Garden Gathering Steam

As the temperatures are heating up, my garden is taking off - and everything in it.  The garden has taken a turn for the lush side, shall we say. (Read: full of weeds that I can't keep up with!)

All of my heat loving crops - tomatoes, green beans and squashes - are flourishing.  My strawberries are still producing and The Beast is leaving them alone for the most part.  My green beans and cucumbers are getting ready to make their trek up the trellises and my broccoli is still shooting off small florets.  If my basil grew as fast as the grass around it, it would rival Jack's beanstalk by now, but alas - it seems to be a slow grower this year! In the front yard (not pictured) my blueberries are starting to blush!

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Reduced Sugar Strawberry Jam

I am a newbie to jams, jellies and preserves.  I know there are technical differences between the three.  I've shied away from making full blown jellies and jams because of all of the sugar involved.  I try to keep the sugar down in my recipes and combining equal parts of fruit and sugar just seemed, well, excessive. I had two bags of strawberries in the freezer that had been in the freezer for 2 years  way too long.   So I went searching through recipes for reduced sugar jams and preserves.  I took those strawberries, thawed them and then started concocting.

I had concocted my strawberry stuff, then I had to figure out what category of preserved fruit it fell into.  According to Wikipedia's article on fruit preserves, my concotion could be considered a confit (fruit or vegetables which have been seasoned and cooked with honey or sugar until it has reached a jam-like consistency) or a jam (cooked and gelled fruit  purees).

So, here's what I did and my finished Confit-Jam was delicious on biscuits for breakfast thismorning.  The strawberry flavor comes through richly and it is sweet enough without the berry flavor being overpowered by the sugar.  It is spreadable with a knife but thin enough that I have ideas about using it for ice cream topping.  I think this versatile treat is going to have many uses in my kitchen.  I opted to freeze the excess as I didn't have the supplies on hand to can the jars - that and I wasn't sure if they were can-able since they had reduced sugar.

Reduced Sugar Strawberry Jam-Spread

6 cups frozen Strawberries (thawed with juice)
2 cups sugar
1 pkt Unflavored Gelatin

Directions

1.  Puree strawberries and juice.
2.  Place in heavy pot over medium high heat until fruit comes to a boil.
3.  remove 1 cup of boiling liquid, add gelatin and stir until gelatin powder dissolves and return it to the boiling mixture
4.  Add sugar and let mixture continue at a rolling boil about 30 minutes
5.  Allow to cool briefly and then pour into jars or other freezer safe containers.
Recipe yields about 5 cups of spread.

Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

This week we celebrated graduates, strawberries and the bit of family time we were able to sneak in.  We marvel at GBaby's growing vocabulary and her interest in everything we're doing.  I'm thankful for kiddie pool deliveries, for helpers, for cookies and milk, for full nights of sleep.

I'm thankful for my thriving garden, my healthy family, and that my bills are paid.  I'm thankful for stolen moments of quiet time in the midst of a hectic week, and naps.

I hope you can look back, and forward, to find the joy dotting your story! Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!

The Other Kind of Garden Critter

Stories are told of a 1-year-old me cleaning out the strawberry bed.  Like mother like daughter.  She reached in the bucket of picked berries, pulled out the biggest one in the bucket and chomped in.  I'm glad we're finally getting some berries.   I think the Beast has finally had it's fill.  :-)

(And like father like daughter-celebrating World Cup by not going anywhere without the soccer ball)

Hanging Tomatoes

There are many items out on the market now that aid in the growing of tomatoes upside down.   Three years ago when we set up our garden, they were few and far between and expensive!  So we did what we are good at: we improvised.  We were among the first in our area to experiment with this new technique in gardening.  As I've mentioned before, we live in a rural, agricultural area of the country.  I was amused the first couple of years that we grew tomatoes upside down as we had folks that had been gardening for more years than we've been alive, that would drive by our garden just to see how our tomatoes were doing.  They were keeping tabs to see if this "grow tomatoes upside down" project was going to work for those crazy kids.  Well it did work for us and we've stuck to it.  (Minus horrible blight that hit our whole area last year).  We even had someone stop when we were out in the garden this spring and asked if we were going to do it again this year.  Ah, small town community - makes me chuckle!

For our tomatoes, we started with four "tomato trees".  Large poles with a 2"x4" perpendicular structure on the top.  We hang a bucket off of each arm and the plants will skirt along the bottom of the bucket and then begin to grow downwards once they reach the edge.

After a minor setback the first year when one of the "trees" collapsed we modified two of the trees into a trough.  There are holes drilled in the board that that is the bottom and the plants grow out of there.



From our experience we found that cleaning out and reusing large buckets from laundry detergent  is better than the buckets sold at big-box home improvement stores as the reused buckets are intended to carry the necessary weight.  We had handles fail on the others which lead to the collapse of one of the "trees".

