removing landscaping rocks to prepare a site for a future greenhouse (greenhouse post #1)

there will be a greenhouse in my future! it will go here!
where the rocks and weeds are doing nothing but wasting space and pissing me off because the rocks end up everywhere


progress with removing the rocks and laying the pavers


rocks are all gone on one side of the L-shaped area

(sorry its sun/shade hard to see, but its mostly just dirt)

46 pavers, and 5 bags of sand


pavers! i used the plywood piece to help level the sand before laying the pavers


molly came to help


too cute to send away


let me just SHOVE that sand out of the way. the nice, leveled sand...


then she lays on the sand


see why i need sand on top of the dirt? all those stupid little roots, and rocks


the next day i got a few more blocks laid, and guess who came back to help!


or at least supervise. oh hey look! a stick!




as far as i've gotten with the pavers this last week. i'm currently stuck with the stump of the metal stand from the old rusted grill that is long gone.


the grill was old and rusted and fell over last year. the gas company came out and shut off the line. but the base was set FIRMLY into concrete below the frost line. not wanting to dig that up, my dad came up and we pounded it into submission with a big sledge hammer. it was not easy.
before


after

sunflowers!

i planted them cuz they bring all the bees to my garden


and they make sunflower seeds!


my sunflowers, i planted a bunch


sunflowers!




and the bees










two bugs going at it




the seeds are coming in


sun behind the sunflower


sunflowers!

canning peaches and pickle slices

back on august 2, i canned peaches and pickles with my mom.

while we were visiting my gramma in a small town in the middle of rural minnesota, we found faye elberta peaches in the little local grocery store.


my mom says faye elberta peaches are the absolute best for canning. but she hasnt been able to find them for years. so she bought two lugs (boxes) of 50 peaches each. they cost $16.99 a lug, which is HALF the cost of what we've been able to find at farmers markets or the grocery stores here in the cities.


clean sterilized jars


gorgeous ripe peaches


the stove setup. starting with the little tiny pan and moving clockwise, the water to heat and sterilize the lids, the canner, the pot of boiling water to blanch the peaches, and the pot of homemade syrup.


the counter setup. the towel is where i slice up the peaches and fill the jars. the yellow bowl is clean water for 'holding' the peaches that have been peeled and are awaiting slicing. they'll turn brown if exposed to air. the green bowl is right next to the pan of boiling water for blanching. the peaches go from boiling water to cool water and my mom rubs the peels off. that water gets dirty fast with all the peels, and has to be changed often.


we used ball "fruit fresh" to help prevent browning. it contains ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and citric acid. we only put it in the bowls of water, but apparently you're supposed to put it in the syrup as well.


blanch


peel (the peels just rub right off)


it takes me longer to slice and pit the peaches than it does to blanch and peel, so mom gets ahead of me now and then and stops to help slice. when my brother helps slice then the two of us can keep up.


i didnt get any pictures of the slicing and filling the jars because my hands are always wet and sticky thru that part of it. dont want to touch my camera.



this years our syrup was made of 24 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar.
we used around 87 of the 100 peaches in canning
processed the first canner full for 5 minutes (the water was already boiling)
processed the second and third batches for 7 minutes each.
one jar didnt seal.
12 quarts, 7 pints.


on to pickle slicers!!

first you must have cucumbers, all washed up


and plenty of garlic peeled


cut the heads off plenty of dill. we use a mandolin to get all the slices to be the same thickness. we like slightly thicker slices. skip the ends, they dont pickle well.


stuff the jars. we used two cloves of garlic in each pint, on the bottom with a large head of dill. stuff the slices in, and put a small head of dill on top. then pour in the brine.


we always seem to buy too many cucumbers. this is what was leftover after filling all our jars


for the compost bin, along with the peach peels and pits


our haul of goodies


our brine this time was 18 c water, 6 cups vinegar, 3/4 cup canning salt.
1 bushel of cucumbers (too many!)
we bought 3 bunches of dill
and used 5 bulbs of garlic
we processed 5 minutes in the canner.
we made 3 quarts and 18 pints.

