CRANBERRY JAM

by Robin

I want to thank my friend, Megan, who trusted me with her family recipe. (She used to be our babysitter many years ago and now, has gone on to be a mom of 3.) I absolutely salivated when I heard that she was making Cranberry jam in November. I had to give it a try, myself.






Bring to a boil AGAIN. Then, stir in your Sure-Jell liquid and stir for 1 minute at a rapid boil. Then, remove from heat.

Pour into your sterile jars & seal. This is where I took a different turn than her recipe. She didn't say anything about the boiling method. I think they made enough to let sit, cool and eat in a short time frame or keep in the frig. For me, I wanted my jam to be up on the shelves for several months, so I used my regular canning method for preserving it.

This batch, I boiled for 12-15 minutes, fully, under water. All 8 seem to make a good vacuum seal. Yeah!



I'll probably be making strawberry jam next month.

Oh, before I forget to mention it, this huge pot (above) is a family heirloom. My parents brought it down to me at Thanksgiving time. It was my Great-grandmother's pot. I also inherited her pressure-cooker canner (for low-acid canning). I can't wait to use it for next year's veggies.

God bless!
Happy New Year,
Robin

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Christmas Morning

by Robin

In no particular order.....














I love that we had a "no batteries" type of Christmas.

God bless & Merry Christmas everyone.
Robin

GARDEN REPORT - Pre-Christmas

by Robin

So far, it has been a very good winter for the garden. Temps have stayed mild, the drip irrigation system works wonders, and I've had very little disease or bug invasion.

We've eaten 3 heads of Broccoli. I did lose 3 plants to root maggots, but seemed to have stopped the damage with a lot of ashes dumped on the plants & ground, then watered it in. I don't know the exact science behind it, but I think it has to do with suffocating the oxygen or empty space to crawl for the maggot. You can also do this by stomping the ground around the plant, but I did not do that.



Here are 2 of the heads.



We eaten lots of okra, jalapenos, beans & herbs. I've made some nice veggie soup recently. Here are my string beans on the vine. They are doing very well. I had trouble back in early fall with getting many of them to seedling stage. I did 2 plantings and only a handful or so took. I think I have a mole or something eating the seeds from below. When I tilled up the ground, the seeds weren't even there. Oh well.



I did plant many tomatoes and some came up on their own. I have a nice couple of big tomato plants, approx 1 ft high, that I propagated from seed saved from the original tomatoes. Ugly Ripe does well around here and so does this one particular, no-name, variety from WalMart. So, they probably won't produce this winter, but if I can get them to survive the winter, I should have a pretty bunch of tomatoes. I do have one large tomato plant, leftover from spring/summer and it has 3 tomatoes growing on it. Maybe they will be ready in a couple more weeks.

(Cherry plants below)


I also have many cherry tomato plants. A few of them have babies growing. Many of my seedlings are doing well in pots, so those will come in for the freezes. I'm hoping and praying to have a mild winter in order to have an awesome spring of tomatoes. I've got my canning supplies all ready so I can put up a lot of food.

Thyme & chocolate peppermint are fading, but flat-leaf parsley, sweet basil, lemon basil, oregano, & rosemary are doing very well. My biggest problem is that I need more ground. My garden never seems big enough. It supplements our meals, but isn't enough to feed us. One day.... One day....

God bless!
Robin

UMMM? Are feathers healthy?

by Robin

Simon Peter found a feather on his chicken wing.



In case this one doesn't go through, I'm going to post up another picture of my string beans. These were picked last week. Love that they're so long & taste good. The purple ones were good too, but I think I like the green ones better.




God bless!