Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Saturday, January 25, 2020

Tiger ~ Grape Jelly ~ Weather ~ Canning Journal

I was at the computer writing up my post yesterday morning, and it was raining. I kept hearing something in the window and thought it was rain.  Not so.  I pulled back the curtain, and Tiger was on the windowsill, eating my basil plant!  It's not toxic, but he's acting up lately.  The weather perhaps?  



Or perhaps we have another stray cat eating the barn car food now.  Urgh.  Not what we need.  Apparently, Romeo isn't fond of them either.  I now have 3 holes in a curtain that covers the window that is by the food box.  Lovely.  Now I have another "to-do" on the list - sew curtain.




I canned grape jelly.  We use this to mix with BBQ sauce or other sauces for our meatballs, or enjoy for PB and J sandwiches.

The weekend brings us weather obstacles.  Again.  Rain poured down all day Friday, snow moves in today, and possibly more snow Sunday.  Looking over the "to-do's" we have, and what needs done is getting down right frustrating.

Got out my "canning" journal and added a page to it - bulk buy items and their status.  It'll help keep me on track with future orders.

6 comments:

Carol said...

I would love to make some homemade jelly, but I never learned to can and I don't think I can now either. Our weather is the same way although we are having freezing rain and rain, but it is stopping much of the to do list from being done.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Carol, the weather is stopping us too. So frustrating.

Mama Pea said...

Where did you get the grapes for your grape jelly? Had them in the freezer? Growing up we had a lovely grape arbor in our back yard and grape jelly was the only jelly my mom made. So good!

Our temps are hovering around 32° the past two days so we're getting a misty rain/snow/yuck mixture which is making the snow on the ground both slushy and slippery. Not much going on outside here either except daily chores.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, I had to use organic unsweetened grape juice. I have a resource for this year for concord grapes, so I'm crossing my fingers.

Mary said...

I’ll wager you do have a stray eating your cat’s food. Here in Massachusetts there used to be wild grapes growing along country roads, across from my childhood home they grew thickly over a tall stone wall that ran the length of the neighbor’s yard. They were small and the skins were pucker inducingly sour but would taste sweeter after the frost. My mother would send us out and we’d pick buckets full and she’d make grape jelly every year. The family across the street didn’t mind as they lost interest when they tried to make wine from them and it wasn’t to their liking.The

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mary, you got me thinking. I may try and make wine too. We have all the stuff to make it too.