Peaches and a Birthday.

MY birthday! Yep. I’m getting older– so old in fact that I chose to spend my birthday afternoon picking peaches. Of all things, I wanted to be at a farm on the anniversary of my birth. Wandering between rows of orange, in a late summer orchard with squishy fruit under foot. Spending time with trees that were somehow more aware of the inevitable approach of Autumn than those of us who scurried beneath them.

Really, I should be working at the Detering family farm with how much perfect childish bliss I feel when gathering up various seasonal fruit and vegetables while there. If you remember, I wrote about Detering Orchards in this post after their Apple Days celebration that we attended last October.

So back to the peaches– we picked about 32 lbs of peaches, which came out to $40. I know that sounds like a lot of money for peaches but we put them to good use. I made peach cobbler the next night, had fresh peaches to snack on for a few days and canned 7  quarts in lite syrup for future eats. I also squeezed out 6, 8 oz jars of peach jam. I had never had peach jam before I made it…but it turns out that I love it! It’s like peach cobbler ON MY TOAST!!!!!!

What we picked: Suncrest peaches out at Detering Orchards in Harrisburg, OR.

Room for improvement: I wish we would have picked enough to freeze some. I really like frozen peaches in smoothies. Also, I wish we had enough to make more quarts of canned peaches. 7 quarts will last us a long time because they are really packed, but I know I will hesitate opening each one because I’m afraid I will run out too soon. Also, before next year I would like to find a way to make jam that does not have as much sugar in it. I know I can use splenda…but there has to be a way to make it pure fruit. Any suggestions?

Preserving:  Canned 7 quart size jars in lite syrup using these instructions at Make It Do. This is my first year canning and so the internet has been my secret too success. I also was able to make  6, 8 oz  jars of jam using the recipe included in the Sure Jell pectin box.