June 22nd?!

How has this month nearly gotten away from me?!  What have I been doing, you asked?  Well let's see.
First I was watching the little ones:

I'll bet you thought I was talking about the grands....hehehehehe! Nope, can you see the two spotted fawns?  They like to camp out in my yard in the afternoons around 5ish.  When I went to the front door to take a photo, they heard me but didn't know from which direction I was. They froze in place. They were too cute.  I was able to get a couple of pics before they scampered off.

Then I:::::

Did some canning of tomatoes.  All I did here was chop up a bunch of tomatoes into a very large pot. Poured sugar over them and allowed them to set for a couple of hours to draw some of the liquid from the tomatoes. Then I brought the mixture to a rolling boil, reduced to a simmer & cooked for about 4 hours until most of the juice had simmered away. Because I didn't can these in a hot bath, I placed the jars in the frig until I'm ready to eat some and give some away.

Finally....

I've been flower gardening......don't laugh.........I know what you're thinking. At no time during the time I've known "her" has she ever been involved with flowers!!!! And you would be correct but a couple of my girlfriends talked me into this and off I went......SIGH!!!

Until next time....cross your fingers that I don't kill the garden.

What have you been doing in June??

Lots of Things

Canning first. I know this looks strange but remember I'm not in my own home yet so I had to improvise, adapt, overcome!!! Anybody remember which movie that's from....hehehehe

Anyway. It's pickle time. I was down to my last jar. Mr. Cowboy was becoming desperate. We eat pickles with nearly everything.

One of my girlfriends called to say the cucumbers were ready & that I could come & get some for free if......if I'd make a batch for pickles for her hubby. Of course I shouted YES!!!

 

 Next, I finally got to the store to buy the things I need for my new adventure thanks to Shasta (read the previous post to catch up on that).

I have a couple of ideas of the way I want to go with this but.....I've been known to change my mind.

 

On a final note, is anyone else getting the large amount of rain/thunderstorms that we are getting? Yesterday we got 3.5 inches. WOW! I'll need a canoe very soon.

Send some sunshine our way please...someone, anyone!

Loads of Blueberries

My cousins were given several containers of blueberries & of course immediately thought to bring then to me right in the middle of the end of hay season around here....sigh. So I put aside my other duties & plunged into canning. I looked online for easy recipes & thank goodness, found one that said boil them until there was a sort of thick brew, add a couple of cups of sugar & boil that for awhile. I them remembered my friend Gene's recipe adding gelatin, so I threw some of that in & proceeded with the jars/lids/hot bath thingy. After the lids popped it was suggested to put them in the frig. I had a better idea. I gave most back to my cousins to enjoy with toast & coffee or whatever....whew!

I did save a couple of jars for me and Mr. Cowboy and wow is it tasty!!

This Old Jar

This old jar has been in my canning jar collection for years. In fact if belonged to my grandma. I can just picture her jelly or jam canned in this jar. 

I don't know if you noticed but all around the jar's surface are little squares but on the front of the jar there's a smooth area for labeling.

How cool is that!!! 

It's a Ball jar. On the bottom there's an ID # - 5014-T.  How exciting!!!!

I've canned using this jar many times but now I think I'll retire this old gal.

Any canner out there with interesting stories or items to share??

3 Day Pickles

A very dear friend called me up the other day and offered me cucumbers from her garden. I had thought that after the fig canning episode, I'd not be canning anything else anytime soon. However, I couldn't turn down those cukes!

Three days and sixteen pints later I'm a happy camper. I think I've shared the recipe before but I've sped up one or two things along the way.

You will need:

