Millions of Peaches, Peaches for me. . .

Speaking of canning, Sunday evening after dinner the girls wanted to go for a walk over to a friends house so we pulled out the double stroller and set off. On our way we passed by a home with a peach tree out front just loaded with peaches. Some had already fallen to the ground and had been mowed over. When we arrived at our friends I asked her about the neighbor's tree and she came with me to ask if I could have them. He readily offered them to whoever would take them and so we cleaned the tree off, only leaving the small and bird eaten ones. Once the kids were in bed we set to work bottling them. After two days of working on peaches we had 35 quarts! So excited about it I could barely sleep. I had wanted to do more peaches but couldn't afford the price to can them myself. However, free is always affordable! It is such a testimony builder to see that when we are committed to following the commandments the way is opened up for us to accomplish them. We are contributing to our food storage in earnest now. But even more important than that is that Adam and I are being good stewards of the abundance we've been blessed with. It always bugged me to see some of the stuff in our garden go to waste, but now I can say that we are preserving as much as possible.

Monday, just as I finished cleaning up my kitchen from the peaches, my neighbor called and offered a sackful of peppers to use to do salsa. Wow more food! I already have the tomatoes and onions in my garden, now I just need to add garlic, cilantro, and jalapenos. I love this time of year! Food everywhere. I do love food. If only there was a way to hurry up the tomato ripening process, but no. Fortunately, the weather is optimal for ripening, a blissful 84 degrees. Perfect.

I also need to harvest all my basil and make pesto sauce. Mom said that you can freeze pesto. Great! Now I can have pesto all winter long.