Category: Food

Two bits of new garden news:

1: My hot peppers appear to be very hot. This is good news. :) I plan to pickle a few jars worth tomorrow.

2: My oddly-round cucumbers turn out to be cantaloupes. The seed packet was apparently mislabeled. So now I'm just waiting for them to get large enough to eat. (Note to self: Under-ripe cantaloupe tastes just like cucumber.)

That is all. Carry on.

		So, mixed results from the garden so far this year. Here's the rundown: Bulb onions: bust - too much rain in June, they rotted in the ground. Will try again next year. Bunching onions: semi-success - doing awesome, but we don't eat that many. So they just sit out there, taunting me. Won't plant next year. Carrots: potential success - they are doing great, but growing slowly. Will plant again next year, in a sunnier spot. Garlic: bust - see bulb onions. Will try again this fall. Tomatoes: likely failure - Were doing incredible. Have started dying - might be bacterial wilt. Will try again. Cucumbers: guarded success - Doing great - except that they are perfectly round. Picked and ate one - delicious anyway. Will plant again. Hot Peppers: success - Growing well. Can't wait for harvest - hopefully no frost before then. Will plant again.

Started my canning season last night by making some peach jam from the peaches we picked at Butternut Farm on Sunday. As usual, it took about twice as long to make as I predicted, and I didn't get to bed until pretty late. But it looks really good. The color is a rich golden, amber color - it's like honey and sunshine, right in a jar! I hope it tastes as good as it looks. I can't wait to try it.

Recently, the kids helped me transplat some young pepper and tomato seedlings into containers. These kids just love to garden. They get their little gloves and spades, and go to town. I'm sure at least one aspect of it was that it was the first sunny day we had had in weeks, and they were just enjoying the time outside. And on the other hand, what little kid doesn't like getting dirty - especially when they know they won't get in trouble? I can't wait until we actually start harvesting some tomatoes - I'll bet the kids will be so excited to eat something they've grown themselves. They already talk a lot about the flowers we planted, which have just recently started to bloom.

Sean and I made theses jams months ago, but I've just now gotten around to putting the recipe page together. Both of these were pretty easy, and have ingredients lists that even Carter could could count on one hand. We had to use store-bought, frozen fruit - but hopefully next year we can use some that we'll be growing in our own garden.

We finally got the laptop back from ASUS, and luckily they didn't have to wipe the hard drive. We had downloaded all of our Christmas pictures onto the laptop the same morning it broke, so we thought that they might be gone forever. These photos are from while we were stuck up north during the ice storm. I had picked up a gingerbread house kit to try to give them something to do. We ended up having a really great time putting it together, aided more than a little bit by them eating large quantities of the frosting as we were decorating.

Two Saturdays ago, while Lori and Carter were out shopping, Sean and I made another attempt at blueberry jam. Sean had a great time, as you can see. And this batch turned out much better than the last one, which was rock-hard once it cooled.

Sean and I made this late last summer. We picked the peaches ourselves, and picked up the peppers from a local grower. It's delicious, but I can't figure out what to put it on. Anyone got any ideas?

Over the last couple of weekends, I've made batches of both strawberry and raspberry jam. Both are certified delicious! I think I will be making another batch of each so that we'll have some to give away at Christmas. Sean helped me with both batches. He loves to help me cook, and he gets so proud when Lori makes him a sandwich with the jam he made. We're planning to make some blueberry jam over the long Thanksgiving weekend. I hope it goes well this time. We tried blueberry jam a couple of weeks ago, but overcooked it. Once it had cooled in the jars, it was as hard as a rock.

My mom used to make this when I was kid, and I could never get enough. I'm hoping to make it soon myself, as soon as I get the right pan.