4 gallons or 50 thinly sliced cucumbers

2 packages of canning lime

1 gallon apple cider vinegar

8 lbs. sugar

4 Tablespoons salt (no iodine)

4 Tablespoons pickling spices

1 bag of ice 

• Mix lime with 2 gallons of water in a very large cooking pot. After lime is dissolved add sliced cucumbers. At this point, I place several plates on top of the cucumbers to weigh them down, then cover with the top of the pot or a clean dish towel. Let stand for 24 hours.
• Rinse lime mixture from cucumbers until water is clear. I use to rinse them in my kitchen sink but this took forever. Now, I set up a portable table outside, using the water hose and several big colanders, the rinsing takes only a few minutes with little fuss.
• Next, pour ice over cucumbers which cools the lime process even more. This will take about 3 hours.
• During that time mix sugar and vinegar in a pot.  To add the pickling spices cut an eight inch square of cheese cloth, pour the spices into the middle and secure with a twisty or rubber band. Place into sugar/vinegar mix.  Stir the mixture often until sugar is dissolved.
• After three hours are up, rinse ice from cucumbers and add the sugar/vinegar/spices to the cucumbers. Weigh them down and cover. Let stand for 12 to 15 hours.
• Now it's time for the canning process. I do the hot bath method but you can do whatever you choose. 
• I know this is a lot but it's worth all the effort.  BTW, you can always cut the recipe in half!! Experiment by adding different spices.

  

What??? Figs!!!

This morning I was minding my own business because Mr. Cowboy was off to the hay fields. I was all set to "think" about sewing something when the phone rang. It was Mr. Cowboy no less, asking if I wanted some figs. As I hesitated to answer, he broke into my thoughts of how to get out of this situation, "Good, I'll bring them right over to the house. Better still, meet me half way," then he hung up.

AAaaaaaaarrrrgh!

Deep breaths, inner peace, inner peace, more deep breaths!

Off I went to meet him half way.  Four Wal-Mart grocery bags filled to the tippie top later.............!!!

 

Lots of trimming stems adding sugar and I also added some marinated orange slices into the large pot.

Lots of stirring as the mixture started to boil so that it wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pot....whispering to myself.....inner peace, inner peace, inner peace.

13 pints later.....canned figs. 

 Mr. Cowboy must sense my mood because he has failed to come in for lunch.......hehehehehehehehehehe!!

Rule #1 - Never plan anything.

Rule #2 - Don't even think about planning anything.

Rule #3 - Don't answer the phone but if you do, remember rule #1!!

My recipe for figs are as follows:

No measurements here.
Figs, a large pot full, rinsed, trimmed of stems
To the figs add a bag of sugar, two pounds if you don't want it too sweet or if you're like me, the four pound bag works just fine.
Bring to a boil and then to a simmer for at least 30 to 45 minutes. You will need to stir when mixture is boiling so that it doesn't stick.
Now can the figs in mason jars and the hot bath. This type of canning is easily found on the Internet.

A New Respect for the Produce Isle

Last Friday evening Mr. Cowboy brought 50lbs of potatoes, a bushel of tomatoes, 12 lettuces & a number of honey dew melons to the house. Need I say, "Oh my gosh!" I was a bit overwhelmed but determined.

I couldn't turn away the opportunity to can the tomatoes so out comes my canning equipment.

Here's what all that peeling, chopping & backache produced:

As for all those potatoes.....most were rotten but I was able to find enough to make potato soup.

I cut up most of the lettuce for a giant salad for the Super Bowl party & sliced up the melons as a tasty sweet treat. 

I salute the the workers who have to sort all those fruits & veggies!!

Orange Giants

Can you believe the size of these carrots? Look at them compared to the teaspoon. Cousin Clark brought a batch to me the other day. I had to scramble to get them peeled, chopped & into the freezer.

They will be great in stews during the winter!!

Trouble In The Meadow & Peach Fuzz Jelly

Just when it seems life slows down around the farm something always happens.

 The neighbor's cows got into Mr. Cowboy's hay meadow & he needed help shooing them back toward the dry creek bed they came through. He had some choice words that don't bare repeating as I put me boots, gloves, hat and any other protective gear I could think of to wear. 

We commenced to shooing them home with a stray here and there attempting to grab a bite before they had to go home. That wasn't too terribly bad but mending that gap was no fun for this old girl. Barbed wire is strong, sharp & tricky to handle. Neither one of us enjoyed the process or the heat but we got it done.

Then it was onto the peach fuzz jelly. Yep, you heard correctly. At least that's what I've named my jars. 

I found the recipe via Blind Pig & The Acorn, which lead me to Raising Homemakers by Carmen (Sorry, I don't have the link to that blog but I wanted to give full credit to her and Blind Pig. I was so happy to find this great recipe which allows you to use ever bit of the peach. I printed off the recipe and am providing it below.

