strawberry jam making

a few weeks ago my mom and i made strawberry jam.

fresh strawberries picked by me at bauer berry farm


what was left


mash the berries


bring to a boil


scoop off the foam


foam is funny stuff when it cools, it gets stiff


fill up the jars


try not to drool


strawberry jam recipe

2011 strawberry jam
8 cups strawberries
4 cups sugar
5 tablespoons pectin
Mash berries in pot with pectin.
When liquid, add sugar.
Bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes, then turn off heat.
Scoop off foam, fill jars.
Process 10 minutes in canner.
Made two batches, the second was closer to 7 cups berries with 3 cups sugar. Total of 13 and 1/ 2 jars

necessary canning equipment


load up the canner


the tall skinny jam jars dont stay upright in the canner when the water is boiling, so my mom solved that by wrapping the jar in a dishrag.


done! commence eating!

pictures of a giant radish from my garden

while growing


pulled it


it was hollow inside!


monster 4 inch radish

at long last, a garden update!

my garden, 15'x25' for the fenced in section, 12'x4' for the raised bed


the raised bed my dad helped me build last fall




rutabaga is enormous!


a single head of escarole lettuce. those blocks are 16" long! (and puppy!)


monster sweet onions, over 22" tall!


amish paste tomatoes


cabbage, brussels sprouts, and kohlrabi


pineapple tomatillos, pole green beans, and a lot of weeding needing to be done


in back from left, green beans, ground cherries, black eyed peas, tomatoes, in front, celeriac, zucchini, watermelon, cantelope (hidden under the lettuce), and marigolds


garlic


yukon gold potatoes on the right, onions and tomatoes on the left. clover garden paths, raised bed and strawberry patch in the background


pineapple mint plant that smells nifty


potted potato experiment, from the red potatoes i grew last year that sprouted in the cabinet over winter. (wilted from the heat)


strawberry patch (and molly!)


the old raspberry patch, now almost fully in the shade. the red line indicates the area i dug out and transplanted to a sunny location this spring.


transplanted raspberries

monster radish

monster radish (thanks to our obnoxiously and abnormally long cool spring)

pictures of my seedlings that have sprouted so far

i organized my seeds by when they need to be planted


they dont look like much yet


sweet onions


blue petunias


lilac ice petunias


cabbage


kohlrabi


early escarole for the tortoise


tomatoes! (um, i may have gone overboard here... i planted 60 seeds! and most have sprouted! last year i only planted 36.)


nothing yet from jicama or celeriac


i'll be planting broccoli, brussels sprouts, and ground cherries soon too.

Pruning the pear trees

Luscious tree before pruning and after (sorry its blurry, i cant exactly go back and take another before picture)


Parker tree before and after


Summercrisp tree before and after


Patten tree before and after


i followed the pruning advice and pictures from a book on pruning fruit trees that advises to cut the branches back by 2/3 during january or february while the tree is dormant. i suspect that these trees i planted last spring are now three years old. i believe they were two year old baby trees when i got them, but they may have been only one year old, though the Patten tree thats more thin than the others may only be going on two years. they still need to be directing their energy into good strong roots, and pruning so severely will help them to do that when they wake up in spring. i may not have pruned them enough. i'm still uncertain how much i should thin branches to form a good initial shape to the tree so that branches dont cross in the middle and stuff.

edited to add i think the advice and pictures came from this book pruning basics by david squire