preserving

well, one of the things that has been 

happening around here

(between laundry, dishes, and kiddos)

is preserving!

my father-in-law shared 

a generous amount of fruit with us.

tons of apples, some plums,

 a good amount of tomatoes,

 and some rhubarb.

so here is some of what has come out:

from a small bowl of blackberries, 

picked by the kiddos and some friends, 

we made a jar of jam.

all of the tomatoes in the background were blanched 

and frozen to be used in place of canned tomatoes.

did you know that canned tomatoes 

are one of the seven most toxic foods?

some giant stalks of rhubarb became some delightful sauce.

 these plums were canned and dehydrated.  yum.

the apples will be tasty, chunky applesauce!

but now i must find a good, large hot water bath!