Gardening & Canning... 2013 Journey Begins

Gardening...
I am so not that kind of girl.  Dirt, heat, bugs, sweat, spiders, oh my.  The benefits?  Fresh veggies that taste terrific.    Fortunately, the gardening that I find, well, icky, is like recreation to my husband, Lowell.  He's already set up a place to start his seedlings and had his hands in the dirt, not to mention spent hours planning and preparing.  He's a man with a mission.  With our new way of eating lots and lots and lots of veggies and fruits, he's preparing to grow as many as he can.  He's a master gardener. 

Canning...
Well, he's not really that kind of guy.  Cooped up in the kitchen with boiling kettles, cutting up endless fruits and vegetables for hours?  Not really Lowell's favorite way to spend an afternoon.  To me, the challenge and the reward of filling all those little jars and hearing all those little pings as they seal just thrills me with satisfaction.  I just love putting up.  ~smile~  Just yesterday, we opened jars of Pear Honey that I created last summer with pears that Lowell harvested from our trees.  Ooh, talk about a little jar of gold.  On homemade wheat bread. Oh now that was delicious.

Kiwi Jam

Once again, in the LORD's wisdom, opposites attract.  So, we made a deal.  He grows all he can.  I'll can all he grows.  Well, not exactly, but it looked cute when I typed it.  We'll eat all we can, too.  ~smile~  Because it's the LORD who brings the rain and causes the growth, we'll give, too. 

 I will be sharing recipes, cooking, and canning posts here as the year progresses.  I have much to learn, and I look forward to sharing with you as I go.

Blessings to you from Harvest Lane Cottage!
Laura
Happy at Home

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May I suggest?

Things I Love About My Husband

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What I've Been Putting Up With Lately

A friend asked me in an e-mail what I've been putting up lately.  After writing it out, I realized it looked like a blog post, so I'm sharing it with you, too!

Our garden has produced zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, jalapenos, sorrano peppers, red onions, and a couple of watermelons that were picked too early. We've since found a youtube video that tells us how to pick them ripe.  We've picked some ripe melons now.  Yum.  We've also had just a few tomatoes.

I've shredded zucchini and yellow squash together and frozen them in 3 cup portions for my zucchini cake. That will be yummy come winter.

I've blanched and frozen lots of ears of corn that I found on sale for twenty cents apiece at 4th of July time.   The taste of summertime preserved! 

I've frozen many quarts of strawberries and some blueberries that I found on sale for ninety-nine cents this month.  I've also frozen banana chunks.  Some of these will find their way into smoothies.

I made strawberry jam, peach jam, Harvest Peach jam, and Kiwi jam.

I've chopped about 15 green peppers coarsely and put half in the dehydrator and half in freezer bags. The dehydrated ones will go into a soup, stew, or chili.  The frozen ones might end up in a stir-fry or on a pizza. 

I've chopped up our garden onions; and, they're in the dehydrator.

I also made half a bag full of pickling cucumbers into cucumbers and onions for the fridge.  These we'll eat in the next couple of days.  If I receive more, I may try pickles.

Anyhow, that's some of what I've done this last month. I hope I need to can tomatoes and spaghetti sauce soon!  I might try watermelon rind pickles this year, too.

 We'll see what bounty the Lord brings my way!

May God bless you with lots to put up with!

Laura

Busy at home

Shared with:

Women Living Well
We Did it Wednesday
Raising Homemakers

It's Jam Time! Kiwi Jam

I looked and looked for a kiwi jam recipe.  Every recipe I found called for strawberries, pineapple, pineapple juice, or rum.  So, I just modified a recipe and made it my own. 






KIWI JAM

4 1/2 c crushed, kiwi fruit
1 pkg powdered pectin
7 c sugar

1. Mix fruit and pectin in a large pot. Bring it to a full boil.






2. Add sugar and bring it to a rolling boil.






3. Following the instructions in the pectin box or Ball Blue Book, process 10 minutes in a boiling water bath.






Note: I made half of this recipe with 12 small kiwi and used a bit more than half the powdered pectin packet. It turned out just fine.

Enjoy!

Laura
Busy in the Kitchen
and the Creek!

Read more....

• Homemade Cocoa from Scratch
• Simple Lemonade
• 5 Days of Frugal Eating

Peach Butter

I made peach butter this week. I was going to follow the directions in the Ball Blue Book, really I was. I just didn't have enough peaches. So, I adjusted the recipe and did it my own way with delicious results.

First, I peeled my peaches. I didn't want to take time to dip them in boiling water. I just took my knife and peeled just the skin off carefully. Then I took the pulp off with my hands, breaking it up as I went. This saved chopping time. I measured two cups of pulp and three cups of sugar into my three quart saucepan. I added one tablespoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon each of nutmeg and cloves.

I brought this to a boil over medium heat, stirring often. I then turned it down to low and let it simmer all day. I stirred it ocassionally as I passed through the kitchen. While I was busy in the kitchen, I turned the heat back up to medium to speed it along. Then, I turned it back to low when I left the kitchen. I let it cook down until it rounded up on my wooden spoon.

