Having grown up with lots of bears, I wish you luck in the fruit battle, those of the bruin-set don't relent when it comes to tasty treats! LOL! You could always distract them with some used diapers, the bears at dump seemed to love those, ha ha!
You are so cool to share your harvest! For many years I grew about a 1/2 an acre of pumpkins and gave them away to all the neighbor kids, and they loved them! You share peaches, which of course means you are extra awesome, dang!
For years, I only water bath canned, as I was mildly terrified of pressure canners thanks to horror stories that I heard from many of the grandmas in my life. Over the last couple of years I abandoned my fear and started pressure cooking, it's awesome! I even pressure canned a bunch of tiny potatoes, they turned out fantastic! Still love and mostly do water bathing though:o)
I am so looking forward to more of your homesteading kitchen adventure posts, they rock!