What’s the Mission?
I didn’t grow lemons. I grew tomatoes. And I made lots of them into tomato jam, thinking I would give it away as gifts. However, this year the jam did not set! I don’t know why – perhaps I used the wrong pectin? Or the wrong variety of tomatoes? At any rate, I didn’t give [...]
Saturday, I went to the farmers’ market and got a half flat of strawberries and a half flat of blueberries for JAM! I’ve already made the strawberry jam, as well as some blueberry pancakes. You can get exact recipes and instructions for making and preserving jam in lots of places. My favorite is PickYourOwn.org. I [...]
It looks like we’re near the end of our canning season. I still have pears in cold storage, waiting to be processed, but the tomatoes are done! Altogether, we’ve done applesauce, tomato sauce, tomato jam, crushed tomatoes and pear jam. I still plan on making pear sauce and/or pear butter. It’s not a complete winter’s [...]
The tomatoes. Sigh. Due to unseasonably cool weather, our garden didn’t produce enough tomatoes for canning, although we have had plenty to eat. So last weekend, I bought 40 pounds of tomatoes from a local farm store. And then I promptly became ill, so I didn’t get them all canned right away. Instead, I whittled [...]
After picking apples with the Portland Fruit Tree Project, I had enough apples (19 pounds) to make seven quarts of applesauce. Applesauce is super easy, especially if you have a food mill. I followed the instructions at PickYourOwn.org (my canning bible, since I don’t have a Ball Blue Book). However, I had to make the [...]
Fall is officially here. It was off to a chilly start in Oregon, but now we’re getting temperatures in the 70s and 80s again. We’re still harvesting tomatoes from the garden — plenty to eat and cook with, but still not enough to preserve. We’ve got a fall crop of lettuce in, but the peas [...]
I’ve been to Kettleman City, California. Sort of. I’ve been to the part at the junction of I-5 and Highway 41, which is where we would turn off to go and visit my grandparents in Lompoc. It’s a cluster of fast food restaurants, gas stations, and motels. Shamefully, I’ve never thought about any people who [...]
We’re now getting a handful of cherry tomatoes every day. But the really exciting news is that the canning tomatoes are starting to ripen! They’re just beginning to turn yellow. These are Heinz 2653, specially bred for canning. I have frozen tomatoes before, but have never canned them, so I’m looking forward to it. Post [...]
