Feeling full and tired and quiet today.

Thought I’d share a few photos of our recent days.

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Peace to you, friends!

A couple summers ago I discovered the joys of canning. Admittedly the joys were harder to find when I started but the pay off of canned peaches during the long, cold winter made it worth while. Last year I attacked the job of canning with fervour, albeit fervour mingled with some extreme dislike. I chanted my mantra of “Cherries in January, cherries in January” at the beginning until something changed. Somewhere over that steam blinding, wrist burning, adrenaline pumping canning pot I found love – or at least an obsession.

Every Sunday afternoon we would head to our favourite farmer’s market and return home with many pounds of produce – I think our week’s high was 120 lbs. We enjoyed our fare share of juicy peaches and cherries, crisp apples, smooth and delicate apricots and even a closely guarded flat of blackberries but much of it was destined for the canning pot. I was like a woman gone mad, canning like crazy every week, bringing more and more home from the market as I feared each week would be the last for the precious peach, cherry or plum.

By the end of the summer Dan had caught my fever. He helped me can dozens of jars of pasta sauce and salsa. He started eating jam. The kids started enjoying salsa. I enjoyed the goods but was a little miserly just in case those cherries didn’t last until January. Turns out those cherries lasted until July…along with more than a few jars of peaches, jam and pasta sauce.

And now we have come full circle. Cherry season has returned much to my joy and excitement. Jam is being made, plans are being laid for this year’s attempts remembering last year’s successes and less-than-successes. We had our first summer visit to the market this past weekend and returned with 20 lbs of cherries – added to the 15 lbs we ate and processed over the weekend we are already 35 lbs in. I kept terrible track last year as I was blinded with passion but this year I resolve to keep better notes and hopefully better control of my obsession. I need to make more salsa, I didn’t use the right tomatoes for sauce and maybe I could hold back on the jam a little (although it did make up MANY Christmas gifts for friends and family).

We’ll see how it goes but I think I may make a weekly habit of reporting here what we’ve been up to since finding a notebook seems beyond my abilities while I’m sweating over a canning bath.

I’m not sure how expecting a baby in the few weeks is going to affect our plans but as Dan is more than eager (isn’t he lovely?!) I’m hoping we can get lots put down – perhaps with a baby in the sling (which of course will necessitate Dan dealing with all the hot jobs while I handle the prep).

So for my first report:

purchased: 35 lbs of cherries from a highway-side market and farmer’s market for $90, ≈ $2.50/lb, the price will go down as the season progresses but we needed to get head start

yield: 17 – 250ml jars of jam, 1 – 500ml jar of jam, plenty of snacks, cherry stained fingers and mouths and 12 pounds left for drunken cherries or more snacking

Our first batch of cherry jam turned out just the way we like it – so well that we’ve already polished off the 500ml jar. This week I managed another (larger) batch of jam. The remaining will be made into drunken cherries – if any of them escape the seven cherry lovers in this house. Simon has probably put away a pound or two on his own. As he watched me pit and chop them the other day his hand found its way to the bowl many times.

For the jam I used David Lebovitz’s recipe for No-Recipe Cherry Jam. As with many jams it is loaded with sugar but made without added pectin which I like. For some reason those packages of pectin give me a bad feeling but I don’t really know if I’m justified in that or not. Last year I made most of our jams without pectin but the few recipes I used it for turned out less to my liking – they seemed too sugary tasting and some of them even got all gross and crystallized. (I only realized the crystallization recently when I opened a jar of peach marmalade so I apologize to anyone who got one of those for Christmas.) That was more than likely my fault but it’s soured me even more against the pectin although I’d love the ability to use less sugar or try other sweeteners with the assurance of the pectin to thicken them up.

Now I’m off to attend to those remaining cherries and stain my fingers once again with their red juices.

Have you tried canning? Do you have fond memories of a favourite preserved from a mother or grandmother’s kitchen? Do you have a favourite recipe you make every year?

Psst: I posted earlier today about the completed Winnie Cooper sweater as I’ve been promising for a couple of weeks now. Check it out here.

Here we are on the eve of another Wednesday and I’m happy to join Ginny in another yarn along.

After what felt like endless knitting while on vacation (which was a good thing) it’s been a bit slow since we got back to the many distractions of home. I’ve finished the sleeves on my Yellow Girl and have started on the button band. Against my inclination I’ve managed to stick to the projects at hand – for the most part. Puerperium‘s sleeves are still calling to be finished (and, er, started) but I did cast on this little hat. My mother-in-law gifted me her stash of beautiful wools when we were visiting and a buttery ball of a merino/silk/cashmere blend has been begging to be something special for babe. I still haven’t proceeded past the cast-on but I just may allow myself to get a little distracted with it tonight.

Amongst the finishing I have I’m insisting that I will get to work on the Owlie Sack this week. A friend is nearly finished one she began knitting and it is cuter than cute. I’m just dying to see a little babe all snuggled up in it.

I’m still reading Simplicity Parenting (visit last week’s post to hear me wax poetic about it). Have I mentioned how rubbish I am with non-fiction? I am seriously challenged without a storyline which is why, although I’m enjoying it immensely, I am still only half way through. Dare I pick up a fiction title in the meantime? Also, after Lydia mentioned it on her blog, I picked up Organic Body Care Recipes from the library along with Vintage Knits for Modern Babies after all of Tonya‘s inspiring baby knitting. I have enjoyed perusing both of them and getting ideas.

On the topic of the first title I have yet to attempt making up any of our personal care products but I have wanted to try for ages. I’m curious if any of you have beloved recipes for personal care products that you can’t do without. I’d love some ideas and tips!

Thanks for visiting!