WRAP UP ON FALL PRODUCE AND CANNING

Back at the beginning in July I took on the task of coordinating and ordering produce from the Yakima valley in Washington to be delivered to my house and picked up by those who ordered for the purpose of canning, dehydrating or just eating fresh.

We began with cherries and each week or so thereafter we would offer different produce as it became available.  Next we had apricots, green beans, corn, tomatoes, onions, pears, peaches and ended with apples a couple of weeks ago.  Whew!  When we added up the pounds of produce that was delivered over the course of about three months it came in at just over

9,000 lbs.

For those not familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints let me explain why I would even take on this task.

We are counseled by our church leaders to live providently, be self-reliant and to be prepared in all things.  One of those areas of preparedness is having extra food and other supplies on hand in the event of an emergency, job loss, illness, earthquake or any other unforeseen event.

Sooooo long story, short, I voluntarily helped lots of people help themselves.

Here are some of the things I was able to get put up for my food storage.

I also froze some corn that I didn't get pictures of.

Please don't think I am posting any of this to brag or pat myself on the back.  Hopefully others will be inspired to do something to be better prepared for those unexpected twists and turns life throws at us sometimes.

PEACHES APLENTY

It looks like the peach order has outdone the cherry order.  I currently have 1650 pounds of peaches being delivered to my house Thursday night.

I am just glad I don't have to can them all.  Whew!  That would be the 'pits'.  Haaahaaaahaaa, get it?  The pits?

CH, CH, CH, CHERRIES, OH MY

So when I said I had a thousand pound of cherries being delivered I had no picture in my head what a thousand pound of cherries looked like.

It wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.  It turned out to be fifty boxes of 20#'s in each one.

The whole reason I had that many cherries delivered is because I am currently  the Provident Living/Self Reliance coordinator on my ward (church congregation).  That means that I help others to become more self-reliant through  learning to spend money wisely.  I find ways to help them get food supplies stocked up so that when times get tough such as economic downturns, emergencies, job losses or disasters they will be better able to care for their own needs rather than depending on others.

I am always on the look out for good buys on food for canning.

Lucky for us we have a wonderful man in our church that owns a business in an area (and is willing to haul back produce) where there are lots of farms and orchards that are willing to sell produce to him at exceptional prices if we meet the five-hundred pound minimum.  We doubled our amount on the cherries, which really pleased the farmer.

Here is "fine" man (his name is Jim Fine) that has so generously offered to transport the produce for us.

(He is the one in the white t-shirt and the farmer is on the right.)

Here is a bowl of the Bing cherries.  They were so delicious and juicy.

He also brought back these sacks of Walla Walla sweet onions too.  At .28  per pound they are a steal.

If you live anywhere near me and are interested in getting some onions please let me know and we will work something out to get them to you.

Here I am waiting for the first people to come and pick up their cherries.  Please ignore all of the junk in the back ground, it's just garage junk that really needs organized.

Next week we will be ordering apricots.  Here are some samples the farmer sent so people could see how wonderful they are.

 They are nice and big, almost as big as a peach.