Canning FREE Cherries!!!

Nothing beats free delicious CHERRIES!

My kids and I love canned cherries.

I (Mikin) grew up loving to eat canned cherries, spitting the pits in my bowl, then drinking up every last bit of the juice! We traditionally ate them with "Gatten Sandwiches." Those are like grilled cheese, but with meat, an egg over easy, extra cheese, and then fresh tomatoes after its done grilling. It is most delectable when the yolk breaks and drizzles over the sandwich when eating it. It was the normal Sunday meal after church in the Gatten home. We would have canned cherries, peaches, or pears for the side dish. It is kind of funny how traditions are just formed and passed on and on...

It only was enough for one batch. 7 quarts. But it was easy to have the kids help and get it done fast during dinner. It was the first time I ever thought canning was easy! Yes, all I did was make the syrup and pour it in the jars and put it in to be processed! The kids cleaned them and filled the jars and got them all ready. I guess when you love to eat them, it is fun to help can them!

A big shout out to Aunt Natalie Frank for letting us tag along to pick them at a lady in her ward's house. She has SO MANY cherries left and they will all go bad by the end of the week. She is begging for people to pick them. She posted them on Craig' List and had no bites, and only one other person in the ward came and picked. I told her that she could count on me year after year! They live on the cutest little farm with little Shetland Ponies, horses, chickens, bunnies, dogs, a litter of puppies a few weeks old, and probably something else I am missing!

I thought feeding a family of 6 was a lot!

They had a daughter who is the same age as Kiah. They are only a couple of weeks apart and so they hit is off and loved sharing about their baptisms. It was so cute to hear them talking about how cool it was and how good it felt and what their dresses were like. Girls crack me up.