Jam & Pies

This year all the berries have been ripened very early. The Strawberries were ready in the middle of May. That is almost unheard in my area of the world. I think I got a little too excited and bought a flat of Strawberries. Than I bought a flat of Blackberries (though they might have been Marionberries). I made several jars of Strawberry Jam because everyone loves Strawberry. I also made some Mango Strawberry Jam that is wonderful. The last batch of Strawberry was Strawberry Mango Mojito....very nice tasting jam if I do say so myself. I then froze about 3 pints of strawberries so I can have some later during the summer. 

Next up Blackberries....a batch of plain Blackberry, some Blackberry Lemon Jam, Blackberry Cardamon Jam, and some Blackberry hand pies. I also bought some raspberries becasue they are my favorite, froze a couple of pints and made some Raspberry Chocolate Sauce (though it looks more like jam). I used my Fresh Tech Jam machine...this machine makes jam in about 22 minutes. The nice thing is you can make small batches of jam, 2-3 cups of fruit will make 3-5 half pints of jam. I like to make small batches of interesting jams instead of large batches, it gives me room to experiment with spices and flavors.

Finally the Cherries!!! My neighbors have a Sour Cherry tree that the cherries were falling off the tree. So I got out the ladder and picked enough for a Cherry pie. I shared some of the Cherry Pie with friends because we had too much pie in the house. Everyone was happy with the results. 

I want to get some peaches or mangos this year and make some chutney. The last time I made chutney it turned out delicious and was devoured quickly. I haven't made it in a couple of years and I think it's time to make some more. 
Of course there is going to be a lot more canning this summer as I have purple beans, cucumbers and tomatoes planted in the garden. Last year we had an abundance of tomatoes and I finally figured out how to can a decent tomato sauce. So I'm looking forward to a lot more tomato sauce this year. 
Lastly...We went up and got the Trophy Wife yesterday. It's running OK, but it needs some work. I have to talk to my mechanic and see when he's available to help me get the car in tip top shape. 

Christmas Tree Burn

Last saturday I attended a Christmas Tree Burn out at Kelly Point Park. The idea is to get as many christmas trees as possible and light them on fire. This is something that happens in San Francisco every January. Several years ago we collected about 40 trees and lit them all off at once down at an abandon warehouse in North Portland. The flames got to about 100 ft, it was truly amazing. This year we had about 5 trees going down to the park and hoped that others would bring trees too. When we got to the park there was a recycling area where folks had dumped their christmas trees already...so we had another 14 trees. As we gathered several people brought trees as well as a firework Christmas tree that my friend Karl put together from fireworks left over from new years. We were waiting for a bunch of people that went to the Blazer game to protest against the Westboro Baptist Church folks who were in town to protest the Blazers for coming out in support of Gay Marriage. It was getting cold so the trees were set off before everyone arrived. It went off in a magnificent blaze as dried trees often do. As the fire started to die down more folks arrived and added more trees. It was fun to see the fire reach a hight of about 70 or more feet in the air. The area was quite wet so there was no danger of a forest fire, we were also about 15 ft from the Columbia River so there was plenty water to use if anything caught on fire. We also honored some friends that passed away back in October in a car accident on I-5. We wrote messages to our friends on pieces of paper and attached the messages to the trees, the paper burned with the trees and the good thought went out to our friends. It was a nice way to honor our friends and get some closure. 

This year was a good year for me and tomatoes. I grew a lot and was able to put up about 13 quarts and several pints of tomatoes. I also found a quick way to make tomato sauce and when I had too many tomatoes I would take the ones getting too soft and cook them up in a sauce pan with about 1/4 cup of water and some garlic. When the tomatoes were mostly liquid I would pour the sauce into a food mill removing all the seeds and getting a nice thick sauce. Last week was the last of the tomatoes and I was able to get about 4 pints of sauce. 

I drove up to Brightwood to put my car away last weekend, I kept looking for fall colors. A lot of the trees are still quite green except for this bright red tree, when I saw it, it was almost like it was on fire…the tree really stood out against all the green. 

I also made a couple more zipper bags from the free class on Craftsy with Kristin Link from SewMamaSew. It takes me about 45 minutes from start to finish. They are really handy for pens and pencils, sewing supplies or just a small zipper case for all those things that roll around in the bottom of a purse. The pattern uses a 13"x10" piece of fabric for the outside and the same for the lining. So it's very  easy to use up scrap from other projects. 

It's very windy here today….so far we have had a branch from the walnut tree drop in the back yard and our car port blow over landing on our truck in the driveway. Thank goodness there is no real damage.