Peach Jelly by Carmen

• 4 cups peach juice (see below)
• 1 package of pectin (I really like Kroger brand!)
• 1/2 tsp. butter
• canning jars, bands and lids (new lids!)
• 5 1/2 cups sugar

To make peach juice place the peach pits and skins in a pot and cover with water.  (I had about 15-20 peaches so this batch of juice made enough for two batches of jelly and then some.) Turn the burner on high.  Once it starts boiling, turn it down to medium/low and let it simmer for about 10 minutes.  Let it cool a bit.  (I had to wait for hubby to get back from running errands, one of which was buying more sugar for me, so my juice sat a few hours.)  Then strain the juice.  You’ll need 4 cups of juice for a batch of jelly. (If you have less than 4 cups of juice…like 3 or so, it will work if you add water to it to make 4 cups, but I wouldn’t use more that one cup of water.)

Place the juice, butter (keeps the jelly from foaming), and pectin powder in the pan. See how big of a pan I use? It’s a must or you are going to get splattered with very hot jelly later in the process.  Stir it on high heat until it boils.  A full rolling boil.

Add the sugar all at once and stir.  Keep stirring until it gets to a full rolling boil like in the picture above.  You want it to boil like that for 1 minute. (Keep stirring…you don’t want the bottom to scorch.)  Then take it off the heat and set a timer for 5 minutes. During that time I take all my jars very carefully out of the water.  I use a long skinny wooden spoon and pair of hefty tongs to do this.  I set them on a towel on the counter upside down.  Then I set the pan of jelly on a hot pad right next to them on the counter.  I also set the lids and bands next to those.

When the five minute timer is up I skim the top of the jelly.  There will be a bit of foam, but not nearly as much as if you hadn’t put the butter in.  Set a jar next to the pot, put the funnel on, and funnel jelly into the jar leaving 1/4 – 1/2 inch head space.  Move on to the next jar until all are full.  

Once the jars are all full I wipe the rims of the jars with a hot damp dishrag.  You may need more than one, depends on how messy you were filling the jars.  *smile*  Next take a lid out of the water and dry it off with a clean towel, set it on the jar, take out a band, dry it off, then screw it on the jar.  Make sure it’s tight.  Set jars upside down on a clean towel. Repeat until all jars are tended to.  Place the jars 1 inch apart. Once the last jar is flipped upside down set the timer for 5 minutes. (This helps seal the lids.) After 5 minutes flip them right side up and in an hour or so you’ll hear little pops.  Check all the lids in a few hours to make sure the lids are sealed. If you can press on the lid gently and there’s some give then you need to pop that one in fridge and use within a few weeks.  There’s no need to process the jelly/jam if your jars, lids and band are sterile and hot and your jelly/jam is hot.  I know what some people say.  I have done this for a few years now and never had a problem with my jelly/jam.

Note: I did not follow all the directions to Carmen's recipe. I went with my old way to place jars in hot bath for 10 to 12 minutes but the results were great.

Many thanks to Blind Pig and Carmen for this fantastic recipe!!

Squash Pickles??

Yep, you heard correctly.

My mom found & saved the following recipe from the East Texas Farm & Ranch Living section in one of our local newspapers.

I immediately went out to our local farmers market and purchased some fresh squash.

Ingredients:

• 10 cups sliced squash (I used the goose-necks)
• 2 medium bell peppers, chopped 
• 4 medium onions, sliced 
• 1/2 cup salt 
• 1 four Oz. jar pimentos, diced
• 2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon celery seeds 

Instructions:

• Mix squash, peppers, onions & pimentos in large pot. Pour salt over the top & cover with water. Allow to sit for a couple of hours.
• Drain water off of squash mixture & add remaining ingredients. 
• Place on stove & bring to a boil.
• Remove from heat and ladle into hot, sterile pint or quart jars. Make sure to leave 1/4" from top of jars.
• Process as recommended by canning instructions. 

This one is just out of the boiler & is extremely hot. I made 6 pints and 1 quart. Can't wait to taste a jar in a few days time.

No Time For Piecing

I've been very busy with this year's first canning process. 

First is my chunky cucumber mix. This was made from the 20 cucks I had left over & couldn't bring myself to give them away. 

Here's the rest of the 21 quarts of pickles I canned yesterday & into the night. At this point I'm dead on my feet!! But it was well worth all the steps.

Watermelon Jelly

Hi there.

Several bloggers were interested in my watermelon jelly from a previous post. So here's the info you requested.

