Summer Busy

I have been trying to find some time in the past couple of weeks to hop on here and share with you all. Apparently that is harder to do than I thought! It's harvest time and the food is pouring in. Thanks to all the rain we had this year the crops are going crazy and the fruit is juicy and big. 

Last week I ordered 2 two bushels of peaches and put them up for a total of  51 quarts.

We also harvested about 3/4/ of a bushel off of the one tree that produced this year. I took those after we ate as many as we could and made cinnamon spiced peaches. I have never done these before so I am looking forward to trying them in a few weeks. They smelled so good as I as putting them in the jars. 

We also went and picked blackberries to make some jam. 

The berries were beautiful, and the vines were so full. 

I also made dilly beans, canned green beans, garlic, and banana peppers. 

And lets not forget the tomatoes. I've lost count of how many gallon Ziploc bags I've put in the freezer to deal with later. I am so thankful to have so many this year. Last year with the lack of rain and disease I had to buy whatever I needed. I am looking forward to spaghetti sauce again after we ate out last jar in April.

Through all of this we have been doing school also. I normally don't have anything planned for August but due to all the moving, not moving, having the house on the market, etc. we felt we were a bit behind. So I have been using this summer to catch up.  It has been lots of fun as we are studying the Revolutionary war and finishing up our botany lessons. I am looking forward to our first 6 week break and a couple of field trips to Valley Forge, and  Brandywine Creek. I also have a post in the works about our curriculum for the new year starting on September 16th!  Now, I must get back to the kitchen the tomatoes are calling smelling.