Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 Canning Season

2014 Canning and Freezing

February:
  • Carrots:  4 pints [pressure canned].   Discovered we need quarts for carrot cake. Will do quarts next winter.
  • Maple flow started Feb 26th. 
March:
  • Maple Syrup:   8 pts
June:  
  • Strawberry Mango Mint Freezer Jam:  2 batches
  • Strawberry Vanilla Jam: 6 batches
  • Frozen strawberries: [still harvesting]  
  • Red Raspberry White Peach Jam:  3 batches
July:
  • Wild Black Raspberry Jam:  12 cups [2 large batches] 
  • Blueberries: 40 lbs  [$2.50/lb] eaten fresh and frozen in 2 and 4 cup bags.
  • Barbecue Sauce:  Multiplied the recipe by 5; made 8 pints.  [Little jars for gifts!]
  • Peaches: 1 bushel, chopped
    • 3 batches of peach chutney [recipe in my ebook, see sidebar]
    • freeze the rest in 2 cup quantities for smoothies
  • Blackberries: 1/2 gallon [winter kill set them way back this year.]
  • Tomatoes [from Reeves in Worthington.  $10 / 25 lb box]:  
    • 75 lbs canned  :  42 quarts
    • 25 lbs made into sauce:  5.5 pints Tomato jam and 2.75 quarts spaghetti sauce.
    • assorted garden tomatoes made into spaghetti sauce: 2.5 quarts
August:
  •  Tomatoes
    • Tomasqua:  6 quarts
    • Spaghetti Sauce:  25lb box = 7 quarts
    • Spaghetti Sauce:  assorted, from garden = 6 quarts 
  •  Peaches:  1 bushel, Carolina Gold  [$30]
    • 21 quarts of halves in light syrup  [1 Tb sugar in each quart]
    •  kept the rest fresh for pies, jam, etc.
  • Peppers:  Sliced and frozen:  15 small bags
September:
  • Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Peach Jam: 1 batch
  • Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Apple Jam: 1 batch
  • Elaeagnus [Autumn Olive] Raspberry Jam:  2 batches
  • Basil:  
    • dry:  1 batch in dehydrator
    • oil:  2 quarts infused veg oil
    • pesto:  2 batches in freezer, with pistachios
  •  Herbs, dried:  lemon verbena, basil, rosemary, parsley
  • Apples: 
    • 1 bushel Zestar:  applesauce [14 quarts]
    • 1 bushel Gala: 
      • 7 quarts pie filling with Perma Flo [http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/can_pie/apple_filling.html] 
      • 14 quarts apple slices in light syrup

What I grew in 2014

Beans
  • Fava Beans - Broad Windsor   Didn't happen.
  • Red Chinese long beans - Got original seed from BC.  Now I use our saved seed from 2012.
  • Green Chinese long beans - Got original seed from BC.  Now I use our saved seed from 2012.
  • Dragon Tongue [our saved seed from 2012]  
  • Freshette green bean.  Got the seed from Rural King.
Beet:  Detroit Dark Red.   Rabbit got them at about 4" high.
Carrot
  • St Valery
  • Purple
Cucumber
  • Telegraph
  • Sikkim Cucumber
  • Boston Pickling Cucumber
Eggplant:  Another bad year for eggplant.   Flea beetles devoured them.
  • New York Improved eggplant
  • Ping Tung Eggplant
Fennel:  Di Firenze - likes cool weather.   Plant in fall for December harvest and in late Feb for spring harvest.

Flowers:  zinnia (liliput), calendula [and probably some cosmos.  I love cosmos.]

Garlic:
  • Elephant:  Died during the winter.
  • California:  Died during the winter.
  • Chesnock Red:   Made it through the winter.
  • Music:   Need to try these 2014-15
Greens:
  • Arugula
  • Bibb Lettuce
Herbs, Annual:
  • Basil, Genovese
  • Genovese red basil
  • Basil, Lettuce Leaf
  • Cilantro, Slo Bolt.  Got original seed from BC.  Now I use our saved seed from 2012. Mostly it self sows.
  • Dill.  Self sows now
  • Thai red roselle
Herbs, Perennial [planted several years ago]
  • Lavender
  • Thyme
  • Sage
  • Horehound
  • Chives
  • Anise Hyssop
  • Hyssop
  • Chamomile [self sows]
  • Alpine Strawberries
  • Clary Sage
  • Winter savory
  • Lemon balm
  • Sorrel
Leek:  Autumn Giant Leek

Melon
  • Charentais [cantaloupe] - old seed.  Didn't come up.
  • Uzbek Sweetness Melon  ducks got in and killed it.
  • Sweet Passion:  got 4 small melons before it succumbed to vine borer.
  • White Wonder watermelon ducks got in and killed it.
Onions
  • Egyptian walking onions - mostly died during the winter.  I think I have one left. [Fingers crossed it makes it.]
  • Yellow of Parma onion:  Nice!!  from seed.
  • Wethersfield red onion
  • Ishikura onion:  Nice!! from seed.
Parsnip:  Half Long Guernsey Parsnip:   Nice and huge.