I love that there is no weeding, no staking of plants, tying up vines or trying to keep fruit off the ground. On the rare occasion that a tomato  is ripe enough to drop, it usually lands safely in unmowed grass as we will stop mowing under the plants once they get closer to the ground.

I've written more about growing upside down tomatoes here.  Check it out!  If you're new to ThrivingMama, you can click the 2010 Garden category below to see what else has been going on in my veggie garden this year.

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Father's Day Monday: Strawberry Crepes

Yesterday most of the country celebrated Father's Day.  Since HandyMan works on Sundays and has Monday's off , we celebrated Father's Day Monday this morning.  We went strawberry picking yesterday and today we had Strawberry & Cream Cheese Crepes.  I used this recipe for the crepes.

As the second side of the crepe was cooking, I added a slice of cream cheese to soften, added sliced strawberries out of the pan and it was pure perfection.





Often flipping the crepes can be a problem.  Only after breakfast did I find this page which has a method for making crepes with two pans that is genius!  I'm already planning my next crepe adventure for 4th of July Weekend (yup Mom, that's while you're here!)

Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

This week has been made possible by support from my husband and help from friends. As a bonus to the necessities of the week, it was great to have made a huge sale of candles, to be able to get fresh, inexpensive produce from the farm stand, to have gathered a quart of strawberries from our garden yesterday and have nice, sunny weather this weekend.

I'm thankful for my gift for organization, which was maxed out this week. I'm so glad our house stays cool downstairs when its so warm outside.  I'm thankful for warm breezes to dry my clothes on the line and babbling creek next to the screened in porch and lightning bugs playing in the yard in the evening.  All wonderful summer treats!

I hope you can look back, and forward, to find the joy dotting your story! Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!

Insert Busy Week Here!

This has been a crazy full week and my absence of posts is more proof of that!  I use this space to process a lot of my activities around the house, kitchen and yard.  Not much time to process this week.  I've been on autopilot making candles to replenish inventory after some great sales at my consignment locations.  I've been prep-cooking getting ready for a lunch meeting that Handy-Man and I are hosting this afternoon around days out of the house working at Made In Chenango - a co-op of crafters where I display my candles.  Yard work, laundry, mowing, meals and chasing around an active GBaby have filled every remaining minute.  By the end of the day when I would usually click on the computer and blog - I've just crashed!

How was your week?

Friendship Craft Fair – Richfield Springs, NY

On Saturday, I took my candle show on the road for my first large show of the summer.  I left my house at the crack of dawn and drove into the clouds.  I arrived, found my space, set up my tent and the rain started falling.  Ugh!  I covered my tables and waited.  It continued to rain off and on all morning including thunder, lightening and downpours.  The trusty Weather Channel ap on my phone showed that the rain should be moving past.  Finally around 11am the rain faded to a drizzle and stopped.

The afternoon fared well and folks braved the mud and puddles to come check out this 31^st annual event.  Sales were moderate and reports from veterans of this show were that on a sunny day, the park is packed.

Given the rain and chilly weather, this outdoor event did fine by my standards and I’m looking forward to giving it another try next year!

Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

• Once again, my husband and daughter continue to be huge blessings in my life.  GBaby's smiles and HandyMan's willingness to help out with whatever needs to be done brighten my weeks.


• "Hi" and "bubbas" (bubbles) have been added to GBaby's growing vocabulary.  Speaking of growing, she measured in at 34.75 inches tall and 24.7 lbs at her check up.


• I had a great craft fair on Saturday in Richfield Springs, NY.  In spite of the rain and cruddy weather, folks came out and this show is staying on the list for next year.  It promises to be an amazing show in good weather.


• Freshness from the garden: we're still nibbling on asparagus, broccoli and peas.


• Rain has saved us from having to water much this week.


• Creating in the kitchen.  Concocting new and yummy things to use up food in the fridge.


• Cool days for baking.


• Rainy days for needed rest.

I hope you can look back, and forward, to find the joy dotting your story! Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!

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Farewell Corn.

I went out to water my garden today and found my corn bed has been completely chomped!  All that The Beast left behind are tiny holes and little discarded leaves.

I'm now remembering that this has happened in the past and the only way we got corn stalks last year was to start them under bird netting.  I wish I would have remembered that two weeks ago!

Anyone have a good idea for a crop that can go into a 10 x 4 bed this late in the gardening game?  Maybe we'll pile our potatoes in that bed... hmmm.  Click Here to read more of the garden stories from this week :)

Linked Up:

This post is linked to An Oregon Cottage Tuesday Garden Party

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A Sad Story of a Special Strawberry

In one corner of my strawberry bed, dangling near the chicken wire was a strawberry.  A special berry: it was the first in my garden to begin blushing red.  I’ve been watching it for about four days.  Yesterday I didn’t make it out because it was rainy and gross.  So today, I went out expectantly looking for the vibrant red fruit and my first strawberry of the season.  What did I find?  The stem.



I swear, I have some of the best fed Wildlife. Ugh!

That’s ok, I’ve got a lot more berries that will be ripe soon enough.



