Garden Bed Is All Tucked In

A few days ago I finished putting the gardens to bed for the winter. I always struggle with this task because there are always one or two plants I have to pull up that still have the possibility to produce a few more gifts for me. I picked the best of the green tomatoes and a hand fill of green beans before I closed my eyes and pulled. The pain of yanking out the plants is softened a bit by the fact that most of those plants will be composted and stay in the garden. I always tell them I'm sorry (yes, I'm one of those people who believe toys come to life when I leave the room). But there is a silver lining to plant murder, planning for spring!

Too early to plan for spring you say? Nay! Gardening is a year round endeavor! When I finally get all the spent plants out of the way it's time for the manure! I love manure. It stings the nostrils. It makes me happy. My husband gets a kick out of my manure induced glee. My kids all walk around with their noses plugged up but I tell you what, manure is awesome. I can get a half ton for $15! Yes, $15 that is not a typo! I am also lucky to have friends who let me use their truck to pick it up. (If you live near horse stables it's worth it to ask if they sell manure!) I buy it in the fall because it's still a little "hot", meaning that the manure hasn't composted just yet. If you dump hot manure on your garden it will burn your plants. The stuff I buy is the mess cleaned out of the horse stalls. Chipped wood, straw and poo. I put it in a big pile to marinate all winter. It's a beautiful thing.

After I get the manure cleaned out from underneath my fingernails the snow isn't far behind. That's when the real fun begins! Seed catalogs!! Seriously, I call seed catalogs garden porn. The salacious photographs of plump melons, blushing tomatoes and long string beans.  My favorite catalog is the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. They have 40 pages of tomatoes! It's enough to make a gardener hyperventilate! As a peruse my catalogs I want to plant one of everything! The next few weeks, because it really will only be a few weeks before the onions, peas, and lettuces can go in the ground and even sooner for starting seeds, I will spend making and remaking lists of what will go in my garden. I'll use an environmentally irresponsible amount of graph paper planning and re-planning my gardens. There are important questions to answer like should we plant purple carrots? How many varieties of lettuce can we fit in the lettuce bed? Pink or blue pumpkins? Yellow Thai watermelons? It gets a bit ridiculous and I really do need all 12 weeks of winter to decide what will make the final cut.

Now that the snow is on it's way it's time for you to order some catalogs and start planning for your garden! Catalogs have so much information. Maybe my next post will be about how to get the most from your seed catalog.

These are some of my favorite links.

Annie's Heirloom Seeds
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co.
Bountiful Gardens
Garden's Alive
Peaceful Valley Farm
Renee's Garden
Native Seeds
Organica Seed
Mountain Valley Seeds

Jam, You Are My Only Friend

Jam is one of the best things about life. Not rainbows, campfires or Christmas. It's jam. Jam doesn't care if it's raining, or cold or even if you have a cold. My husband's grandmother used to eat it right out of the jar. Smart lady. Jam doesn't judge me. Jam always obliges when I show up with my toast.

I told someone once that I didn't think I had ever eaten store bought jam. They thought I was lying (actually I may have been lying because I've eaten jam at other people's houses and at Denny's). The point is I don't buy jam. I make jam. Homemade jam is just better. It tastes better, it has no high fructose corn syrup and it looks really pretty in those little jars which in turn make me look like a  wonder woman and that is saying something because I am no Linda Carter. (Please humor me and pretend I am not so old that you don't know who Linda Carter is. Google it later.)

Making jam is deceptively easy and quick. A first timer could make make in less than 2 hours. I can, not to brag (okay who am I kidding, I'm bragging), make a batch of jam in 70 minutes and that includes clean up. You too can become a crafter of fine jams. I'll teach you how.

This tutorial is for strawberry jam. It is one of the easiest jams to make. It requires 4 ingredients, fruit, sugar, pectin and lemon juice. So gather your ingredients and your equipment! I should mention all the ingredients and supplies are available at any half way decent grocery store. 

I'm pretty sure I prefer MCP pectin because it's what my dad uses. I've been indoctrinated. I'm sure other brands are just as good. Inside the box are directions for making jam with that particular type of pectin. Measurements and cooking times need to be exact so I like to keep them handy but because they are stuffed into that tiny box like an accordion so they are always folding up and flopping around. I like to hang them up in my cupboard like this:

Gather your canning jars, lids and rings. A batch of jam yields about 7 pints. I use different sizes of jars so I have family size jars or small gift-able jars. Wash the jars in hot water or run them through your dishwasher's hottest setting and prep lids by putting them in simmering but not boiling water.

You will also need a heavy bottomed (kinda like me) stock pot, a wooden spoon, ladle, canning funnel (optional) and a steam or water bath canner.

