Up to My Elbows in Peaches

And, once again, I'm so happy I waited for the freestone peaches!

This morning, after the kids got on the bus and before I go to work, I put up 3 quarts of peaches.  This year I'm trying the hot pack method as it always looks so sad when I have a quart jar that is only half full of peaches.  They shrink less with the hot pack method.  At least, that's the hope.  They're still in the canner, so I won't know until later.

Instead of using the boiling water bath to get the skins off, these peaches are so large and easy to work with that I sliced them first and then pared off the skins.  It was so much simpler!  I got all the slices into a large bath of water and lemon juice and then heated them in batches in the syrup, and packed them into the jars.  (Note to self:  If the blue bowl is full, that's about 3 quarts.)  I have a little syrup left over so I'll save it for the next batch, which will likely be tomorrow afternoon since I'm getting home late tonight again and have to be at work at 7 am tomorrow.  I have the most erratic schedule for the next few weeks... considering the last 2 nights I got home at 1:30 am... and yes, I am thankful for coffee...