September Can Jam at The Bancroft Ranch, Carmel Valley

I had a last minute opportunity to lead a canning workshop at The Bancroft Ranch yesterday. After setting up several work stations and welcoming a dozen or so eager participants we got to work in the shady shelter of a canopy of oak trees. A bonus crate of plums and homegrown! Fuji apples arrived (which turned into very excellent lightly sweetened tart and gorgeous jam) which added to our cache of tomatoes and strawberries donated by Jamie of Serendipity Farm.

We filled all these jars and then some! with roasted tomato sauce, sweet dilly pickles, strawberry jam, plum apple jam, and orange tomato chutney.

Julie of Bell Tree Farm provided appetizers and lunch. She made goat milk feta and let me tell you, it was insane. It paired quite nicely with some oven roasted balsamic strawberry preserves.

Thanks to Mark Basse for these next 4 images, I did crop the first 3 (hope that's ok!) to respect the privacy of some of the participants of whose permission I did not ask to post photos of.

Everyone was so enthusiastic and I was really stoked to see how everyone just jumped in and went at it. An impressive group of people and a truly great time.
::Me filling jars with a hot brine solution for pickles::

Everyone went home with a bag filled with the fruits (and vegetables) of our labor. What a FABULOUS time!
I came home to a beautiful evening and my little family happy and excited to see me. Life is good! No, life is GREAT!