Put your empty jars in your canner so they are HOT when you are ready to fill them

                     I know this seems like a lot so far but trust me things will get rolling soon!

 Wash and core your berries. You can mash them with a potato masher or chop them in the food processor. Don't puree them, you want chunks of fruit in your jam. Do them in small batches until you have the required amount for your particular recipe. MCP is 5 1/2 cups.

Pre-measure your ingredients and set them aside. 8 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and an envelop pectin. This is a good idea because once everything gets cooking it's hard to stop and measure.

Now it's going to come together quick! Mix fruit, pectin and lemon juice all in the pot together and bring it to a full rolling boil. Can you see the fruit chunks? Yum!!

Here's our full rolling boil. It took about 9 minutes on my gas stove in the mountains. For those of you living at lower elevations and/or with an electric stove it will probably boil sooner. Now add the sugar all at once and return to a boil. Boil for 4 minutes. Remove from heat and fill up those hot jars!

This is canning funnel. I LOVE it! I use it for more than canning. You should get one! You will love it too!

Fill jars up to 1/4 inch of the rim. This is referred to as head space. 

Clean the rims of the jars with a clean cloth and get those simmering lids out. Tighten rings "finger tight". Just as tight as you would put a lid on a mayo jar in the fridge. If you leave them too loose or too tight the jars won't seal. Have a piece of bread handy because you will have a little extra jam when all the jars are full and it would be a shame to let it go to waste! 

Now time to process. This is one of the few times it is safe to use a steam canner. You can process your jam in a water bath canner as well. Processing time is the same for both methods, 0-1,000 ft 5 minutes, 1,000-6,000 ft 10 minutes. Start timing when water in canner starts boiling or when steam is venting in 8-10 inch plumes.

While the jam is processing I wash the few dishes I used and that's it! Wasn't the easy?! Good job! Look at you making your own jam! These jars can be stored in your pantry for up to a year. Be sure to label them so as you make more batches (you know you will!) you can use the older jars first. When you need a hostess gift or a little something to cheer up a friend these little jars will fit the bill. After a couple batches you will gain confidence and you'll be whipping up all kinds of jam. Sometimes jam will be your only friend and that's okay because it is so darn good!

A Different Kind of Preparation

The last few weeks I have been preparing to do something hard. Today, my son leaves for basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

Four years ago, Lucas came home from a 7th grade career fair with a bunch of Army literature. I threw them in the recycle box because I had brought home the same pamphlets when I was in 7th grade. He hung an Army poster in his room in 8th grade but I still didn't think anything long term would come from it, after all every boy thinks about being an "army guy" at some point, right? Don't get me wrong I am not anti-military but military is not in our blood. I always pictured him as, well anything but  a soldier! Last spring as he was registering for his junior year he asked me to got to a parent meeting for the new JROTC program at his high school. I was annoyed. I had things to do and sitting in a meeting for something I didn't think he would actually do seemed like a waste of my time. I went. Begrudgingly. Sgt. Harris explained the program was not a recruiting program but rather a chance for kids to try out something new and have a chance to do some organized community service. That didn't sound so bad. I signed the papers saying he could participate. Next it was off to the Army-Navy store for military garb. (My annoyance may have resurfaced when I forked over money for boots, belts and patrol caps.) He seemed to have fun and I couldn't complain when his summer days were spent with the JROTC at camps for kids with, cancer, hemophilia and other diseases. 

Around Christmas he started talking about enlisting. I tried to talk him out of it. Now I can't remember half they arguments I used. I wasn't seeing my son as a young adult with plans and goals of his own. I was trying to talk my little boy out of playing with guns and doing dangerous things. The one argument I couldn't win was when he said to me, "I feel like I owe something to my country." I try to be a good citizen too. I vote, walk my dogs on a leash, recycle and pay my taxes, that's all I need to do, right? I'll let someone else's son do the dangerous stuff. I know, pretty selfish. So a few weeks after his 17th birthday we let him enlist and on March 29th he was sworn into the Utah National Guard. 

Two weeks ago we went to the JROTC Military Ball. There he was, captain of Alpha Company standing at attention with his battalion. His name engraved on the leadership plaque. Alpha Company was given the award for best company in the battalion. He was achieving his goals and dreams while I wasn't looking. 

I am blessed to have wonderful sisters and sister-in-laws. My awesome sister-in-law, Jill gave me an early birthday present, dog tags. They were made by Sara at Charming Sarabella. I wear them everyday. They are there to remind me to be brave and selfless like my son and to remember to relish the noise and mess around me. 