Peas:   Sugar Snap.   Heat tolerant.  Lasted through July
 
Peppers -We're shooting for sweeter, meatier peppers this year.
  • Golden Marconi
  • Red Marconi
  • Melrose pepper
  • Jupiter pepper
  • Golden California Wonder pepper [beautiful!]
  • Purple peppers [early]
  • Banana peppers 
  • Little Snacking Pepper [orange]
  • Pimento [thick flesh!]
  • Carmen [long]
Potatoes:  Kennebec,  early ones were great.

Radish:   Early Scarlet Globe - the regular red kind.   Nice!
Rutabaga: Laurentian Rutabaga  [First time with rutabagas]

Sweet potatoes:  Georgia Jet.  From our own starts.

Squash, Summer
  • Zucchino Rampicante - No new seed this year, so we'll try planting last year's seed and keep our fingers crossed.  Died fast.
  • Golden Marbre Scallop [pattypan]
  • Lemon Squash:  borers got them.
  • Castata Romanesco [zucch type]:  Early set of fruit. Light.  Striped.  First one, June 30.
Squash, Winter  [The last three are new, the others are from last year's seed.]
  • Australian Butter:  Good in hot climates.   Too cool this year, no fruit.
  • Black Futsu
  • Greek Sweet Red
  • Golden hubbard
  • Honey Boat Delicata:
  • Musquee De Provence
  • Queensland Blue:   Good for hot climates.  Too cool this year, no fruit.
  • Rouge Vif D'Etampes
  • Boston Marrow squash 
  • Galeux d'Eysinee squash 
  • Delicata squash:  Poor fruiting this year.
  • Baby Blue Hubbard - old seed.  Didn't come up.
Strawberries
  • June bearing [from May's]
  • Ever bearing  [from May's]
Tomato
  • Amish Paste:  Good standby.  Roma type.  Does OK with septoria.
  • Amana Orange:  Didn't fruit this year. 
  • Belize pink heart tomato:  Nice but vulnerable to septoria.
  • German red strawberry tomato:   Cute!  Nice fruit, but vulnerable to septoria.
  • Uncle Mark Bagby tomato
  • Pineapple tomato:  Nice yellow tomato!
  • Mortgage Buster [from May's]:  Nice, but lost half the plants to septoria.
  • Black Cherry [grape tomatoes]:   Nice!   Prolific and tolerant of septoria.  
Turnip: Boule d'Or turnip

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Late December Bees

Here are the bees all skirted up for the winter.  I used leftover Typar from our many lumber deliveries lately.  And you can't see the plywood wind break on the right [north] side but that seems to have keep things a little more sheltered in that area this year.

Unfortunately,  the right hive has died already.   They weren't well in the fall and they quickly succumbed to the very cold spell we had in November and at the beginning of this month. 


The left hive is still OK.   Here is one chilly bee who came out one cloudy afternoon when it got up in the higher 40s. 

Here's hoping the hive lasts the winter.

If it doesn't, I'll be sad, but I'm covered.   I already ordered 2 packages [3 lbs each] from Kelly Bee for the spring.   I went with the unmarked Russian queens.   I've heard they're great and even lasted through last winter in this area. 

Saturday, December 27, 2014

Winter Jams

This is the time of year we're really hitting the jam cupboard.    During the holidays, mostly I use the jams with cheese.    With the wide variety of frozen fruit available in the grocery stores, you can probably make one of these pretty easily. [You can use canned fruit, too!]

Here are some of our favorites.


Chocolate Jams are great over ice cream, pound cake, yogurt, cheese cake, brownies, etc.  





Marmalades are fabulous over all of the above, plus as a meat glaze - ham, chicken, pork chops.  Put some in a crockpot with some of those frozen meatballs for a fabulous appetizer.  Here is everything you need to know about making marmalade   Now is citrus season, so you've got a great excuse to try something new, like blood oranges!




Pears are still easy to find and this  Pear Ginger Jam is to die for.   You can make it with either fresh pears that you cook until soft or canned pears.   

This jam is great on yogurt!  Or, try it with a cheese plate.  I love it with manchego or brie.   Mmmmm.




