canning

We are almost finished with our Little House in the Big Woods book and have had fun projects along the way.  My friends tease me how domesticated I have become, so I figured I needed to learn to can some things out of the garden.  First up, my favorite - my Me-Maw's (paternal great-grandmother) plum jelly.  Over Father's Day weekend, my mom spent the weekend with us and she brought her canning supplies.  We made 11 jars of plum jelly (if PawPaw is reading this we really only made 2 jars).  My grandfather's best friend has a plum tree that he lets my mom pick plums any time she wants.  I have teased that this jelly is made with crack and my worst fears were confirmed, it has more sugar than fruit.  I have reasoned with myself that it is ok, b/c store bought jelly would be the same way and it is loaded with all of the other crap stuff that preserves their jelly and hers is way better anyways.
We also made these homemade pickles from the cucumbers in our garden.  Ben and I really like them, but we have discovered the girls are a bit of pickle snobs.  Fine by me, leaves more for this preggo Mama's cravings.