Let the insanity begin — it’s canning season!

In Can, eat, make | Leave a comment

I don’t even know where to begin, except to say that NO, I did not learn my lesson last year!! Remember those sometimes funny, sometimes exasperated posts from last fall, the ones where I asked myself the question “What have I gotten myself into?!” at least once or twice? If not, here are some links to them:
What to do with 220+ lbs of produce – Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

I promised to blog more about canning season after Day 5, but I don’t think I had the energy or wherewithal to do so! However, I have had a solid year to recover from the epic efforts and I am about to jump in with both feet once again.

This is what I put up last year:
peaches: 60lbs
apples: 50lbs
tomatoes: 50lbs
nectarines: 40lbs
pears: 20lbs
We also made a sh*tload of pickles.

And this year, I have decided to go without pears and nectarines, get fewer apples, the same amount of peaches, and more tomatoes. Plus some plums. Those will come in a week or two from my local organic connection, Farmer Sarah. I can’t wait, though. I’ve just put together a very long list of small batch jams and sauces I’m itching to get started on, and am off to get the fruit now. Here’s what I am going to try to get to:

Plums:
Italian plum jam with star anise
Plum apple jelly
Blueberry plum basil jam

Peaches:
honey sweetened skillet stone fruit jam
Peach lavender jam
Peach butter
Peach skin jelly

Blueberries:
blueberry ginger jam

Strawberries:
small batch strawberry vanilla jam
Strawberry balsamic sauce
Apple strawberry sauce

Grapes: grape catchup

Cherries:
no recipe cherry jam

I’m also going to experiment with some fruit sauces and stewed fruits. I’ve written about the Bircher Muesli that my family is in love with, and I will want to continue making it through the fall and winter, when local fruit is no longer in season. I’ll need a really good selection of sauces to layer in with the muesli and greek yogurt.

I didn’t know how I would feel about canning as fall approached…my garden is quite lacking this year, as I planned it to be. Our three weeks in Europe came right at the beginning of the growing season, and I didn’t want to bother any friends with taking care of new seedlings at their most delicate period, so I pretty much went without planting anything but carrots, a few peas and lettuce.

But here it is again, the need to can. It’s like a call from deep within my cells.
Browsing recipes online and in cookbooks this morning, I started to get that old familiar longing. I gotta can!!

Make (and can) everything with love,
Tamara

One of those days…

In feel, Groove | 1 Comment

In life, as we all know, there are highs and there are lows, and today, on purely a superficial/appearance level, I’m on a particular low.

Yesterday was a wonderful day – I was inspired, pumped, stoked, you name the word – the great Vitamin V email/blog introduced Delish General Store to their readers and I enjoyed watching the web traffic and filling orders from new customers.

And while I am still on a high from that today (and am still filling orders — yay!!), I’m also just…blah. I have lost my mojo. It’s my clothing situation! I wish I could describe to you what I am wearing as I sit here, actually out in public. It’s like I took all of the worst pieces in my wardrobe and put them together in one unfortunate outfit. We were running late to get my son to his play group, and there was just no turning back, even once I had a glance in the mirror!

It seems like such a trivial, ridiculous thing to bellyache over when there’s so much more to concern ourselves with but when I feel like I look better, I feel better, and I am more energized and ready to tackle anything. Right now, I just want to go back to bed.

Anyway, there’s not much more to this than to say I am motivated to do one thing — purge my wardrobe of items that make me look and feel like crap. I can’t wait to get home and get started. It’s been the spring and summer of this sort of thing, and I’ve already delivered two bags to charity. Clearly there is more work to do!

What do you do when you feel this way? I’d love to hear back from readers about this modern day experience. It’s not like I can afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe, but that’s not what I want to do, anyway. I want to feel good in what I have, and enjoy those pieces on a regular basis, replacing them as needed. As much I can easily find items I covet at Anthropologie, J. Crew, Banana Republic and more, I don’t think the solution lies in new clothes — do you?

Make everything with love,
Tamara