Savory jams are lovely with cheese trays.   I love this Onion Bacon Garlic Jam with sliced apples or pears and gouda.  [Or swiss,  or manchego,  or a fresh mozzarella...]  Don't skimp on the bacon.  Add as much as you want.



All those jams are fabulous, but my all time favorite is this Peach Chutney.  I eat it on apples and pears.  On meat. On sandwiches.  With a spoon, by itself.  On cream cheese.  On any other cheese, especially brie.

In a baked brie - To. Die. For.  And it's easy.  Pour jam on a brie. Wrap the brie in a puff pastry and bake on 475 until golden.  Serve warm.


Note:  Most any jam is good in a baked brie:  Raspberry, Apricot, Cherry, Marmalade, etc...

I hope I've inspired you to make a little jam this holiday season.  Let me know if you try some.  Have a wonderful week!

For more jam recipes as easy as these, check out my ebook on the sidebar.  A Simple Jar of Jam: 180+ recipes & variations for jam using low sugar pectin.  Every purchase goes a long way toward supporting the blog.   Thank you!




Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Let the Festivities Begin!

It's party time here at Rurification central.  We started the party on Sunday.  Solstice was Sunday.  I'm so glad the days are getting longer.  That extra 15 seconds of light this morning really made a difference in my day.

Lily's birthday is today.   Her birthday cake of choice is this lovely Sticky Toffee Pudding.   Yum!

Tomorrow, we'll be making Yule Bread and Chai. 

Also probably a Cream Cheese Jam Cake. Instead of the pumpkin in that recipe, sub out a jar of your favorite jam or cranberry sauce.    Heavenly!

Happy Holidays!

Saturday, December 20, 2014

A Little Handspun Yarn


One of the nicest things about fall and winter is that once the garden is done, then I have time to sit at the wheel and spin some yarn.

Like this stuff.   I spun it over Thanksgiving.   It's a 3 ply superwash wool yarn.  I started with three colors of my hand dyed roving [deep blues, vineyard, old brass].  It's mostly blues, but it's got some glorious golds, rust, eggplant and russet as well. 



I think there are more than 9 ounces of the finished yarn.  Enough for a nice warm handwoven shawl. 

I get all happy just looking at it. 

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Mushroom Potato Soup


I was hungry for my Zuppa Toscana and then found out I didn't have any sausage.   You just can't have Zuppa Toscana without sausage.  You can maybe pull off some zuppa, but it just won't be Toscana. 

So I improvised.

And made some really terrific Mushroom Potato Soup instead.   I'm warning you ahead of time that this is not a fast soup.   It takes time.   Time and butter.  Don't skimp on either.   The trick here is to let the onion and mushroom actually brown in the pans. 

Yes, pans.    It'll be worth it.

Robin's Mushroom Potato Soup
www.rurification.com

1 lb mushrooms, cut in half and then sliced up.
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion, diced
2 more tablespoons butter
1 tsp salt
5 small potatoes, peeled and diced
6 cups of broth [I used chicken]
2 chicken bouillon cubes or the equivalent
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cream [optional]

Brown the mushrooms with 2 T butter and 1/2 tsp of the salt on medium heat in a large skillet.   In a soup pot, brown the onions on medium heat in the rest of the butter and the salt.   When the onions are brown, add the broth and the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes until fork tender.  When the mushrooms are brown, add the flour and 1 cup of the stock out of the potato pot. Stir around to make a gravy.  Add the mushrooms to the rest of the soup.   Stir well and simmer until it thickens a bit.   Optional:  If you want a creamy potato version, add 1/2 cup cream. 


This is some great soup! 

[Sorry about the photo quality.  It's December.  It's dark.] 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Friday, December 12, 2014

Rosehips

Rosehips are one of my favorite things about winter.   I love the shape, the color - even the thorns.  They make beautiful wreathes and one of these days  I'll make another one and post some pics.  In the meantime, I found this site with 25+ things to do with rosehips [including wreathes!]  Everything from face masks to soup to jam.   Check it out.



Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Fascia Board

The fascia board on your house is the board that covers the rafter ends and is the board to which your gutters are connected.  

It's important.

It protects your rafter ends from exposure to wet and therefore rot.

We hate rot.

As you can see from the top pic, installing the fascia happens way up high.  Our boards were 16 ft long and had to be installed at the top of a second story.   

By one guy on a ladder.   Eric. 

Soooo, the first thing he did was make a jig.   Two, actually.  It's a piece of plywood with a notch cut out to hold the board up while he nailed it in place.   He screwed the jigs about 9 feet apart...

 ...and put a pulley between them. 

Then we roped the board in the center and Eric climbed the ladder while I pulled up the board with him. 

It worked brilliantly!

