40 lb of peaches

I talked a while back about missing my grandmother.  2 years later, I'm still am having a hard time with her being gone.  I called her my Mimi.  I have a hard time even putting her name in print.  Growing up, I always thought "Mimi" meant grandmother in her mother tongue.  But she was from Chicago, so Mimi was really just a nickname.  To me, "Mimi" meant not just Grandma, but unconditional love and lessons and adoration from my Grandma, the best My Mimi, ever.  

And I think one of the things that gets me so down, is that I seem to come from a generation that is so caught up in cell phones and Skype and Facebook and ipads and blogging and emails, that we've let many of the lessons of our grandmothers fall short.   My Mimi taught me many many things.  But she didn't teach me enough,'cause she's not here anymore, and I still don't know it all.  

Last year, I set out to make jam.  My grandmother made jam, and in fact she canned everything under the sun, like nuclear devastation was just around the corner.   She had a whole bedroom that was full canned foods.  Ok, so it honestly looked a little like hoarding, but we won't talk about that right now.  She had a 1 acre garden in her front yard.  And she canned it all including jams, fruits, vegetables, beans, relishes, picked everything.  Grandpa did a LOT of fishing so she canned meats too, salmon and tuna and... and... and...

But she never taught me how to can foods.  And now she's gone.  I guess I was just too busy... with babies, and working and cell phone messages and emails and all.  That's so sad now.   So, last year I set out to make jam despite the fact that I didn't know how.  And even sadder, I couldn't find any folks in my neck of the woods to teach me.  So I used the curssed internet to teach me, and it worked!  I canned jam for the first time last fall!

This year, my sister-in-law, decided to keep "Operation Grandma's Lessons" going.  

40 lbs of peaches @ 3 lbs for a $1.  Lots of jars @ 12 jars for $6.70.  10 lbs of sugar, fruit fresh, 3 1/2 hours, and a really cute baby willing to go with the flow.  

This is my very favorite picture of the morning, baby PC taking a nap in the middle of 40 lbs of peaches.  I can't help but smile, but really my neck is starting to hurt!

36 jars of canned peaches!  Aren't they gorgeous! 

We have grand plans of canning jams and apple sauce next!  Maybe even orange marmalade!  Or a relish?

I miss you more than I ever thought possible, my Mimi!