This has been a fun and educational project for our whole family. Everybody helped. Jacob, my 21 year old son, Sam (13), Matt (14), Lizzie (10), my nephews and niece, Annie, my son’s fiancee, my wonderful hubby Dan, my sister, Trina, aka Montecat, and myself pitched in. The kids and I all picked cherries for 4 1/2 hours, for a crop yield of 22 lbs of Bing cherries. There is another picking about the same size that isn’t ripe yet, but the hubby has decided that we should leave that for the birds and the beasts. Dan (hubby), Annie, and I all helped pit the cherries, although Dan and Annie did most of that work. I did most of the actual jelly cooking with the generous help of my sister, Trina and her daughter, Lizzie. From that harvest, we have already made 26 half-pints of jelly and 4 half-pints of cherry syrup. I still have another batch of jelly to make, as I learned the hard way that you simply cannot double the batches of jelly, but have to make each batch separately. I hope that you enjoy the pictures. This is the first step on our journey of the community garden and learning how to preserve what we grow, for the kids. I can’t wait for the next adventure. Now I am off to eat some toast and HOMEMADE CHERRY JELLY!!
JELLY MAKING PHOTO BLOG
Picking Cherries
Taking A Phone Break
Another Helper
Two Of My Helpers, Up The Tree
Someone Has To Get The Lower Branches
Another Intrepid Picker
Washing And Pitting
Pits, Pits, And More Pits
Ready For Cooking And Juicing
The Remains Of The Cherries
Cherry Juice
Filling Jelly Jars
Filled Jars
Our Bounty
Cherry Syrup
One Hlaf Pint Of Organic, Homemade Cherry Jelly
From My Corner Of The World 