One thing we learned was to make sure the jigs weren't too high.   If they were, then the boards wouldn't slip in easily and that was a pain teeter tottering the heavy board and trying to hang on to the ladder while getting it all steady and then lifting into place.

If you place the jigs a bit low, then the boards pop in fast and you can shove a few shims in the jig under the board to raise the board into place while you nail.

It does mean moving the ladder back and forth a few times and it's slow, but it allows one person on a ladder and one on the ground to do the work safely.    Safe is good.

And now our fascia boards are on.    They'll be covered with metal when the metal roofing goes on.  Then the gutters can go on.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

After the Rain, the Roof

Finally.  

After the rain.  The roof.

Eric went with rafters instead of trusses because we didn't have any way to get prebuilt trusses up there, but rafters can be built in place.  

First Eric had to put in the ceiling beam for the second story and set in all the ceiling joists.  That makes the bottom of the roof triangle.

Then he had to build a ridge beam to make the top point of the roof triangle.   Then all the rafters had to be cut  and attached to the ridge beam and the joists/walls below [which is the ceiling of the new second story.]  

Did that even make any sense?

The pic is from late on the second day of roof building [the second weekend of the Big Building Phase].   

To make extra sure that the rafters would stay in place, he cut gussets [trapezoid shaped pieces] that he glued and  nailed in on each side of the roof [inside] where it joined the second story ceiling.   Sorry no pic.   The gussets support the bottom points of the triangle where the lower edge meets the edges of the triangle that go up. 

It took a lot of precise cutting and heavy lifting to make that roof.   It also took some nimble feet and careful walking so as not to slam one's head into the shorter attic area.  





See the red ladder on the left?   That's how we're getting up to the second floor right now. 

Yeah we're the cover story for White Trash Homes and Gardens.  I keep telling myself it could be worse.  We are, after all, living in a construction site.

You can sort of see the general shape of the new part.  The windows are not cut out yet up top.   The back shorter addition will be ripped off and replaced with something with an actual foundation under it, taller ceilings and a roof that doesn't sag. 

Also, we'll have a real stairway inside the house.   We are not planning on using the ladder forever and entering through the girls closet.   

In case you wondered.



Friday, December 5, 2014

Vacuuming the Rain

So, for some days after we started cutting out the old roof and starting putting up the second story, our house was not under roof.   It was sort of under tarps, then it was under the subfloor of the new floor for the second story, then it was sort of protected by the new walls, then the joists for the ceiling of the new second story, then the new rafters for the roof, then the new decking on the roof, and then the new tar paper on the new decking on the new rafters over the new second story at which point the lower story was protected from the weather, though the roof was not quite finished with the new metal on it yet. 

In between all those thens, it rained.  Several times.

On one particularly rainy day, we had the second story walls up and many of the new ceiling joists up to.   But not enough to cover with the tarps to keep the wet out.

So, we pulled out our wet vacs and vacuumed the rain for about 8 1/2 hours.   Luckily it wasn't raining super hard the whole time - just continually.

We used a couple of vacs like this one:

 

and I'm happy to report that they were very effective.   Most of the time Eric's vac lives in his truck and mine lives in my studio.   They live quiet, uneventful lives, saving their energy for emergencies.
Like basement floods or plumbing accidents or tidal waves of purple dye [Don't ask.]

Or rain in house.  These are the moments that wet vacs live for.  It took the four of us constant effort for 8 1/2 hours to keep the rain mostly off the new floor [which was over the old house], but we managed to avert total catastrophe in the structure below. 

That said, at the end of the night, after the rain had stopped, we went downstairs to discover that the ceiling in our bedroom was bulging.   After evacuating our mattresses, Eric poked 9 holes in the ceiling to release the rain water that had come in through the most open area in the new construction and let the water run out into buckets - lots of buckets.    By the next morning, the drips had stopped and Eric sealed up the holes.   Crisis averted.



Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Holiday Art Fair and Bazaar

This weekend is our last show of the year and it's one of our favorites.   The show is packed full of local artists working in pottery, weaving, woodworking, glass, jewelry, etc.   There's a fabulous cookie walk and bake sale, a book sale, a white elephant sale...  It's one of the most fun weekends of the season!

Unitarian Church 2014 Holiday Art Fair and Bazaar
Friday, December 5,  10am -7pm
Saturday, December 6,  9am - 5pm
Bloomington, Indiana
Corner of Fee Lane and the Bypass

I'll be there with my hand dyed silks, soap sets, and handwoven scarves and shawls. Stop in and say hello.  

[This is not a yarn show, but I'm happy to bring some for you to pick up if you know what you want.   Check out the etsy shop for my current inventory:  www.robinjedmundson.etsy.com  Free shipping if you pick up at the show.]
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