There’s something about bottling your own food that is just so incredible to me.

I mean, I understand why it works, and the science behind it all, but it still continues to amaze me that I can put in a day’s work in the early fall, and have home grown peaches in the middle of January. Or fresh salsa in February. Applesauce in March.

You get the idea.

So, each year about this time, I start collecting my gear from the downstairs storage room, and begin planning what I will “can.”

This year? Peaches, applesauce, salsa, pears, and spaghetti sauce. Not pickles. Probably never pickles ever again.

I tried doing pickles once. It was epic. I had boxes and boxes of cucumbers from our co-op garden, and I was SO ambitious. I was determined to make the best pickles any of us had ever tasted.  They turned out so badly that I don’t even want to attempt smelling pickling spice for fear of severe nausea. Some spoiled entirely. Others, smelled delicious but were so mushy it was horrible. Every one of our 20+ quarts had something tragically wrong. Sweet Jacob tried to work his way through them, only throwing away the very worst, but even he was relieved when I’d had enough and dumped every single bottle down the garbage disposal.

Like I said. I will probably never do pickles again.

Probably.

It still bothers me that I failed so badly at them when all my other canning exploits have gone rather well.

Maybe I’ll try them another time.

Probably not.

Anyway, back to what I WILL be doing this year. I started peaches today. Just sliced, nothing fancy. Salsa and spaghetti sauce next week. Pears after that. Applesauce last, of course. That’s when I can get several boxes of the best apples.

It feels so good to know that my kids are eating apples from farms right here in our little city. Tomatoes from our own backyard.

I just love canning. Incredible, I tell you.