Ideally, if we don't get any of one vegetable or fruit, we just do without. However, we picked up 12 quarts of strawberries. I took care of six quarts yesterday, but only canned jam once. Many went into the freezer.
(my hand crocheted placemats work great for cooling jams/jellies)
It takes a teensy bit of an over-filled quart of strawberries to can 4 - half pints of jam (reduced sugar). And it takes quite a bit of time to prepare the strawberries. I'll be canning again today. I need to weed in the big garden today, so I hope the rain holds off. So much to do, in such little time. Which reminds me, I need to delegate removing dried thyme into the jar and cut more.
I took an inventory on our jams and jellies. We are completely out of peach and blueberry jam, very low on pear, and have only a few of grape. I am not sure if I want to can Carmel Apple Jam again, but I would like more Cantaloupe Vanilla Jam.
I'm told by our 18 year-old that she does not need any jam while she is in college. She'll have a meal card, and she does "want any." I find this odd, as she is the one who devoured our peach jam supply this year. Well, that makes restocking easier, but I'll still need extra to ship to Son. Oldest Daughter never did like jelly/jam from a very early age. I told Hubby if his family asks for any jam this year, it has a high price this time ($6.00/half pint). He replied, "no, we just don't have any." That makes restocking much easier.
I am pretty happy with the organic pest spray for my vegetable garden. It's working so far, and I have either zero or very few bugs chewing through the leaves. That is a relief.
I took a quick walk to check on the wild black raspberries, and they are starting to show on the bushes. The rain has helped them a lot this year. We typically do not get enough of these to freeze. They are wild, so they are small, and completely depend on mother nature. We are down to only one jar of this jam too. I see the mulberries are on the tree, but the birds get them all before I do. I gave up on canning that jam.
It's getting pretty humid and hot again, and canning in an apron is not comfortable. We do not have central air, but we do have a unit to put in the window. We have not turned it on just yet, to keep the electric bill down. We put a bit fan up, to help circulate the air.
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I just came in from trying to work in the garden. Black flies (again!) drove me in. Our forecast says sunny today but so far it's very overcast . . . which the bugs seem to love.
Luckily where we live, we have large trees and plenty of shade, and often a nice breeze too. Thank God!!!
God bless.
RB
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