Off to a Rock-Hard Start

Peach Fest is not going as planned -- eeek, but it's okay. 

I'm taking it in stride and having a good time anyway.

Yea, me.

What happened?

First, my friend had to take a FOUR hour break to walk dogs yesterday -- that's half a day!!!!

Couldn't get the outdoor propane heater to boil the water -- 2 hours before it boiled so we could start blanching (not even canning yet).

Most of the peaches aren't ripe so after many attempts and fails, we are pushing back canning until they ripen -- probably by Saturday. 

I stayed with her mom for those 4 hours. Planned to go run errands so her mom could rest, but she didn't need a rest and commented how happy she was to have company for the afternoon. She just moved into an assisted living apartment. I certainly wasn't going to leave. Lots of nice conversation -- sat outside watching birds and butterflies. My friend has a beautiful backyard space with at least 10 bird feeders. Hummingbirds were buzzing by us all afternoon. Her mom is a delight.

We scrapped making the jam -- the VERY part that pulled me in. Jelly and canned peaches only. Why? Her mom thinks the jelly is the best. Okay. I'm not a big fan of jelly, but it is what it is. 

We prepped the juice for the jelly. It was WORK, but a lot of fun working together. It'll drip overnight.

One of 10 bags we hung.

Cooking down, lots of hand mashing.
Five big pots for jelly prep.

Nicely organized. 

Prep started.

About 1/3 of the peaches.

I'm going to be blunt ... her mom has canned peaches since she was 7 and they've been doing it for decades together, but it seems like they don't know what they're doing this time.

Beautifully organized. 

Lists upon lists. 

And mostly a wasted day. 

I chimed in with some suggestions for today and Saturday, given the outdoor pot problem. 

It was my "insistence" that we wait until the peaches ripen to can. They won't peel after blanching and there's no flavor to them -- rock hard. I used AI to back up my suggestion. It'll be better to do it on Saturday and not waste the beautiful peaches. We all agreed. Caveat is if they ripen by Friday, then I can't help because I have a car service in the afternoon.

This changes the next few days. I've made the adjustments though and am happy with my plan.

I missed the meeting last night -- it was that long of a day. Oh well, there will be a summary posted. So now I'm going to the Friday coffee.

Peach Fest isn't starting until later today since we're just finishing up the jelly and my friend has to dog walk mid-day. It's probably going to be a late evening again though. We are moving so dang slowly with everything. When we "work" it's fast with three of us, but we spend so much time between work wasting time (like waiting for a huge pot to boil).

This gives me my morning back and I need it. I'm going to workout, do my zillion neck exercises, and go to a very local clothing thrift store (I can walk). Then head to coffee with a book and relax before I drive over. The thrift crawl in another town will have to wait. I was in conversation from 8:30 in the morning until 7 o'clock yesterday. I'm glad for some quiet space before it starts again.

On a nice note, and probably absolutely why I'm taking this in stride, her mom bought the very expensive peaches. I don't care what I take home now. She refused the money and said to just do a nice thing for someone -- absolutely and already thinking of ideas to make good on that promise. 

My friend said not to worry, her mom has the money and really wanted to do this. It's extremely generous of her. 

In summary, not at all what I expected. 

Having a great time anyway.

Love the connection.

Learning some things. 

Canning is super time consuming and involved. Not sure this hobby is in my future after all. But maybe it's just our process that's so convoluted lol. Waiting to see. We haven't actually canned anything yet.

Stay tuned ... to be continued ...