Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Freezing Beans and Peas

Spent the morning blanching and freezing green and wax beans, and snow peas. The cleaning and cutting took longer than I anticipated but eating homegrown produce all winter is well worth my time.
What veggies do you like to freeze for the winter?

Beet Jelly

Our landlord gave us some homemade beet jelly.  I've never even heard of it before.  Any suggestions on how I should use it?

Monday, July 27, 2015

Ice Cream Makes Everyone Feel Better

My grandfather passed away last weekend. His death was unexpected because he wasn't sick, but he was in his nineties.
I missed his birthday last month and had been meaning to visit.  I even thought about it the day before he passed, but decided I was too busy. Now I regret that I will never see him again in this life, but there's nothing I can do.
So, instead of moping, the family went out for ice cream before going to the funeral home to make plans. Even Grandpa would have agreed that ice cream makes everyone feel better.

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Blackberry picking

Last weekend we met some friends to pick blackberries for jam. After spraying ourselves down with a sticky coating of bug spray, we braved the mosquitos for about an hour. Resulting in three, one-gallon bags full of juicy berries. Not counting all the pints we ate while we were picking. Layla couldn't get enough berries!
Afterward, I rinsed and froze the berries until the end of season. Which is only another week, or so away. We will turn them into blackberry jam. It's our second year making jam and I can't wait! It's so much better than store bought!
Have you ever tried to make home made jam? I'd love to hear about it.