The Falling Blog

Strawberry jam! 

My wife taught me to do this one this year as well. 

4 lbs of strawberries, 1.5 packages of gelatin, .5 teaspoon of butter, 10.5 cups of white sugar, and heat. You break up the berries (I used a fruit ninja) and add the sugar over heat. You wait until it’s a full roiling boil and then add the pectin. Get it back to a boil and put it into your ready jars, cap, boil in the canner for 10 minutes and voila, strawberry jam. 

Not that hard to do actually. I even added a little bit of almond extract to give it a signature flavor. This nice batch will be great to eat in the coming winter months. 

What are you canning right now?

Had a big day on the backyard farm. I cannot believe how much I got done today.  

I first cleaned up my lawn cutting tools and degreased my weedwacker. Mowed and wacked. Then I cleaned up the kitchen in preparation for my canning and dinner making activities. I did laundry and the dishes.

I harvested my zucchini and combined it with a couple my neighbor dropped off. I harvested half of my beets and some cucumbers. I went shopping. Put the canning equipment to clean in the dishwasher and got the water on to boil. I pulled out the food mill and processed the zucchinis and made the bread. 

Then I grilled corn on the cob and some chicken for our salads. Came back in the house, fed the baby put him to bed. Had to run back to town to get some jar lids that I didn’t have. Came home, pulled the zucchini bread out of the oven, and got ready to pickle the cucumbers and the beets. 

I’m gonna go pull them out of the boiling water and wait for the pop! 

Hey Everybody! We have enough produce ripe in the backyard that my wife decided to start the canning early this year. The beets are ripe and the cucumbers are steadily producing so there was little reason to not start pickling! 

Now, if you’re going to get into canning, be aware that there is some start up cost associated with this awesomely rewarding hobby. You’re going to need a canner, some jars and lids and rings, and you’re going to need some space to put everything for the winter when you’re done.

The key with canning is sterility and patience. If you’re keeping your own garden, I highly recommend reading up on canning and food preservation. You won’t believe how good your homemade canned goods will taste in February compared to the store-bought stuff. Also, it puts you in the right mood to get ready for that year’s garden. 

Have a great day! Happy Canning! 

Back Yard Gardening with Farmer Pete. 

The weather this spring has been very kind to my little townhouse backyard garden. Everything is just flourishing in the wet/hot/wet/mild cycle we’ve been having. 

We’ve already harvested our radishes and made a second planting of carrots in their place. The peas that I risked planing in early March have just started producing edible peapods. 

The carrots are getting quite big as are the beets. I’ve got flowers on the tomato plants so big red fruits shouldn’t be far behind. 

My melon plants are looking to get going any time now. I really like the flowers they lay out. I’m ready for them this year. I will be training them to behave, unlike last year where they simply took over my yard. 

The cucumbers are the best surprise, I didn’t think we’d be getting flowers and cukes as early as June, but there they are. They’re competing for space with the peas, so I’ll be interested to see how they fight. 

Pretty soon we’ll have to get the canning gear switched from strawberry jam into pickle making. We’re trying to get ourselves stocked for the winter with canned goods from our humble little yard. I think I’ll do a canning post when we get there. GO BUY A CANNER if you’re tending a garden. You will not regret it. 

Now to cook some din din!