and now they'll have to sit and pickle at least 3 months before we can even touch them.

strawberry jam

on sunday june 30 my mom took me strawberry picking.
mom came up extra early and picked me up at 7:30. and its good we left that early. we got there about 10 minutes before they opened at 8am and there was already a long long line of cars waiting to get in. and these are the 'early' strawberries that were ripe. the regular strawberries weren't expected to be ready til 4th of july weekend. can you imagine how busy THAT will be?!!?

i picked a flat and my mom picked half a flat. $22.60 worth of strawberries. 10.8 pounds total. guessing on the math i picked maybe 6-7 pounds, my mom picked maybe 4-5 pounds.

mom measured out 2 zip lock baggies filled with 8 cups each, plus one big bowlful left for me, at least 7-8 cups more. tomorrow i'm gonna take the bus down to her house and we'll make strawberry jam with half the sugar most recipes call for. woohoo!

my fingers were stained pink even though i washed them twice.

the dogs were extra happy because they got to eat all the reject strawberries.

LOTS of slugs on/in the berries this year. it was kinda gross. i've never seen so many in all the years i've been picking (maybe 7 years).

mmm, no berries are ever as good as fresh picked. fresh picked ripe off the vine are SO awesome.

we only spent an hour picking, and about an hour cleaning.


on monday july 1 i went to my moms and made jam.

the leftover strawberries after two big zip lock baggies were filled with 8 cups each


8 cups of berries


pot of mashed berries


best berry masher ever! i mean, stick blender


foam tastes good


but there was LOTS of foam that had to be scooped off this year


funnel helps keep most of the jam INSIDE the jars when filling


yummy yummy jam! first batch was extra large, we filled 7 jam jars, plus 4 more, and half a teeny jar.


first 7 jars from the canner


seriously with the foam! so much foam (second batch)


17 jars of strawberry jam!


this year we did two batches.
batch 1
8-9 cups strawberries (slightly more than the second batch)
4 cups sugar
1 box surejell pectin (4 tablespoons)
made 11 jelly jars

batch 2
7-8 cups berries (slightly less than first batch)
2 3/4 cups sugar (this was an oops, we ran out)
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon
1 box surejell pectin
made 3 jelly jars and 3 pint jars

the stick blender worked GREAT to mash, but there was lots of foam in both batches

mash berries in pot with pectin. when liquid, add sugar. bring to a boil for 1-2 minutes. turn off heat. scoop off foam. fill jars. this year we processed only 5 minutes in canner.

total 17 jars, 14 jelly jars, 3 pints.

these batches turned out more runny. 2011 jam had 5 tablespoons pectin, but we only had two boxes this year so we tried only 4 tablespoons each. i think it needs 5 for sure.

someone asked if there was anything i could do with the foam so i did some googling and have suggestions for next year:

Save the foam in a microwavable container. Just pop it into a microwave for 30 to 60 seconds or so on high. Be sure to watch it the entire time, or it may boil over. You want to get it hot again and to boil up a bit.This removes the air bubbles. Once you remove it and it cools, it will look, act and taste like regular jam again! Rather than attempting to put this back into a batch for canning, this is the jam I stick in the fridge to use fresh!

or the butter method:
1 teaspoon of butter, margarine or vegetable oil, added before you heat the mixture will almost eliminate it. thats teaspoon, not tablespoon.

as to why we skim the foam:
It doesn't taste bad, but it is not the consistency most people like in jam. It certainly won't hurt you, though. It might somewhat shorten the storage life of the jam. Foam contains a lot of air. In canning, the jars are not filled to the top of the jar. This gap between the lid and the food is called head space and it gives the canned food room to “breathe.” The food can expand during processing and form a vacuum as the jar cools. Foam in a jar of jam increases the head space. The extra head space does increase the chance of the jam molding after prolonged storage though.

since foam is from air... using the stick blender might be why we got MORE foam this time than before. still, the stick blender is far easier than the tater masher.