This is glory time in the orchards and fields of Antrim County. I imagine a larder filled with gleaming jars of apricots, tasty pickles, dark cherry sauce. There are only two problems.
- I am afraid of poisoning myself and the Cowboy. (He is fond of fruit. Miss Sadie and Miss Puss are carnivores.)
- Canning is hot work and August is quite hot enough at the Writing Studio and Bait Shop without filling the kitchen with steaming pots.
ISLAND offered solutions to these problems. There would be a canning workshop at King Orchards. People who know what they are doing would keep me from poisoning anyone and we would heat up the Kings’ kitchen. The apricots would be included. I was on it like the Cowboy on a lemon bar. Looky here:
We canned apricots, but it turns out that peaches are canned exactly the same way, so we acquired transferable skills. (Feel free to pretend those are peaches instead of apricots if you like peaches better.) We worked into the lovely evening, and the fully canned jars are resting over at King’s as I write this. It turns out that they are not to be disturbed for a bit after they come out of the canning bath, and I was content to leave them at it.
There are many missing images. The jars of apricots immersed in their bath, for example, and the jars coming out, and the cunning labels being attached. At some point, a person must decide whether to have an experience or document it, and I am very fond of apricots.
If I had time I could write a much more entertaining post about all this, because we did have a LOT of fun, but today is a busy little day. Thanks to the Kings, Yvonne Stephens of ISLAND, and Jennifer Berkey, an Extension Educator from the MSU Extension, we’re all alive to enjoy it. You can learn the serious stuff from the Canning Handouts. Follow this link to the Extension and look over in the right column where there are many, many handouts listed.
Torch Lake Views 
P.j. grath
August 6, 2010
They look good enough to eat, Gerry! Were you really afraid of poisoning? I confess I have never, ever had the nerve to can beans (which for some reason I associate with the worst of canning dangers) without turning them into pickles, but that was fun. So now will you can peaches? And what else? And when–in your spare time????
Karma
August 6, 2010
Certainly is steamy work. I canned homemade salsa some years back, haven’t been overly anxious to do it again any time soon!
katherine
August 6, 2010
the cunning canning labels? Good photos Very cool Gerry. It’s not too hard to do, just time consuming. The only thing about peaches is holding the wet, warm peaches tight enough to peel them so they don’t squirt out of your hand but not tight enough that you squeeze all the life out of em!!
Fee
August 7, 2010
Takes me back to childhood summer afternoons helping mum make strawberry and raspberry jam. I can still close my eyes and smell the fruit cooking!
flandrumhill
August 7, 2010
“At some point, a person must decide whether to have an experience or document it…”
Isn’t that the truth.
I’m no canner, jammer or preserver, but I do cut fabric circles (for jar lids) in the thousands for a friend who’s quite an expert. That’s the closest I get to the process.
Gerry
August 7, 2010
That is close enough to deserve some excellent treats. I cannot imagine cutting out all those circles. OK, I cannot imagine cutting out one really good circle. Manual dexterity and spatial relationships got left out of my genetic code.
Cindy Lou
August 7, 2010
Now that’s the way to do it – heat up someone else’s kitchen and share the fun with others! I do make jams and do some canning but am not fond of the fact that canning season is also the hottest month(s) of the year up here. The price one pays to savor the fruits of summer in the depths of winter 🙂
Gerry
August 7, 2010
It was grand fun. I always thought a community canning facility would be a good idea. Now I’m sure of it–but I’ve also learned how challenging it would be.