Watermelon Jelly Ingredients

• 4 cups of chopped watermelon meat (or 2 cups of watermelon puree)
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 package of no-sugar pectin

Watermelon Jelly Equipment

• Blender
• Large pots and pans
• Boiling water bath (this type of canning experience in called a bath process instead of using a pressure cooker although there are several recipes which may call for one. But this is the method I use and it has worked swimmingly each time)
• 8 oz. jelly jars for canning (I use Ball or Kerr jars)
• Canning lids and rings

Wash jars thoroughly and set aside along with lids and rings.

Procedure

• Roughly chop the meat of a watermelon into squares. Discard the rind and seeds. You can save the rind to make pickled watermelon rinds, if you'd like. (I've made that before but it is a lot of work)
• Place four cups of chopped watermelon into the blender and process into a puree.
• Four cups of chopped melon should yield about 2 cups of melon puree.
• Pour the 2 cups of melon puree into a large sauce-pot.
• Add lemon juice to the puree.
• Mix 1 cup of the sugar with the package of no-sugar pectin together before you add that to the puree. By doing this step, it prevents the pectin from clumping.
• Add the sugar mixture to puree.
• Stir vigorously to dissolve any lumps in the mixture. Turn on the heat and bring to a boil.
• Once the mixture has reached a rolling boil (this means the boil won't be stirred away), add the remaining sugar.
• Stir vigorously until sugar has dissolved into the jelly.
• Once the watermelon jelly reaches a rolling boil again, set a timer for 2 minutes. Watch this carefully to avoid overflow. 
• Once the 2 minutes are up, lower heat and decant or pour into jars to process.
• Leave 1/4 inch headspace and apply the sterilized lids and rings. Place the jars into the boiling water bath. 
• Set timer for 15 minutes and cover the boiling water with the lid.
• After timer goes off, place jars on a counter to cool overnight. The lids will begin to seal soon after you remove from hot water bath. You may hear a popping sound to signify this..
• If some of the jars do not seal, place in refrigerator for use immediately. It should last for two to three weeks or if your family is like mine, it will be eaten up before you can blind!!

I think if is possible to substitute Cantaloupe or Honey Dew melons in the recipe, if you prefer.

I hope this helps. But if you have further questions, leave a comment and I will attempt to give an intelligent answer....hehehehehe!

 

Canned Watermelon Jelly Recipe

Here's what's needed:

• 4 cups of chopped watermelon or 2 cups of watermelon pureed
• 3 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 Tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 pkg. of no-sugar pectin
• several mason jars with lids and rings...below you can see a lid and ring.
• 
• a very large boiling pot/lid & boiling hot water 3/4 of the way full
• a medium sauce pan with boiling water
• 1 larger pot for watermelon mixture
• 
• Note: I advise that you watch a canning lesson on youtube be become familiar with the "hot bath" type of canning.

1. Place mason jars without the lids and rings into the large boiling water. This will sterilize them while you prepare the jelly. Also place lids and rings in the medium sauce pan of boiling water. This will sterilize and prepare the rings to seal to jars later.
2. Cut open and remove seeds from the "meaty" part of the watermelon you wish to use. Roughly chop into chunks. Rinds are not used in this recipe. 
3. 4 cups of chopped melons should yield about 2 cups of melon puree.
4. Pour puree into large pot. Add lemon juice.
5. Mix sugar and pectin together before add it to the puree and lemon juice. This step will aid in declumping the pectin.
6. Turn on the head and bring to a boil. Stirring regularly.
7. Once the mixture has reached a rolling boil which means the boil won't be stirred away, set a timer for 2 minutes so that mixture boils strongly. Continue to stir regularly.
8. Once timer has ended lower heat while you decant the mixture into jelly jars.
9. Leave at least 1/4" headspace and apply the sterilized rings and lids. Place sealed jelly jars into the larger boiling water bath carefully to process for 12 minutes.
10. Remove and sit jars on towel on the counter. Listen for lids to pop. This means the seals have set or once the jars have cooled over night, test the middle top of the lid which should not flex up or down. 
11. Jelly will last for at least a year when stored in a pantry.
12. If a lid fails to seal, no worried, refrigerator and use jelly for breakfasts and snacks.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment and I'll attempt to answer your questions in a timely manner.

