Canning with Mom

This week the littles and I ventured out to the Acreage for a couple of days. It's always sad leaving Daddy behind, but he had a few late nights at work anyways, so it kind of worked out! I packed enough for an over-nighter, but we ended up extending our stay much to the children's delight. The drive out was a little bit chaotic for the first little while until Tucker fell asleep. We stopped twice for potty breaks (shortly after everyone settled in for naps it seemed). I armed myself with some travel candy in the pocket on my door to help me endure! Tucker kept farting in his sleep, causing Joe to sniff the air, scrunch his nose, and say, "Mom....I smell somethin'...." I wasn't about to roll down the window and wake Finley though, so we all covered our noses with our shirts and pressed on. I had to silently laugh as we drove. 

Our first morning there, we woke bright and early to get started on the quickly ripening peaches. My Mom had just canned a bunch with my sister the day before, then she helped me, and had a couple cases of her own to do too. 

I appreciated her taking the time to teach us her canning ways (and I know my littles will appreciate opening these in the middle of Winter)! As we peeled and sliced peaches, the littles buzzed through the kitchen eating bowl fulls. 

With our family being so big, I did mine in bigger jars so it took a little less time. We had a good system down for filling and putting on the lids and then my Mom taught me about the pressure canner.

 The rain held off in the afternoon just long enough for us to get to the berry patch and fill three or four buckets. 

Finley started out picking them one at a time and eating them, and then he thought it was better to eat the raspberries by the fist full from my bucket. I'm sure that's the reason my pails weren't nearly as full as my Mamma's!

I spent a little bit of time checking out the produce in the greenhouse. This is their first year growing in it, and everything looks amazing! The cucumbers are coming, and the tomatoes are big and fat. My Dad's got a pretty sweet watering system going too.

 The kids love having the extra space to run and play at the acreage. I hardly saw the older two the whole time we were there, unless they needed their tummies filled. The boys would come in from outside with sand covered shoes and hands full of worms from the garden. "Those belong outside," I would say, as they placed them on the floor to pull their shoes off. "Awww. Mommmmm,"

 My Mom sent us home with a few cases of canned peaches and a bunch of berries. It all tastes so much better than the stuff you get from a store!

 As I drove home I smiled at my hands stained orange and red from a day well spent!