AS WE LEFT WINTHROP ON THE LAST DAY OF THE BIG TRIP, I HAD TO STOP AT THE FRUIT STAND. I bought a twenty pound box of apricots and eight pounds of Rainier cherries. Hmmmmm…twenty pounds, really? What was I thinking?. Seven weeks of missed canning opportunities, perhaps? Thinking was definitely in order now.

Making up for lost time, I went into overdrive. Two days later I had put up 9 half-pints of Apricot Amaretto Jam (Well Preserved, Eugenia Bone);7 half-pints of Apricot Jam w/Lavender & Vanilla; 10, 11 oz. bags of halved apricots into the freezer;

5 pints of Apricot-Mango BBQ sauce. I started to make chutney but the apricots did not hold their shape well enough, so out came the immersion blender and the addition of bourbon and voila–BBQ sauce! 5 half-pints of Rainier Cherry preserves; 4, 8 oz. bags of pitted cherries into the freezer;

Big, beautiful, local blueberries were a good deal the day after we returned so I couldn’t resist them either. 6 half-pints blueberry jam; 4 half-pints of Blueberry-Balsamic w/star anise jam.

On Monday last week I went up to my daughter’s place in Snohomish and picked 17 pounds of Cherry Plums.

7 pounds went to Cherry Plum Preserves ( 11 half-pints). The remaining 9 pounds produced about 10 cups of juice which became two types of jelly: Gingered Cherry Plum Jelly (8 half-pints) and the same base with the addition of red Fresno chiles (9 half-pints). Think I’m done with canning for a week or so — the garden is calling!