What a bunch of fruits!

What a summer this has been! It has had some really great events, like my european trip with Elizabeth. That was really fun, and (sad in a way) the first time I have been able to travel with one of my children. As you may recall, Justin was too young to travel with me while we lived in Utah, and when I started teaching again in Arkansas, Justin was too busy being a genious during the summers. My first trip from Conway, I think Justin (age 17), had sophomore college classes that he needed to stay in, so he couldn't go. He missed this trip because he had just started a new job to earn more money for his mission.

Now that travel has been given the OK by the district superintendent, I will go every 2 years, and it will put each of the children at 16-17 when it is their turn to go. That is perfect!

We have had some good family moments over the summer, but one thing I have missed is the opportunity to can. I consider myself a moderately efficient gardener, and we have nearly always had fruits and vegetables to can each summer that I can remember. This year, garden placement, weather and bugs have gotten the better of me. Our garden is in boxes due to the rocks and roots of hardwood forest where we live. I have already cleared about 1/2 acre of trees for the garden, but as the ones left spread, they are starting to limit sunshine hours.

The weather this year has been strange. Old-timers can't remember a wetter, cooler summer in these parts. July was the wettest on record for Arkansas by nearly 2 inches, and it has also been the first year ever recorded where we have not had a single day of 100+ temperatures. That has made it hard to stay ahead of things like mold and other moisture related maladies. Kathy, I don't know how you guys can raise a garden! A few more hours of sunshine each day may have made the difference, but the big oaks and a few smaller gums that need to come out will have to be dropped when they won't destroy what garden is already there. Chores for a winter Saturday, I guess!

Then the bugs! I try to not go pesticide crazy, but I am not against using chemical pesticides. But the best ones out there don't recommend being spread when the leaves are actually wet, and high humidity(dew), high rainfall, more overcast days, have limited the use of such chemicals. I have taken to picking the beetles and tomato worms (our two biggest enemies) by hand, and crushing them under my foot. As you can imagine, that can be time consuming (and gross!). I try to catch lizards and put them in the garden, the way my grandma used to do, but they don't stay long enough. We have also had a very low population of predator bugs for some reason. Praying mantis and walking sticks were not as prevalent this year for whatever reason. Even the spiders were not as heavy in the garden as usual. Maybe they just stayed out in the woods more, because there was plenty of moisture away from gardens and yards?

With all this, I have harvested less than 1 dozen yellow and zucchini squash (off 6 large, beautiful plants!), and tomatoes(10 plants) and peppers(6 plants), have produced enough for just a few days of sandwiches and (I think) 10 pints of salsa. We usually get 3-4 dozen quarts of tomatoes and the same number of pints of salsa, and I can eat fresh tomato sandwiches every day if I want. I have missed that this summer.

We are trying to follow patterns from our childhood, because Michelle and I both have good memories of the family work time of preparing and canning different foods. I remember how much fun we had every year going up towards Fresno ( I can't remember to where), to pick cherries. I know we ate as many as we picked some years. But we always came home with boxes and boxes. Then the next day or so was spent in a great Wahlquist assembly line mode. We would rotate jobs ( I know, Mom, not always willingly), and wash, trim, de-stem, pack into jars, add sugar, then water to make the "syrup", and the entire process of canning, cooling, storing. Any arguments have been ruled insignificant enough that my memory doesn't recall them. What I remember about those days canning is that we enjoyed working together nearly as much as we enjoyed going out to the store room and bringing in several quarts of our treasure.

Someday, I will put my take on the "Cherry-Chili" argument in this blog, but it has to do with the feeling that cherries were a special treat because we had all worked so hard to have them.

Then we were fortunate enough to have the beautiful apricot trees in our yard, and access to peach orchards that allowed people to come in and glean. Peaches and apricots are messier to pack, but I remember how much fun we had seeing if we could process the same amount as last year in a faster time, or pack significantly more. Not to mention the fresh fruit opportunities, when you have all those peaches and apricots waiting to be eaten. My mouth waters at the thought of some chilled apricots or peaches, slightly sweetened, swimming in cream! As Homer would say "peaches and cream.....hmmmmmmmmm".

These memories tie into trips to Utah, because, of course, we seemed to always be there about the time apricots were ripe. I was trying to recall if Grandpa and Grandma Wahlquist had peach trees? I seem to recall a fair amount of peach canning in my "Toquerville memories", but I know there were always lots of apricots. And OOHHH the fun we had with apricots. ( and I don't mean the apricot fights, although that was also fun). With their cows providing fresh whole milk and cream, i remember the huge bowls of fresh apricots and cream, the afternoons spent preparing for a big family get together by watching grandma mix up huge batches of apricot ice cream, and taking turns at the big hand-cranked freezer(s). No commercial ice cream, (if they ever even made apricot) could ever come close to Grandma's homemade apricot ice cream!! Again, Homer would say " apricot ice-cream.........hhmmmmmmmm!"

Here in Arkansas, apricots don't do so well, so they are harder to find in large quantities. Peaches do OK, but the closest orchard is an hour away, and they charged so much last time we picked, it was about twice the cost of buying canned peaches from the store. I really prefer the home canned, and fresh frozen peaches, but when the budget is tight, it makes no sense to pay 2x, just for the sake of canning a few quarts.

I look forward to next year ( as this year's growth season is coming to an end), and renewed opportunities. My children need to have the fun memories of dealing with a bunch of fruits!