I took my first trip of the summer to Sauvie Island for berry picking this week. Amelia and I each filled a flat with berries while dodging children yelling, "I hit the jack pot!" as their mothers tried to get a little child labor out of summer vacation. I don't think they succeeded much. We did our first canning of the season yesterday- a Strawberry Rhubarb Jam that doesn't use pectin or sugar, but has apple juice concentrate in it for sweetness, and a traditional Strawberry Jam with pectin and honey instead of sugar. Looking at recipes, I was annoyed by the ones that call for as much or MORE cups of sugar than fruit- it seems to defeat the purpose, and I have NOTHING against sugar. Here's a couple process pictures:
Cleaning and cutting our berries- wow, it doesn't take but a day before they start getting mushy. We picked two kinds of berries, Hoods and Pugets. We froze most of the Hoods, as the berry farm lady (what do I call her?) said the Hoods were so naturally sweet they taste like cotton candy if jammed.
The Strawberry Rhubarb Jam is tart and sweet and really yummy without sugar- and we all know Kyle will eat it now- but damn, you have to stand at the stove and stir/mash for 50 minutes. Surprisingly, the jam calls for four Granny Smith apples, which lend pectin and body, and don't make the jam taste appley at all. Luckily it was a cool day to stand by the hot stove.
We used all of our berries and ended up with 24 8 ounce jars- 11 Strawberry and 13 Strawberry Rhubarb- and no, I don't know how that happened. I'm all odd numbers. I already gave one jar of Strawberry to our super nice neighbors next door, and I think I'll be going berry picking again in the next week to freeze and can more. Raspberries are almost ready! I am looking forward to canning more this summer, using the sweet book Mom and Dad got me for Christmas- more jams, pickles, and salsa! Canning is much more enjoyable with someone else- I don't know how Mom did it on her own, but she is very talented, and I remember her looking really unhappy when she did it:) So expect us to come to Iowa next month bearing jammy gifts!
Last Thursday was another berry day. Amelia and I picked raspberries, blueberries and cherries at Sauvie Island Farms. Here's our berry haul- the raspberries became jam, the blueberries are frozen, and the cherries are disappearing as we speak from a bowl on the counter.
Name: Cleo
Name: Willow 
I took my first trip of the summer to Sauvie Island for berry picking this week. Amelia and I each filled a flat with berries while dodging children yelling, "I hit the jack pot!" as their mothers tried to get a little child labor out of summer vacation. I don't think they succeeded much. We did our first canning of the season yesterday- a Strawberry Rhubarb Jam that doesn't use pectin or sugar, but has apple juice concentrate in it for sweetness, and a traditional Strawberry Jam with pectin and honey instead of sugar. Looking at recipes, I was annoyed by the ones that call for as much or MORE cups of sugar than fruit- it seems to defeat the purpose, and I have NOTHING against sugar. Here's a couple process pictures:
We used all of our berries and ended up with 24 8 ounce jars- 11 Strawberry and 13 Strawberry Rhubarb- and no, I don't know how that happened. I'm all odd numbers. I already gave one jar of Strawberry to our super nice neighbors next door, and I think I'll be going berry picking again in the next week to freeze and can more. Raspberries are almost ready! I am looking forward to canning more this summer, using the sweet book Mom and Dad got me for Christmas- more jams, pickles, and salsa! Canning is much more enjoyable with someone else- I don't know how Mom did it on her own, but she is very talented, and I remember her looking really unhappy when she did it:) So expect us to come to Iowa next month bearing jammy gifts!
We planted several patches in the backyard this year. I have complicated our croquet court by digging up a patch right in the middle of the yard for corn and beans- but where else will they get enough sun? I am not sure how corn grows in such a mild summer climate, but thought what the hell. Our peas, just above, are winding up trellises Kyle made from leftover string- hopefully once at the top of the string, they will climb up our deck railing. Pictured, we have our heirloom tomato plants- Bonnie Best and Mr. Stripey(these are the actual seed names)- we have six plants total, but two are Amelia's. Next is our zucchini, which had seven blossoms between two plants this morning- so send us your favorite zucchini recipe! After that is a picture of one of our tiny corn plants, of which we have two rows. Then there are the broccoli, which are hit and miss, with a couple already going to seed? and our artichoke plant, which I should have planted about four feet away from ANYTHING else because I saw one in the neighborhood the other day and apparently they get monstrous. Oh well. We also planted beans, radishes, two kinds of lettuce, one of which is already supplying our salads, cauliflower, sweet and hot peppers, Walla Walla onions, patty pan and spaghetti squash, basil, dill, parsley cilantro and chives. A little ambitious for us, but we've had a lot of sun so far, so maybe we'll be eyeball deep in veggies by August:)
