Peaches! Picked Fresh! Frozen and Canned!

As promised...we canned peaches! 

It started last Friday when the kid's decided they wanted to "pick their own food"...so I took that literally. We headed down to Vanzant Fruit Farms and let them go crazy! This may have been a form of child slavery...but they were excited and we had a lot of fun! :) 

This is the first year in 33 years that Vanzant Fruit Farms in Springdale, AR has opened their orchards to the public for picking. At $.90 a pound and all the peaches delicious you NEED to go get some! Everyone we met there was super nice, and there were a lot of other families there. 

Benny and Lexi had the most fun I think with the "fruit farming" (am I being to liberal with the definition of the 20 or so minutes we spent picking peaches...probably so..but lets just go with it) and Max was not so impressed...after he started sweating he was done. 

They had fun picking....

and picking....

and Spiderman picking...

and picking...until..

The lovely Vanzant's worker showed up on her ATV and helped us carry our mother load of peaches back to where we parked. We picked just over 26 lbs of peaches and paid just $20.66. Awesome. 

Once we got home we had a play date, then dinner plans...then..life really. 

It wasn't until the next day (Saturday night to be exact) the I built up the courage to "process" our haul. 

I learned something very important from this right away....when you pick peaches...and have tiny little hands helping...getting the very low fruit...do NOT wait a day to process them. They get mushy fast! 

The first thing we did with the peaches I had actually not anticipated doing when we set out for the orchard the day before. But the lovely Vanzant's lady (I really wish I would have gotten her name!) suggested we try freezing them as well! I had to do this because as soon as she got done explaining it Benny looked up with his big doe eyes and said, "We.could.make.SMOOTHIES with those!" He was so excited it was a done deal peaches were being frozen! 

To do this is actually really simple...sounding. 

Step 1) Peal the peaches- The lady said we should be able to just peel the skin back. False. We had to use a vegetable peeler, then a paring knife on the softer spots.

Step 2) Cut peaches in half and remove the seed. (Easy peesy)

Step 3) Place peaches in a bowl and add just enough lime juice to coat the outsides. This stops them from browning and looking yucky!

Step 4) Place them on a cookie sheet, then place the cookie sheet in the freezer. This "flash freezes" the peaches so they can be stored and stacked without squishing!Genius. 

Step 5) Place the flash frozen peach halves into Ziploc bags. (We used quart sized ones.)

Done. Easy right?!

For the rest of the peaches we canned them! I found this "recipe" on Pinterest and used it. This girl, she's a genius. Here is the link -> http://shinycooking.com/millions-of-peaches-peaches-for-me

I am a VERY inexperienced canner and her instructions were simple enough that even I could follow! 

My bushel and a half of peaches yielded 6 Ziploc bags of frozen peach halves, 6 quarts and 1 pint of canned peaches...then I ran out of clean jars...but! It worked out in my favor! I was able to use the left over peaches to make one of my husband's favorite things...peach cobbler! I used this recipe ->  http://www.make-it-do.com/cook-it-bake-it/peach-cobbler/ (also found via Pinterest). I followed the recipe exactly except for the peaches I used had already been blanched from the canning process. They were still SUPER juicy and sweet so I did not add any sugar or water to my fruit mixture! So good. And it earned me "Good Wife Points". 

It was a fun project and I think we are going to do it again. We love peaches...almost as much as I love taking pictures of the kids picking peaches.... ♥ 

The Story of How He and She Became a We

Just to clue everyone in, not that there is an "everyone" but I remain hopeful, here is is a brief breakdown of life as I see it.

I met Ben when I was almost 16...it was instant love. I was a carhop...he was a cook...it was meant to be. We went on our first date on December 26, 2002. We were both supposed to be going with other people and we both got ditched because of snow. (God knew what he was doing, I am pretty sure it was planned!) We ended up sitting together and by the time we walked out I had that boy holding my hand!

Flash forward a few years..or four...we found ourselves getting married (Awh!) on March 11, 2006. Also known as the day the storms started for the tornado that tore the roof off of the Bentonville High School Football stadium. And they say rain on your wedding day is lucky!

Then later that same year we welcomed our first bundle of joy! On August 8th, 2006 ( I see you out there adding that up on your fingers...yes I was pregnant when we got married. But, no, sadly it was not a traditional shot gun wedding...we already had a date set we just moved it up from July 22 (the day directly in the middle of our birthdays...yeah silly I know...but we were 18!) to March 11 because I refused to be 9 months pregnant in my wedding pictures...so 5 months pregnant sufficed!)  Benjamin Chop Jr. was born and golly he was (and still is) a looker. He is so analytical, it is just amazing to sit and watch him figure out how to solve his problem. (It generally stems from needing a roof for a Lego house or sides for a Lincoln Log bridge...) He is so smart, and sweet and snuggly! 

Flash forward again to December 19, 2007 and you will be there for the arrival of our second sweet bundle of joy Alexa Hayden Chop. She is our only girl, I do not think I would change that! I love her, I love how girly she is, I love how she loves to dress up, I love how she poses in the mirror and dances to her favorite songs. But to have another girl? We just simply could not ever afford another Alexa!

Then our final little love arrived on September 22, 2009! Samuel Marshall Chop a.k.a "Max" or "Pookie". He is our last baby. I would love for him to stay little but I do not think he will. He is our tiniest baby (okay he's our shortest...I just don't know how this happened...I am 5'11 and Ben is ALMOST 5'10....okay never mind it's Ben's fault!) I truly would never change it though, what he lacks in height he makes up in personality. This baby, whashooo... he will wear you out with the giggles he induces..some because he is HILARIOUS...some because you cannot believe that just happened...

REWIND..just for a second...In October of 2006...after Benny was born Ben (the big one) started working for a directional drilling company and we all traveled year round. It was AMAZING. We got to see and experience so many different things that otherwise we never would have. (Like what it feels like in Baton Rouge in August..in a travel trailer...when the power goes out for a few days.. yeah.) We traveled with Ben until August of 2011 then he traveled by himself for a few months...now we all live at home. In our tiny house that I love, and refuse to leave until we build OUR house.

I was always a stay at home mom until January of this year when I went to work at my "big kid job". I am a Sales Analyst Assistant (wouldn't it sound so much more grown up if I didn't have to type assistant?! Eh..soon enough!) I have a Bachelors Degree in Business Management and MOST of my MBA with a focus in Marketing. (I can't call it done until I officially graduate in January...but it I am pretty sure it's a done deal...)

Ben does the same type of work he used to do on the road at home..kind of... He is a heavy equipment operator. Or as Benny likes to say it "he has a big hoe at work!"....haha! He is an amazing husband, father, chef, Alicia Calmer Downer (trust me, THAT is an accomplishment), as any husband he is also at times an amazing Alicia Worker Upper (that, not so much of an accomplishment!)

That is it, that is us. And here we go...

Domestication. Take it or Leave it?

I have tried several times over the vast six years of our marriage to do wife like things....they generally fail...they generally MISERABLY fail. This year I have vowed to change that!

So far I have made jelly. I know what you are thinking, "dumb" or "why make jelly when you can buy it in every flavor under the sun generally for about a dollar?!" The answer my friends...because my sister was doing it and I wanted to too. (Isn't that always the case?)

We met up at her house and pulverized some strawberries, added sugar and cooked it until the house was sufficiently a billion degrees. The end result?? Four pints of strawberries, 6 cups of sugar, one packet of pectin cooked and canned into six (yes, SIX) delicious jars of strawberry jam. I am pretty proud of this small accomplishment...I am even more proud that the kids will eat it! I consider this a win!

Next up....Peaches! Canned and frozen!