Peaches and Apples

Last week we went with friends to a peach orchard, arriving at about 7:15 a.m. to pick before the temperature became unbearable. We had a wonderful time picking, and actually it was the moms who just couldn't get enough and had to force themselves to quit picking. ;) Just as we were finishing, we discovered the tree right beside my van had little ripe peaches, so we proceeded to pick that one clean. Those little ones were the best ones. (There has to be a spiritual lesson in this...)

I ended up bringing home 80 lbs. (yes, 80!) of peaches. I had so much fun figuring out recipes for jellies and jams and then canning the proceeds. I ended up with peach jam (which was too sweet in my opinion), peach jelly, peach spread, peach pineapple spread, and peach peel/pit jelly. Not to mention a bunch of frozen peaches. Mmm, mmm!

Last night we raided an overloaded apple tree in our church parking lot and picked enough to fill the back seat of our van and half of the front seat. I made one crockpot of cinnamon applesauce overnight last night and Bookworm made apple crisp tonight, but I still have two big boxes of apples in the kitchen calling my name. Back to the cutting board!