Peaches and Blackberries

We went to a local orchard to pick peaches and blackberries with our neighbors the next week. We had a great time and picked lots of fruit. After we were done picking we had a picnic lunch. The kids loved the blackberry jam I made last year so we picked tons of blackberries and made several batches of jam. We also decided to try some peach jam this year. I wasn't sure if we'd like it or not so we only made one batch. We used the rest of the peaches to freeze for peach pie and made a few dozen peach pecan muffins, which were to die for!! Turns out even my peach wary husband loved the jam. The next week, we headed back to the orchard to get more peaches. Good thing we brought Dad along this time. The trees were so picked over the kids and I couldn't reach any. Dad had to do the picking while we pointed out where the good ones were. We made 2 more batches of jam and snacked on a lot of peaches. Pick your own farms, have become a tradition with the kids and I. We look forward picking blueberries, blackberries, peaches, apples, pumpkins, etc and making yummy foods with them. Alexandra wanted to take a cooking class at the Y, but the times interfered with the times I watch the neighbors after school. I promised her I would have cooking classes with her at home. After making all the jam, we decided to make some rolls to eat with the jam. We used a recipe from Jared's great- grandmother. She had entered the recipe in a fair and won a blue ribbon. The girls had lots of fun measuring the ingredients and stirring it all together. It was a hot day so we decided to put the dough in the car to help it rise. They thought that was hilarious but it worked wonderfully. Everyone really enjoyed the rolls, and its no surprise the recipe won a prize. The only downfall is now the girls want those rolls for dinner everynight, but that is definately not going to happen. I did make more this week-end while my parents were here.

The wagon ride back to the car

The first batches of jam

Notice the peaches floated to the top in the first batch. I'm pleased to say that did not happen in the other batches