An Abundance of Jelly

So a few weeks ago in Raulag , MN we went picking fruits and returned with a bounty of wild plums, wild grapes and choke cherries.
While we were there we cleaned,
Cooked,
and then strained
and hung up the various scalding fruit to drip overnight.
Resulting in these jars of jelly which dwelt in my fridge until today. There was a 1/2 gallon each of plum and grape juice and maybe a quart of chokecherry juice.

Today Dan came over and after a few calls to friends we set out making our jelly. I had no idea how much sugar is in jelly it is phenomenal. We used a solid 18 or 19 lbs of the stuff.
Here is my back. not sure when this picture was taken.
The fruit juice is mixed with tons of sugar and pectin and poured into the jars which were sterilized.
Then we flipped the jars upside down to seal the jars shut.
Eli lurked under the table for most of the afternoon looking mildly interested in the activities.

When all things were finished we had made a solid 36 jars of jelly in 12 and 16 ounce sizes for a total of 4 gallons all together. It looks like they are setting nicely.

Dan spoke of how he thought this was a "thin space" where he felt connected to his mother and grandmother and we all had a lovely time .

~Eikon