Pies, Peaches and Pioneers!

Thursday was a whopping busy day.  I intended to order these photos differently, but find myself unable to "boss" the blog into doing what I want it to do.  So take it or leave it!  This is what you get!

I feel somewhat like the early "pioneers" whose legacy is felt so strongly here in Nauvoo. (All Self-sufficient and industrious!)  This year we netted exactly EIGHT apples from the young tree in our side yard.  So I decided to make a pie!

Although they looked a bit mottled in their raw form, the spots were completely

removed in the peeling and paring process!

Here are the sliced apples towering over the edges of the pie pan.  It was all I could do to get that top crust to reach the edges of the bottom crust.  Nice crisp Mackintosh apples!  Great for pies.

Here's the pie ready to go into the oven!

And the finished product.  YUMMMMMMM!

But way before it was time to make the pie, we had to wade through two bushels of peaches!  After washing them, the next step is to "blanch" them for 20-25 seconds in boiling water.

Here is the syrup waiting for the jars to be filled up with sliced peaches.

All the equipment ready and waiting.....

for the "Peelers Extraordinaire!"  Mom, Dad and Jeff pitch in--my job was to do all the running and jumping up and down while the rest of the crew did the real work of peeling and slicing.

All those peelings have to go someplace, right?  In this case, it's back into the cardboard box the peaches came in and knowing Garbage Day is on Friday.  (Thank goodness!)

All the batches except the last one had 7 quarts in the cooker.  The final batch was not full, however.

A closeup of a few jars that had my special "Peaches" lids and rings.

And the counters full of the colorful jars of sliced peaches.  Unfortunately a few of the 39 jars

did not seal and we "had to eat them" quickly! 

And what's to do the day after peaches and pies?  Green beans, of course.  But I was too exhausted from Thursday to take photos on Friday.  Bon Appetite!