day lilies

i got my first flower off the bela lugosi day lily that i planted last year. very pretty. but um, not purple. its supposed to be a dark purple. perhaps the package was mislabeled. still, it is quite lovely.


even the orange ones are pretty


day lilies before molly trampled them in her mouse chase


and after she caught the mouse


a week later


they're mostly dead now. not coming back this year. i'm still hopeful for next year. i hear the orange 'ditch' lilies are hard to kill.

freaky big caterpillar!

a week ago i found a caterpillar as big as my index finger!



thanks to the folks over in a gardening community i frequent, its been identified as a luna moth caterpillar. they regularly grow 2.5 to 3 inches long! i only wish i could have seen it as the pretty moth it turns into instead of the gigantic caterpillar!

a tale of ground cherries

as an experiment i grew ground cherries this year. i also grew pineapple tomatillos, but as it turns out, they look and taste the same.



this is what the bushes look like in my garden. i had no idea they'd get that tall. i had to prune them back to keep them from smothering the neighboring plants.

tomatillos


ground cherries


you dont pick them off the plant, you pick them up off the ground. otherwise they're not ripe. they're not very big.


peel off the paper cover




its a bit time consuming to peel them all, and since my kitchen table is currently covered in crap, i set up on the floor. i had a captive audience.


or perhaps i should say a nosy and hopeful audience


one bucket equals one bowl. and puppy says never give up hope. both dogs thought they tasted fine and wanted more.


sweetpea enjoyed them tremendously


they were perfectly bite sized


but i wont be growing them again. it is a HUGE hassle to get under the overgrown plants to pick up them up off the ground one by one, and then peel them one by one. i simply dont have the time or energy to waste when there are so many other things in my garden i could focus on.

and the taste, well thats hard to describe. its kind of a slightly pineapple slightly tomato flavor. its sweet, but not very. it has tiny seeds in it that i spit out, like grapes used to have when i was a child.

everyone i've had taste them (myself included) says they're not sure if they like them or not, but then refuses a second taste. except the dogs and the tortoise of course.

triple berry jam making

last weekend my mom and i made triple berry jam.

we went to the farmers market, despite the rain


and bought blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries


we ran them thru the sauce strainer thing i got for making tomato sauce. it made really quick work of the berries.


the pictures are so dark because it was terribly dark outside from the rain. i didnt take that into consideration while snapping all the photos.

the seeds getting strained out


i like the color change. from left to right in the pan its blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.


end result of all the seeds


boiling


ladling into jars


try not to drool


prepare for nomming!


2011 triple berry jam
1 pt blackberries, 4 pts blueberries, 3 pts regular red raspberries, 2 pts purple raspberries, 1 pt black raspberries.
Ran thru strainer and got 10 cups of juice.
Nearly 2 boxes of pectin (perhaps half to one tablespoon short).
8 cups sugar.
Stir pectin into fruit juice in stockpot.
Bring to a full rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly.
Stir in sugar quickly, return to a boil and boil for one minute, stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, skim foam, ladle into jars.
Process in canner 10 minutes for jam, 4 minutes for jelly.
Made 12 half pint jars and 2 pint jars.
Took 24 hours of cooling before setting up properly.

and, a 13 second video of how awesome the strainer thing is to use

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!