This past week we were busy canning again. It is definitely canning season now!
We tackled the three bushels of peaches we have and ended up canning 35 quarts and freezing the rest. We canned 34 pints of homemade salsa. This week I hope my tomatoes do well enough to make "V-8" juice.
We had a cold 48 degrees this morning so I don't think we will have too much of a growing season left.
This is also the last week for the children to be home before school starts. It will seem different to be back on a school schedule for them. This means busy mornings of feeding children breakfast, making sure homework is in order and, yes, packing lunches.
Most days the children eat at school, but if there is something on the menu they don't care for I pack their lunch. Usually I like to pack a sandwich, some type of fruit and maybe some crackers. A packed lunch might consist of homemade summer or deer sausage, cheese and crackers or maybe a soft burrito shell with ranch dressing, bologna and cheese slices rolled up like a wrap.
I also like to take home-canned peaches and freeze them in small single-serve containers and take them out of the freezer and put them in their lunch bucket. This keeps the rest of the lunch cool and by lunchtime the peaches are thawed for a fruit snack. (Editor's note: Lovina's children attend public school as do many Amish in their area; in some settlements most go to small parochial schools)
This year Susan, 13, will be in seventh grade; Verena, 11, will be in fifth; Benjamin, 10, in fourth; Loretta, 9, in third; Joseph, 7, in first; and Lovina, 5, in preschool for half a day. Lovina is very excited to start school and Verena is excited about entering middle school.
Our youngest child, Kevin, will have his fourth birthday Sept. 2. He told me this morning he will have to sleep two more nights before he is 4. He keeps saying "when I turn 5 I can go to school with Lovina."
Daughter Elizabeth, 15, is done with her school years so I will have her good help at home this year. She will also do some house-cleaning jobs.
These years go by so fast and the children keep getting older.
Kevin will be so lost without a playmate at home. He can play very nice at home with his toy horses, though. He also likes our two little puppies and is constantly playing with them.
I will share my recipe for freezing peaches.
Frozen Peaches
20 lbs. peaches, peeled, sliced or crushed
7 c. sugar
3 (12-oz.) cans of frozen orange juice concentrate
In one very large bowl or divided even into several, mix everything together equally and evenly. Spoon into freezer containers and freeze.
Lovina Eicher is Old Order Amish. She hand-writes this column from her home in southern Michigan. Anyone with cultural or cooking questions can send them to: Lovina Eicher, The Amish Cook, P.O. Box 2144, Middletown, OH 45042. Read all of her columns online at www.record-eagle.com/amishcook.
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