Another sister-in-law, DeAnn reminded me that this is the purpose for which I raised him, to serve and think of others before himself. She made me cry because that is exactly who I want him to be. It was happening and I didn't even notice! I still have worries, have I done a good job as a mother? Have I taught him the life skills he needs to be out on his own? Is he strong enough to avoid the negative aspects of military life? Will he eat enough fruit? Will he remember to say please and thank you? Lucas will be okay. He started his adult life without me because he didn't need me. He could do it on his own. 

The tears I have shed have been more tears of mourning. The chapter in my life where all my children are home and protected every night are gone. He'll be home for his senior year but it will be different. He'll have drill weekends and responsibilities to people I've never met. I can't expect everyone home for dinner. It came sooner than I ever thought it would. He will always be my son, but he belongs to the world now. I will miss him everyday. I am outranked. 

Walking The Yard

Walking the yard. For me walking the yard is not unlike prisoners getting out of their cells for an hour a day. When I walk the yard I leave inside all the things that can frustrate and distract me. Phones, kids, doorbells, my addiction (admitting it is half the battle right?) to Facebook and Pinterest, the dust on the piano, the dirty floors that have given up hope of ever being clean and windows decorated with nose smudges and fingerprints. But let's not forget about the fun distractions too! The half finished baby blanket, a braided denim rug, a pile of books which NEED to be read and the Harry Potter piano music I've wanted to learn. There is so much to learn and do that even inside the four walls of my home the fun stuff can feel daunting, but then I go outside.

Breathe in. Breathe out. If it's not too cold I kick off my shoes so I can feel the grass. I start on the north side by my new little strawberry patch. I check to make sure my plants are all still there. I have to check because between the new crazy dog (she is an entire story herself) and the gophers and voles who inhabit the field on the other side of the fence, plants sometimes disappear. Oh good, all still here. Have they grown since yesterday? I think that one has a new leaf. That weed needs to GET OUT! While I am contemplating my strawberries I hear a sound. Bees! Oh blessed bees! My little Granny Smith apple tree  (I'd like to meet Granny Smith. I think I'd like her!) is full of blossoms. I watch the bees zipping from blossom to blossom willing more of them into the yard to work their magic.

Through the branches I see something blue waving me over. The flax is beginning to flower. I don't grow flax for any other reason right now than the masses of blue flowers. Maybe someday I'll learn how to use the stems to make some rough handmade linen but for now it's the flowers. Next to the flax is a new lavender plant. It's trying but the spot I picked might not be ideal so I'll have to keep my eye on it.

Next I go into my fenced garden. My fence has proved no match for the aforementioned dog. I grab the shovel and clean up a present she left me. Then I take the clear storage bins, which have been doing double duty as makeshift greenhouses, off my squashes, peppers and Atlantic Giant pumpkins. My peas are trying to climb the fence and I worry that maybe they are afraid of heights thus the reason they have stayed so close to the ground. I tell them not to be afraid as I move on to my carrots and onions. Not to brag but I can grow onions like nobody's business. I had to buy an onion last week because I finally used up the last of the fall harvest. That was depressing.

Now the east side of the yard. The plot ready for the giant pumpkins has a stray raspberry trying to set up camp. Mental note to offer it up to which ever neighbor wants to dig it up. The blossoms on the peach tree have started to fade but I can already see the swollen blossom ends that will eventually be a fresh peach pie. Thank goodness for bees! The raspberries look bedraggled. They need some fish emulsion for lunch. Yes, it smells as bad as it sounds but the plants love it so I'll oblige.

More aromas but the good kind this time. Garlic! Garlic makes you remember in spring that plants really will grow and those empty garden beds won't be empty for long. I planted my garlic back in October. In February, when it feels like the White Witch in Narnia has cast a spell of Ever-lasting Winter, the garlic is there with it's counter curse. Green in the garden!!! Spring will come again! Now in May the plants are almost 2 feet high. As I weed around them, the smell of the garlic heads hidden in the dirt sneaks up and reminds me I haven't eaten breakfast yet. I'd better hurry!

I try to avoid looking what was once my lettuce patch. Why did I rescue that dog? I'll drown my sorrows admiring the Bartlett pear tree that made our yard it's home. My fabulous brothers and sisters gave this tree to my husband to plant in memory of his dad who passed away last month. My sweet father in law was a farmer at heart. I wouldn't be surprised if he were walking the yard with me giving me gardening hint and tips from beyond the veil. We'll think of him every time we eat pears. I quick glance at my cherry tree. I run my hands over the plants in the herb garden. Lemon thyme, sage, oregano, parsley, more lavender (it's my favorite). It makes my nose happy. The chamomile is starting to bloom, tea in the garden is on the horizon!

It's only been 10 or 15 minutes but I feel like I was in another world. It's back inside to make breakfast, pack lunches, find missing library books and sign off homework packets. Sometimes I am a prisoner I guess, a prisoner of the mundane and tasks of daily life. I look forward to walking the yard.