Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

I got this recipe from http://www.frugalupstate.com/recipes/recipe-cheaters-strawberry-rhubarb-jam/

Cheaters Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

(freezer jam or boiling water bath canned)

Ingredients:
7-8 C of rhubarb cut into 1 inch chunks
4 cups of sugar or to taste
1- 3 oz pkg strawberry Jell-O

Directions:

1. Wash and cut up rhubarb stalks into half inch pieces and place in a large bowl.

2. Mix sugar in with the rhubarb chunks. Cover & let sit for at least an hour until the juices come out of the rhubarb.

3. Cook rhubarb mixture over medium high heat, stirring and mashing a bit until it is soft and the pieces of rhubarb have mostly disintegrated. Add jello. Stir until jello is dissolved. Pour mixture into freezer containers and freeze.

Yields about 3 pints

June 18, 2013 1

Fermented Salsa

I got this recipe from http://www.cheeseslave.com/lacto-fermented-salsa/

Fermented Salsa

Ingredients

Chili peppers (1-2 serranos or 1/2-1 jalapeno, depending on how hot you like it)
Medium fresh tomatoes (4), or canned tomatoes (1 pound), organic if possible
Medium white or yellow onion, organic if possible (1)
Garlic cloves (2)
Lemons or 3 limes, organic if possible (2)
Sea salt (1 TBS) where to buy sea salt or
whey (2 TBS) if you dont have any whey, use an additional 1 tablespoon salt
Optional: 1 bunch oregano, fresh (or 1 teaspoon dried)
Optional: cilantro (1 bunch), fresh
Optional: Filtered water

Equipment

Rubber gloves
Quart-sized mason jar with lid
Optional: Food processor

Directions

1. Wearing gloves, cut open the chiles and discard the stems and seeds (If you dont wear gloves, you risk burns trust me, Ive done it. I advise wearing the gloves.) Set aside.

2. If using fresh tomatoes, peel and deseed them: Fill a large saucepan halfway with water, set on high heat and bring to a boil. Carefully set tomatoes in saucepan and let sit for 5-10 seconds, then remove with a slotted spoon or tongs. Cool and peel. Cut tomatoes in half and gently squeeze out the seeds, or scoop out with a spoon, and discard. Set aside.

3. Peel and quarter the onion and peel and smash or crush the garlic.

4. If using fresh herbs, rinse, dry and chop them, discarding the stems.

5. Place the peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and optional herbs into the food processor (you can also do this by hand just dice everything with a sharp knife).

6. Squeeze the 2 lemons or 3 limes and add the juice.

7. Add the sea salt and whey.

8. Pulse several times (more or less for desired consistency).

9. Transfer to quart-sized mason jar. Add a little filtered water if necessary (if you like it more liquid and its too chunky). If you add water, put the lid on and shake it up so its incorporated. Make sure to leave at least an inch of space from the top of the jar.

10. Cover and keep at room temperature for 2-3 days before transferring to the fridge. Salsa will keep for weeks or months in fridge.

June 18, 2013 0

TERIYAKI SAUCE

¼ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup soy sauce (I prefer reduced-sodium)
2 Tbsp ketchup
1 Tbsp white vinegar
¼ tsp pepper
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
make teriyaki sauce by combining all the ingredients listed. Set aside.

I got this recipe from http://hiddenponies.com/2013/02/teriyaki-chicken-stirfry-with-homemade-teriyaki-sauce/

June 17, 2013 0

Thursday

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing great today. We are kinda warm here in Floyd-86 degrees but we do have a very pleasant wind so it doesn’t seem so bad. At least, not if you are in the shade!

We worked in the garden this morning. We started early but it still got pretty hot before we were done. This is a picture of the first raised bed. We have been enjoying the salad greens and green onions for a while now.

We had a great visit yesterday with my Uncle John and Aunt Elaine. They live in Mighigan and had never been to the farm before. Jess and her kids came up. Everyone went for a ride in the bumpy truck. It was so good to get to see them.

Our grapevine seems to be doing okay now. I was a little worried about it as it got frostbite by the last frost we had. We won’t have as many grapes as last year but it looks like there will be a few.

The roses are blooming and look very beautiful in the tree. We spent most of the evening sitting here yesterday enjoying the view and time spent with family. I wanted to tell you all about something beautiful I saw last night. I almost ALWAYS have to get up during the night to go to the bathroom. Well, last night when I got up I looked out our bedroom window and the sight I saw was totally amazing. The stars were shining so bright in the sky and underneath them the lightning bugs were everywhere! So many it looked like blinking Christmas lights. I stood there watching it all thinking how good our God is to allow me to see something like that!

I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 13, 2013 5

Beach Trip

Hello everyone! I’m sure you can guess from the title of this post where we have been. We went with Dave and Jess to Jekyll Island GA for a week. We had so much fun. The girls had never been to the beach before and I have only been a few times. Some friends from our church recommended Jekyll Island and we loved it. It is not too crowded and has lots of fun things to do.

We took a trolley tour of some of the old houses. It was very interested. So many of the “rich and famous” lived in these homes.

We also rode a bicycle around the island.

This took most of one day but it was so much fun. We saw so many things we normally would not have seen.

