Apricots any one?

This tree is located at my neighbor's house. It's huge with a million apricots on it. They said we could come by anytime and take as much as we wanted to. How nice is that?! I first took a bag full and the boys ate them all, yes they were that good! Needless to say we went back the next day and picked a ton!!

They're so bright and big, juicy too!

We all took turns climbing the ladder to fill our cute baskets up with them.

Here is Will with our neighbor Ben, the owner of the awesome garden and apricot tree. That huge bucket is full of apricots that have been through the blender. He's adding honey and some other ingredients to make fruit leather!

Here is Ben's wife Nicole smoothing some out on screen to place in her homemade dehydrate. When they're done they just roll them up inside the seran wrap.
Back at my house we had to use almost every bowl I own to store the apricots. I decided to make 2 batches of freezer jam and some fruit leather.

Just looking at it makes my mouth water. It is so yummy. I'm not (I should say, I didn't think I was...) a huge apricot fan but my mind has been changed. My cousins Aleigh and Angie came over and helped make a batch of jam and leather with me. We then went back to Nicole's house where she taught us how to can apricot jam.

Here's is a batch of my leather. Heat it for about 8-9 hours at 200-225 with the oven door slightly open. My first batch was made and eaten that day!

After helping Nicole jar some of the yummy jam. It tastes totally different than the freezer jam does. This one is chunky and not as sweet. Both are delicious!