The fragrance was better than any potpourri or candle I've ever burned. When evening came, I didn't feel like doing a boiling water bath. So, I simply put it in canning jars and put it in the fridge to cool. It made 3 pints. I kept one out to enjoy; and, I put the other two in the freezer the next morning to enjoy this winter.

It's going to be so very nice to open up a jar of late summer when the weather outside is frightful.

Have a wonderful Sabbath Sunday! We'll be celebrating my Emily's 13th birthday with friends.

Laura
Buttering and Jamming!

Jamming, Sewing, Knitting

Hi Everyone,

I had a lot of comments on yesterday's post. And why not? The most wonderful topics, Fall, making Christmas gifts, sewing, knitting, making jam...ah maybe this is the most wonderful time of the year!

My peaches were on sale at Aldi for $.25 each. I bought a case. I worked up half of them this morning. I decided to make regular peach jam this time. I just followed the instructions on the Sure-Gel package. I thought of making the second batch without pectin according to the Ball Blue Book recipe. After reading it, I found it took quite a bit longer to cook. I was ready to get off my feet; so, I took the quick and easy route of powdered pectin again. I've still got half a case of peaches. I'm thinking about whether I'd like to make more Harvest Peach Jam or whether I'd like to try making peach butter. It will be a question for tomorrow morning.  Harvest Peach is just as easy as regular jam.

The dresses were pretty easy to make. The hardest part was finding time to work on them when Amy wasn't around! I finally went in my bedroom and threatened the kids not to come in. ~smile~ They know that if they find out about a gift ahead of time, they won't get it. It keeps them from sneaking and peeking. I truly believe it does. That and the fact that I never ever want to know about my gifts ahead of time. I love surprises and so do they. The Vision Forum pattern was a bit pricey; however, I've already made three gifts and will make more dresses from the same pattern. Do you know how to save your patterns to make them last?  I traced the pattern pieces on a piece of regular dress interfacing. I then transferred the markings to the interfacing and cut the pieces out. This way I didn't have to cut my pattern at all. You can do it with any pattern if you have a big enough piece of interfacing or other tracing paper.

 

I started the Fuzzy Feet Saturday. They are basically giant socks that are felted (shrunk) down to the wearer's size. I knit them on circular needles from Knit Picks. I like them because I can work two socks on two different cables and use just one set of needles. The needles are interchangeable; so, they can be moved from one cable to another. Here's how I do it.

This pair is being worked from the top cuff down; so, I knit the cuff on the first sock. Then, I removed the needles and put caps on the ends of the first sock's cable. I then used the same needles with another cable to knit the cuff on the second sock. Continuing on the second sock, I knit the heel flap. Back to the first sock, I knit the heel flap and turned the heel. Returning to the second sock, I turned the heel and picked up the stitches along the side. Back and forth between socks. Get the idea? Two socks on two different cables. Working each part of the sock on both socks before going on to the next sock. Why? I find I can keep it straight in my mind better if I work all of one type of knitting at a time. I also finish both socks at about the same time.

I also am taking advantage of spare moments to take a stitch here or there. For instance, I've been knitting while I'm blogging. I knit while I wait for pages to load. Busy as a bee!

Well, you're probably tired of reading. Enough for now. Greetings to my friends who commented. It's been awhile since I've heard from some of you. Thank you for caring enough to write to me. It means so much to me.

May God bless you as you gather your harvest whether from garden, field, farmer's market, friends, or the grocery store.

Laura

So thankful to be in the service of my King and my family

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May I suggest?

Kitten Mitten Update

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Harvest Peach Jam

Hi!

Today's jam was Harvest Peach.

I used the recipe from the Ball pectin package and made some changes. Please take time to read the pectin package for exact directions on how to use your pectin and how to prepare your jars and process your jars of jam for safety in a boiling water bath.

Thank you Free Stock Photos.

4 cups diced fresh peaches I used my liquid measuring cup.

1 package fruit pectin

4 cups brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

6 half-pint or 3 pint jars with rings and new lids
.....

Measure brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon into a bowl. Stir to combine. This is important because the cinnamon may clump together if it is not incorporated. Set the sugar aside.
.....

Put the peaches and pectin in a large pot. Cook on high, stirring constantly, until it comes to a rolling boil. You won't be able to stir the bubbles away. Set the timer and cook one minute. Now add your sugar mixture all at once. Continue to cook on high stirring continuously. When it comes to a rolling boil again, cook one more minute. When timer goes off again, remove it from the heat. Ladle jam into prepared jars using a canning funnel. Process according to
manufacturer's directions.
.....

My children loved this jam. It tastes just like peach crisp. I may sneak a bit over some vanilla icecream! The taste also made me think of Autumn....

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May I suggest?
Frugal Jelly

Just Rambling... Autumn Thoughts
Finding Peace in Troubled Times

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