canning peaches

I canned some peaches yesterday. Usually I like to take pictures of each step so everyone can see how hard I work, I mean how fun it all is but yesterday I forgot so all you get to see is a pic of the jars when I first took them out of the water bath. I decided to try a new recipe for the syrup because the other one had so much sugar in it. I have not tasted them yet but it sure smelled good. All I had to do was put a pot on with about 10 cups of water and 4 tsp honey, that is a 2 tsp honey to every 5 cups of water ratio. I heated this while I peeled the peaches to put in the jars and after the syrup started boiling I reduced the heat to a simmer. I then put 1/8 tsp fruit fresh (absorbic acid) into each jar to help keep the peaches looking pretty and filled each jar with sliced peaches. I then poured the syrup over the peaches and put lid on. After all the jars are filled I put them in a hot water bath canner to boil for 25 minutes and voila! I now have some yummy canned peaches. I then simmered the peach skins for a while, drained off the juice, put in a jar and put in fridge to save for making peach jelly later. I waste as little as possible. I then took the cooked skins to the chickens after they cooled. The only things that got thrown out was the seeds. Also, the few peaches I had left that would not be enough to fill a jar, I either ate or sliced and froze.

Water, dont take it for granted

Woke up this morning and we have no water. Our well went dry. This happens every summer, usually around June so we were blessed to have water clear until August. I was able to squeeze out enough to water the animals but after that nothing. Praying that if I give it a couple hours it will fill up at least enough for us to take a shower. Before I lived out here I lived in town and we really took water for granted. You know what they say, you dont know what you have until it's gone. We had to pay for our water then but we always had plenty of water unless a water main broke or something like that. I like having well water better then city water but when our well starts going dry it is really hard for me to remember that, lol. Luckily, my mom and grandma live right next door and they have a really good well and I can take my laundry down there and I can fill some jugs and buckets to bring up to the trailer to use. I try to look at the positive things but it is hard when I have no water. Maybe we are spoiled in society today. There was a time that they had to haul all of their water to use. Problem with that would be we have no nearby creeks to haul from. I think that would be cool though. Could sit by the creek and relax along with it providing my family with good water. I will just have to pretend my mom's house is my creek. :-)

Downsizing

I have alot to do today but of course I decided that being on the computer was first priority after feeding and milking the animals. I wont bore you with all of the mundane things I have to do (even though I find most of them to be exciting), but I am going to share how I am planning on downsizing our expenses. First of all I am going to go through the cupboards and refrigerator and see what all is hidden in there that I have forgotten about, then putting it all where I can see it when I open the doors. I am only going to buy things when I absolutely need them. We need to eat more of what we have instead of just what we are wanting at the time. I am also going to try and make almost everything we eat, instead of buying the snack items I am going to bake ALL of my own. I do already make alot of my own but I still give into the temtation of easily accessible items. We also need to quit eating out every other weekend. Sometimes it is every weekend. It is so much easier for me to just go through the drive thru then to go home and make a meal but make a meal is what I am gonna do from now on. These are the few things I am gonna start with, it does not sound like much but each little step will get me closer to the big picture.