OK, not really - but I've sure had fun this fall!
Some good friends have helped me get started...
A couple of weeks ago I went to Jolyn's house and she taught me how to make and can applesauce. (She also provided the apples off of one of her many wonderful apple trees) I made 28 quarts! The true test was feeding it to Lindsay because she is the Applesauce queen! She normally eats it 3 bowls at a time. It was a huge success! She even asks me to send it to school in her lunch!
Our friends Kendra and Steve are extraordinary gardeners! We told them we wanted to plant a little garden this year - just a little one - to give it a try. They were so helpful! They helped us get started... Literally! They gave us the potato starts. We planted potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, strawberries, and lettuce. It has been so much fun to go out and pick carrots, dig up potatoes, eat strawberries, and make salads with the lettuce!
Then - I went blackberry picking!
A few weeks ago I picked enough to make blackberry freezer jam but that didn't take too many. This time, on Friday, I decided to really pick a lot... I picked for hours! I had a few gallons of berries. They were beautiful but my fingertips and nails were NOT! I still, 4 days later, have little thorn slivers in my fingertips and my cuticles are just now looking clean.
Berries went in the fridge because I asked Kendra and Steve if I could buy corn from them to freeze and it was ready to do Sautrday morning. It was one of those Saturdays where everyone had something going on so it was just Lindsay and I at home. We did 120 ears of corn and ended up with 32 bags to freeze. That's when I decided I still had plenty of time to steam/juice the blackberries. That was where I went wrong. I am not patient! Steaming/juicing takes time. Lots of time. Hours. As the juice dripped, I anxiously put it into a pan hoping to make syrup. I added sugar and boiled it and boiled it. and BOILED IT! It wasn't turning "syrupy". I was watching my blackberry drippings boil away. It was hard to watch. I wasn't even thnking that syrup is MOSTLY sugar. I think I needed more of that. Anyway, I bottled 1 quart of juice and 4 pints of pretty thin syrup that I can hopefully turn into real syrup (or dilute to make juice?).
Holly said she'd teach me to make and can salsa... I'm ready when she is! She makes really YUMMY salsa!
Hmmm....Then I think I'll buy a pig and a cow! :)
Seriously, Darrell says he's going to raise chickens with our bishop?!?!... I asked, "do they come in boneless skinless breast form?"
3 comments:
Holy Cow Girl! If we were pioneers...you'd be thriving...and I'd be skimpin off all your goodies! Sounds like you've had fun!
WOW!! Rene you are making me feel bad that I'm not the live off the land kind of woman.....just kidding (kind of)!
This would be a great picture blog....right down to the stained fingers:)
I would call you right now and try to help you get the pictures to work ....but you are probably at mutual. Congrats on the fruit of your labors:)
I'm about ready to get my sunflower seeds off the sunflowers in my backyard. I've never done it, but there are TONS on each flower head... so cool.
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