Alligators

Let the canning begin. I hope to have a garden one day where I can can things that I have grown myself. For now I will stick to the farmer's market and the orchards for that.

A few years ago a couple good friends from Houston and I tried out canning peaches for the first time. I think I only made like 12 jars which were eaten fast. This year I wanted to try it again. I did a few things different than before and it went much smoother. My friend and I only did 14 jars to start as a trial run but plan to can 100 lbs next week. Cross your fingers they all seal and everything goes as smooth as this small batch. The peaches are so so good and came right from the Okanogan where apparently they are peach and cherry experts. 

 Here are the jars ready for the seals and then the water bath. 

 The finished peaches right out of the bath. I look forward to making some peach pie, some blueberry peach cobbler, and just eating them out of the jar.

 Next I wanted to try something new. Can you guess what I wanted to try? Pickles anyone? Philip hates pickles so much and has always referred to them as baby alligators. I guess they do kind of look like baby alligators. 

Even though he doesn't like them I wanted to make them anyways. More for me I guess. I have memories from my childhood of people giving us canned pickles and absolutely loving them. There is no comparison to store bought pickles even though I like those too. 

This time I was on my own. I went to the farmer's market with my kids and purchases all the supplies I needed. The dill weed sat in a vase overnight which gave the house a dilly aroma when we woke up. I cut up the cucumbers and had Summer help me put in the spices. It took me about three hours including clean up. 

 In the water bath. 

Finished and ready to sit for 3-4 weeks. I guess I have to be patient. Well, I must like pickles a lot because it made 21 pint jars. It was fun and now I know that I can do canning projects. It really isn't that hard. Now a pressure cooker is a different story. I would need a tutorial on that kind of canning.  Anyone want to teach me? What do you can in a pressure cooker anyways?