Relief Society Bottling Party

One day, not so long ago, my dear wife was talking with Samantha Anderson. Now that isn't so shocking but on this particular day they happened upon an idea! This idea was to gather the fruit in the ward (that would normally just fall to the ground and be wasted) and bottle it and actually utilize it productively. This fruit could be gathered freely.

But this wasn't just about gathering the free fruit. This was an opportunity to teach those sister who were interested how to bottle that fruit so they could do it on their own the next time. And so the idea began to develop. Each person who heard the idea was inspired and excited to further the effort. Eventually Michelle, Samantha and Lydia (Taylor) began the organization of this bottling party. Word was put out to gather canning and bottling equipment, camp stoves, tables, bottles, lids, fruit, etc.

Every day this week something new has arrived, either fruit, bottles or other canning equipment. We were forced to (partially) clean out our garage to make room for everything. Then, the night before the canning party Michelle took me aside and gave me some very specific instructions about what I was supposed to be doing before, during and after this bottling party. As an afterthought she asked me if I'd be willing to help out!!!

Fortunately I was mostly in charge of the kids. I like that part. Especially when they decided that they wanted to play with each other. However, I was called upon frequently to move large boiling pots of water, steaming hot applesauce, etc. as needed.

The kids getting in some playtime...

It wasn't hard to find fruit testers...



And more playing...


The bottling party is just getting started. Note, only two stoves to begin with. We ended up with 10 burners going simultaneously!
The first step was taking care of the apples. At this point we had lots of big helpers.
The nectarines were started simultaneously as more sisters arrived.
Getting the bottles ready for fruit.

Then it was time for peaches.
Once the apples were ready it was time to squoosh them into applesauce.
Still more nectarines...
And apples...
There is an art to putting the fruit into the bottles to maximize the space.
More bottles to prep
But look at all that applesauce
Instructions and teaching moments were frequent


And here is the whole set-up. The canopy for preparing the fruit, the cooking on the patio (10 burners fired up and we could have used more!). The grass was the washing/cleaning area.
Making some jam

Finally processing for the finished fruit bottles And finally time to clean up

This was quite the process but it yielded some great results. These ladies bottled about 120 quarts of fruit...
Applesauce: 19 quarts and 18 pints
Pears: 22 quarts
Nectarines: 54 quarts and 2 pints
Peach jam: 17 pints and 16 half pints
Plum jam: 4 pints

We're lucky enough to be planning "round 2" in about 3 weeks. It was really quite the production but everyone seemed to have an enjoyable time, learned about bottling and came away with 120 quarts of free fruit! But the best part of the whole day was having 2 investigators come and participate in the bottling project! What a great introduction to the church and one of the ways the gospel blesses our lives.

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler Back Yard Party

For some reason I didn't realize that Monday was Memorial Day, a national holiday, until just a few days ago. So we didn't plan any cool trips or vacations. As Michelle and I discussed some options for this weekend we decided to see if any of our friends would also be here for the holiday. As it turned out there were a few friends that would still be in town; so we invited them over for a fire, dutch oven peach cobbler and some time to visit.

As it turned out the Cates, Andersons, Bunkers, Gibbons and Simmons were able to stop by and visit with us and share the peach cobbler. Even though the day was over-cast the rain didn't come until after we had finished visiting and had cleared all of the chairs and tables from the patio.

As we anticipated the number of friends who would be there Michelle prepared 2 peach cobblers. As it turned out, the first cobbler was enough to give everyone their first serving. The second cobbler was there for everyone to have seconds. Not everyone was up to a second serving so I get to have more peach cobbler this week.

As we watched the kids play we realized that he had 10 little boys running around the yard, having a great time playing with each other. 10 boys and no little girls! There were 4 Joneses, 2 Bunkers, 2 Andersons, 1 Cates and 1 Gibbons.

(Aleky engages in mortal combat)(While Aleky is fighting the boys are scrambling all over the playset)(The boys go jeepin)

It was an enjoyable evening with good food and friends. Of course our boys were up way past their bedtimes. By the time the boys had their baths and were ready for bed it was shortly before 10 pm! But they had a blast! And we did too.