If You Build Them, She Will Fill Them...Really!

So, it's official! Josh finished our shelves a few weeks ago in our storage/fruit room. Well, at least one side of the shelves. The others will have to wait for a while. Can I tell you how excited I am. Every time he put in another screw I would clap and say "one more down". I even took a picture of the last screw...which I won't be posting because it looks lame. But, here's some pics of the handyman (aka my hubby) at work. Thanks again to my mom and dad for the great Christmas present and for helping Josh and I with the AWESOME project. Can you tell I'm excited? Josh working hard. The last shelf was TIGHT working conditions. Josh had to use a screwdriver to get the screws in a little bit so the drill would even fit. Finished! Now my work begins...or my fun begins.

Amazingly, it took me a while to get to the point of even starting to put our stuff on the shelves. I think it was just such an overwhelming task that I didn't know where to begin. I was so consumed with getting it organized just right that I didn't know what to do. So, I decided to just start and see what happens. Well, many hours later, I still had this much food to put on the shelves. You can't even see it all in this picture.

Here are some pictures of the process - the longer than planned process.

Notice Marty's bouncer. My poor boy had to sit there for hours while I put stuff on the shelves. Good thing I was throwing snacks his way or he would have never made it.

Here's the finished product...with bad lighting. We still have to finish the electrical. Pictures do not do it justice!

The cases under and to the side of the shelves are bottled fruit that wouldn't fit on the shelves. Like I said, we'll have more shelves eventually.

These are the cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, and paper goods. I just noticed that the paper towels are upside down. I'll be fixing that. Yes, I am CRAZY!

I know that I am completely consumed with my bottling and that I probably have a clinical addiction to it. Josh always says that if the house was on fire or a tornado was heading straight for us I would stay in the house to bottle what was ripe. During bottling season my famous words are, "I know that I didn't have time to bottle today, but the (insert whatever I am bottling at the time) were ready. I had to." So, although Josh appreciates my bottling, he celebrates the day that I take my canning supplies to the basement for the last time of the season. I decided that I would see how far this addiction had taken me this year. I didn't count the bottled goods that I so nicely (remember that Cassy) did for my sister or the stuff that my mom kept to give as Christmas present. Well, here's the final tally (minus the pumpkin I still have to bottle and the frozen peaches I am making into peach syrup). Just don't tell Josh I'm still not done. Okay, he knows but just don't remind him. Please!
Drum roll please.......

442 bottles!
(pints and quarts)

I couldn't believe it when I counted up the numbers. It made me realize I am crazier than I once thought. Here's the break down. Are you even interested? Don't lie, I know that you're not!
Beets = 39 pints
Peaches = 117 quarts
Raspberries = 18 quarts
Jam = 20 pints
Pears = 73 quarts
Peach Salsa = 28 pints
Apple Pie Filling = 24 quarts
Applesauce (regular) = 59 quarts
Raspberry Applesauce = 12 quarts
Strawberry Applesauce = 14 quarts
Cinnamon Applesauce = 38 quarts
(Total Applesauce = 123 quarts)

Here's to another successful bottling season that is almost over. Que the music. I would like to thank those who give away their delicious fruit, for an awesome raspberry patch to pick amazing berries, my garden for being great and productive, my hubby for putting up with my excessiveness, my kids for being neglected during it all, pinching your pennies for helping me fill my shelves with cheap food, and last but not least my mom for helping in times of overwhelming fruit pile up.

At the conclusion of this year's bottling season I have decided that bottling is like childbirth. You forget how bad it is and do it all over again!

Beautiful Bottled Food

I wanted to share a few pictures of some (not even a small amount) of what I bottled this summer. This was my first year to bottle pears so I had to document it with some fun pictures. I know I'm weird, but aren't the bottles of food beautiful?

Some pictures of a few of my bottles of tomatoes, peaches, and pears.

Sweetie Pie (aka Josh) finished my shelves (on one wall) in my fruit room today. I guess it's "our" fruit room but I'm the one most excited about it. After every nail or screw I would cheer...seriously. I'm way more excited than a normal person should be about shelves! In the next few days I hope to get all of my food storage on the shelves. You will not believe how much food I bottled this year. I also have a TON of food and household "stuff" that I've accumulated since I started doing Pinching Your Pennies - highly recommended. Thanks babe for finishing the shelves. Are you going to help me fill them?

My Life Can Continue!

Did you know there are actually 5 seasons in the year? Winter, Spring, Summer, Bottling Season, and Fall. For those of you who bottle fruit and veggies, you can really relate to this post. This year I have been bottling since July and it is finally over! Bottling season is such a love hate relationship for me. I love to be able to fill the bottles with food, but by the time it's over I wonder if I'll do it again next year. It consumes your life for months. You are at the will of your fruit or veggies. When they're ready to be bottled you put your life on hold for them. This past weekend my mom came up for a few doctor appointments and helped me finish my apples. It was wonderful to finally say I'M DONE! This weekend we bottled about 110 bottles of applesauce and 25 bottles of apple pie filling. It was quite the endeavor. The first night we stayed up until 4 am. The second night we were up until 2:30 am and the final day we worked from 9 am until about 6 pm. Then we were up until about midnight cleaning up the mess. I think I slept for about 5 hours total on all of those nights! So, besides my pumpkins (which can wait for a while), I am done bottling for the season. Josh is building shelves in our fruit room - that my mom and dad helped us with also - and when that is done I will be able to get a full tally of my bottling season. I'm sure it will surprise even me. So, with the end of bottling season comes much needed time to spend with the kiddos, clean my house, get ready for the holidays, catch up on my calling, and especially catch up on my sleep and sanity. If you have never bottled your own food, it is such a nice feeling to see what you have accomplished. I love the fact that I know how to preserve my own food and that I know what is in it. So, with no more apples in the basement calling my name, I can officially begin to blog. Hopefully updates will come more often now. After I clean my house today I will add updates about our kids and our life. But for now, I'm just glad to be done bottling!

My mom and I took some pictures in the middle of the night...me being silly.

My mom being a saint and helping. This is exactly how I felt too!

Hallelujah! This is the last apple to be bottled at my house this year!

(remember, we had been bottling for days with little sleep...we were delirious!)