One Last Time

I got my hands on a small round watermelon, enjoying the last of summer goodness, but could not finish it off. So I decided to do a little last minute canning.

Seven half pints of Watermelon jelly is the  results.

Putting Up

I've been canning again.

14 bags of cream peas and purple-hull peas.

Another batch of sweet pickles & I'm trying a recipe for corn relish which is a great side dish with sandwiches. 

Busy Week

Here's a snippet of what I've been doing:

Baked banana bread loaf for my mom.

Helped Mr. Cowboy count heifers & calves. Note, I'm in the back of the truck safe & sound while my fearless honey walks amongst the giant animals...laugh out loud!... Those moma cows weigh close to & some over a thousand pounds, I'm not crazy enough to get that close!!!!!

Dew on spider's web

& elusive hummingbirds. Everytime I tried to slap a photo they flew off...oohhh, it was maddening. So Ayden's class didn't get to see them but I'm not giving up yet.

Fresh strawberries to.....

8 pints of strawberry jam.....whew, that's what I've been up to. I hope everyone of you are doing well & enjoying life!

Grape Jelly

Whew!
 Here's a quick recap of my Mustang grape canning escapades ....

After fermenting over night. The smell is wonderful.

After boiling & simmering for an hour or so.

Here's how the grapes look after I pulverized them a couple of times.

Final results - 4qts, 8pts, 4 half pts.

There are loads more grapes on the vine but do I have the energy to pick and process them. Only time will tell but this old girl is tiring!!!!!!!

While I was canning my Cowboy came in from golfing with his buddies & had changed into his work boots to begin cutting in the hay fields. He decided to leave the golfing attire on. I just had to snap this photo.

Vitis Mustangensis

Nope, it's not a sickness, it's grapes. Wild grapes, that is.

Mustang grapes are all over my fence this year. The birds have been munching on them for a couple of weeks so my Cowboy suggested that I really needed to get out there before all was lost.

Among the grapes are lizards, spiders, a snake or two & my favorite.....wasps!!

I dawned my hunting gear (minus the shotgun), a pair of shears and some wasp spray to harvest the grapes.

Here's how much I've cut off so far. I'll be canning jelly &  my Cowboy wants to dabble in some wine.....we'll have to see if that pans out.

Now I've picked all the stems off & will pour sugar over top & allow to sit over night.  I'll add a little water and Pectin and pretty soon we'll have grape jelly!!

There are tons of wonderful jelly recipes on the Internet to try out, this is just one of many.

Goodness in a Jar

Can you believe it's already July....OMG!

These are peaches from our local farmers market. They are sweet & I can't stay away from them. 

I decided to pickle this batch because my Cowboy said he remembered is mom's pickled peaches from childhood. That melted my heart so off to the old Internet to find a good recipe, I went. There were several to choose from and it took me a couple of days to gather the necessary ingredients before diving in. The following are what I used. There are tons of recipes out there, you just have to choose for yourself.

• White vinegar
• Sugar
• Pickling spices in a bag
• Cinnamon sticks
• Whole Cloves
• Fruit Fresh
• Mason Jars

I placed a cinnamon stick & a few cloves in each jar before processing them. Let me just say that I save everything I can because you never know what you'll need or can use in another recipe.

The syrup leftover from the canning is divine. I can't tell you how delicious it taste, so of course it went in the frig to be use in a meat dish.....AKA.....pour a cup of it over a ham before baking or over a pork roast and bake or a fourth cup in a cobbler before baking.....I need to stop cause I'm getting hungry.

I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July. I'm already planning for ribs, roasted corn on the cob, potato salad and apple pie (with some of that peach syrup baked in)....oh, and cracker pie. Yes you read it correctly.

Take care!!!

Mug Rug Thursday

I can't believe that June is almost gone. We're having unusual rain here in central Texas. Yesterday, in a matter of three hours we got 2 1/2 inches of rain. My garden loved it.

Speaking of gardens, I've already picked my first batch of cukes (AKA - cucumbers) & made 9 pints & 2 quarts of sweet pickles.

Now for drawing for the birdhouse. 

The winner is

Chantal!!

Congratulations to you. Just leave a comment so we can talk.

The next mug rug in the give away is "froggy".

Leave a comment to be counted.

I'll announce a winner July 10th.