First, a quick update on the balloons. Nada. Nothing. Went out early with Cappy and my camera and got a dozen cute pictures of him and the cats, but only one really far away balloon. Bleah! They moved the site last year, so you really can’t see them from downtown anymore. Later in the day, a friend reminded me of that fact.

So, later that same day, I went out to our local hardware store and picked up some jars for jellies and jams. My CSA is finally ponying up with the fruit bounty and our first one had arrived: Cherries and Apricots. My sweet honey bunny grabbed the cherries, but I managed to make a batch of apricot jam and an apricot and cherry crisp (although I had to go get frozen cherries to do it! I must admit, those cherries are really, really tasty.).

Jam and jelly and preserves and butters are my summer passion these days. Last year, I managed to put away enough to do Christmas presents and hostess gifts. Sometimes I think that people would rather have something else, but my time feels so valuable and the love and good energy that gets stored in those little jars seem really special, so jams and jellies and preserves and butters are what people get for now. At least until they get less picky about what they wear and I can start crocheting and knitting for them.

Yes, most of them already have afghans and scarves.

Except Lucy. And she’s moving north. Hmmmmm……..

Anyway, last week I really started working on preserving with the apricot jam. Since then, I’ve made raspberry freezer jam, grapefruit freezer jelly and a whole buttload of blueberry jam, and I have 20 lbs of sweet cherries waiting for me to preserve them. I’ve been considering my possibilities, and I’ve settled on a few techniques. Since they are so fresh and wonderful, I thought I’d just pit and freeze a couple of batches for pies later in the winter. A freezer jam from them would be yummy too, and Sure-Jell has a recipe so I’m going to give that a try. Finally, I have a couple of recipes for preserves that I’m going to frankenstein together and see what comes out.

When I’m working with an easy fruit to deal with (ie. perfectly ripe stone fruits or berries), then I can pump out a batch before I come in to work. Creating something like that so early in my day makes me feel proud since I’ve already accomplished something. Plus, the task usually only takes an hour. Ahhh…. Easy and fulfilling. My favorite type of chore.

Cherries are daunting. Cherries need to be pitted. Therefore, I haven’t gotten around to working with the cherries yet, and Lord only knows what’s coming in this week. I only get about 8 hours to prepare myself before my bounty arrives and I’ve done poorly this week at getting rid of the last week’s haul.

So, tonight I will be making a fabulous supper with a big healthy salad and pitting cherries afterwards. Let’s see how far I get.

Woo-hoo! Pitting cherries. Just what I dreamed I would be doing when I was a little girl.