We did a dolphin tour one day. Little Sam saw his first dolphin on his third bithday. Then the motion of the boat did him in. He had to take a short nap. We also celebrated my Julie’s 15th birthday while we were there. Amazing to me how fast they grow up.

On the island they call this driftwood beach. It is very pretty.

Saturday morning as we were leaving we made a last trip down to driftwood beach and guess what we saw-a dolphin! Amazing! It was just swimming around looking beautiful.

While we were there a tropical storm can through. It was AWESOME! We went down to the beach that evening before it came in and the waves were so pretty. The wind was whipping and the sound was like a roar. I LOVED it!!!! On Thursday, it rained something fierce so we went down to Jacksonville FL to the Museum of Science and History. It was a fun trip with lots of things to look at.

I guess I could go on and on about all the fun things we did but I don’t want to bore you all too much. It was a great week and we are very thankful to Dave and Jess for taking us along with them. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

June 10, 2013 5

Mostly Pictures

Hi everyone! It has been a while since I posted pictures of what it looks like here in yard. Today we worked on the gardens. Both gardens are planted. I am so happy. It has been a wet, cold spring here making it hard to get the gardens planted.

This one is just beans and corn.

Remember when I said Hubby was working on making a raised bed. Well, here it is and it is doing very well I think. We made another one today and planted herb seeds in it and another row of carrots. I think I like this raised bed gardening. Hoeing is so hard on my back.

Our rhubarb is doing nicely this year. I think it is time for some rhubarb dumplings, strawberry rhubarb jam, rhubarb pie,…….!!

This picture is looking at the back side of the house from the corner edge of the garden.

Irises.

A fern and hen and chicks. Thanks for the ferns, Jess! These hen and chicks belonged first to my grandmother, then to my mom and now to me. I love things like that. I found the metal thing up in the field above our home. I have no idea what it originally was but I think it makes a great container for them.

Our strawberries survived the winter and are blooming! Some already have small strawberries on them.

Lovage. It will get huge, over 6 ft. tall!

Clematis.

A nice place to relax. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 28, 2013 6

Picnic and a Surprise

Tuesday we went for a picnic with the Horn’s. We had a great time. It was our first picnic of the season with them.

The picnic spot was beautiful!

Fresh strawberries from North Carolina. It’s still too early here for them but these were delicious!

I came home today to find this lounge chair being made. I love it! Thanks Hubby. We have looked at this design for a while now and he said he thought today was a good day to build one. It is chilly here today and very windy. Our temperature is 50 degrees as I type. I think there is a freeze warning in effect for tonight. Wouldn’t you know it, we just got our plants in the ground this week. I certainly hope they are wrong. It has been a beautiful day though, just chilly. Beautiful sunshine and the air is so clean and clear. I do love days like this.

Have a great evening and God bless.

May 24, 2013 5

Mint Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar, 1 cup roughly chopped mint, 1 cup water. Bring to boil, simmer 10 min. Remove from heat. Let cool to room temperature. Use 1 cup syrup to make 1/2 gal. tea.

May 20, 2013 0

Mint Syrup

This has been a busy week for us. On Friday, the girls and I cut some mint to try a new recipe.

We wanted to make mint syrup. One cup water, one cup mint and one cup sugar. Bring it to a boil, reduce heat slightly, let simmer for 10 min. Turn off heat and let it cool to room temperature.

For a half gal of tea, we used 1 cup mint syrup and then filled up the half gallon with water. It is absolutely delicious!! I have been making mint tea for years and I definitely think this is the best.

After making the mint syrup, we all worked in the garden. We had to take down the old fence we had put up last year to keep the chickens out, pulled up the stakes and the tomato fence. Then we got the tiller out and started getting it tilled. We had high hopes of getting the plants in the ground but the rain was faster than we were. Oh well, hopefully tomorrow (or the next day). We have had rain all weekend.

Yesterday, we went to the Greensboro Science Center with Dave, Jess and kids. We had a great time!

So much to see and do!

Well, that’s about it for now. We will be starting revival at church tonight so I guess I better be getting my crew ready to leave. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 19, 2013 1

Wedding

Hello everyone! Whew, what a busy weekend we have had. Fun, but busy. Our son, Chuck, was married yesterday. I couldn’t wait to get home today and check out this picture. I have wanted a picture of all of us together for a long time. I guess it took a wedding to make it happen. And just look, we’re all dressed up too!

After the reception, we played in the hotel pool for a while before bed. We had to do something to let the kids wind down after being still for so long. Sam amazed us all by sitting still and quiet beside his Grace the whole time the ceremony was going on.

We stopped on the way home and enjoyed a picnic. The weather was cool but it was still nice.

Most things are green here now.

We have definitely been cool though. We have freeze warnings for tonight and tomorrow night. Hopefully, though, when this little cool spell is over things will warm up for a while.

Little boys wishing it was warm enough that they could get in that water. Well, I better get busy. I have lots to get done. I hope you all have a great evening and God bless.

May 12, 2013 5

Cheaters Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Fermented Salsa

Ingredients

Equipment

Directions

Cheaters Strawberry Rhubarb Jam