I also took a walk around and pushed all the berries that were dangling near the edge, tempting the Wildlife, farther into the bed so that they’ll have a chance to be picked by me!

Some Beast also had a go at our corn sprouts.  :(

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Cranberry Oat Bars

After cruising some of my favorite recipe sites yesterday looking for a good bar recipe that would use up something - anything - from the freezer, I came up with this recipe for Cranberry Bars. I didn't have all the ingredients, so I modified.   I doubled it and it worked wonderfully in a jelly-roll pan.  Here's the finished recipe - and they are very yummy!

Update 6/14/2010 - My bars did turn out rather cakey.  If you are looking for more of a cookie type bar, reduce the baking powder to 2 teaspoons.

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

1 (12 ounce) package whole cranberries

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4c. water (1/2 cup if frozen cranberries)

____

1 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour

1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour

3.5 tsp Baking Powder,

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup butter, melted

2 eggs

½ c. milk

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Directions:

1.  In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the cranberries, white sugar, and water. Cook, stirring occasionally.  Once liquids begin to boil, mash lightly with a potato masher to "pop" the cranberries.  Cook until the mixture is thick, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool completely.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3. In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, oats, brown sugar.  Add melted butter, vanilla and eggs. Set aside about 1/3 of the mixture, and spread the rest into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pack down to form a solid crust, getting it as even as possible. Spread the cooled cranberry mixture over the crust. Pinch off pieces of the remaining mixture and place evenly over the cranberry layer.

4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is lightly browned. Cool in the pan for about 40 minutes before slicing into bars.

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This Week in My Kitchen

We have a wonderfully cool week forecasted for our area so I'm going to take advantage of it and do some baking.  In keeping with my New Freezer Challenge and to prepare for some upcoming events here are my baking projects for the week.

~*Broccoli & Cheddar Bread dough (to be used for hamburger & sandwich rolls)

~*Carrot Cake

~*HV Chocolate Cake

~*Pumpkin Bread

I'm also looking for some kind of bar recipe too.  We'll see what ends up coming out of the oven!

I also need to make another batch of yogurt.

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Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

This week has been full of blessings.  Starting with a visit with friends on Monday and sealing up my freezer deal.  Followed by a day of work time and extra help on Tuesday.  Wednesday brought some extra time to work in the garden and an evening out with adult conversation.  Thursday was full and Friday brought a drive to NH.  GBaby got two gold stars for that drive - she did great!  Saturday brought reunion with old friends, girl time, and good Mexican food.  GBaby got to spend the day with her Granny & Granddad and they all had a great time.  Today we shared birthday brunch with my Mom and had some R&R time this morning before our drive home.

I hope you can look back, and forward, to find the joy dotting your story!  Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!

Garden Update: Safeguarding the Garden

Given the problems with the Garden Beast, we are taking extra measures this year to protect our plants and crops-in-formation.  We’re on a budget so we got as creative as we could with the bits of knowledge and materials what we had.

Last year the green beans were annihilated.  This year we’d like to get some green beans in the freezer.  The only thing that seemed to deter the vine munching Beast last year was a lone citronella candle at one end of the bed.  It seemed to throw enough of a force field to protect four or five vines.  This year, I added some more.



Each stocking holds a citronella puck like the ones I distributed around the broccoli earlier this year.  I have them spaced out about every 18 inches.  So far, so good.

My strawberries are worth their weight in rubies as far as I’m concerned.  In order to protect these little gems, we’ve put up chicken wire to hopefully keep any fruit lovin’, berry munchin’ beasts out of my strawberries! I think it will be well worth the $12 in chicken wire as I have tons of berries forming this year and the barrier will be good for years to come.



The rest of the garden is doing well.  Here are a few pictures of the rest of the garden and the fruits and veggies that are forming so nicely.  I'll share more about the hanging tomatoes next week!

This post is linked to An Oregon Cottage Tuesday Garden Party.

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Freezer Friday: New Freezer Challenge

This week I got a new freezer.  I was so excited to stack a sale, a coupon, and a rewards gift card and a state rebate all together to get $180 off the cost of my new freezer.  The new freezer is EnergyStar rated which means is should run the electric meter a little slower than the 30 year electricity monster that was in the garage before.  And the icing on the cake, the new freezer will fit inside the house, not in the detached garage.  The challenge is that it is a 15 cubic foot freezer replacing a 20 cubic foot freezer.

So from this transition, I found all kinds of things in the freezer that need to get used.  My challenge in June is to include some of the frozen veggies in my baking this month.  Applesauce, carrots, zucchini, yellow squash, blueberries and strawberries all have destinations in baked goods this month so stay tuned for the results of my creative baking!

I did find a bit of room in the new freezer to stash this week’s freezer projects: pizza kits and Marinara.

What made it to your freezer this week?

What's On Your Produce?

Every once in a while I come across a news story that just turns my stomach.  This CNN report on pesticides in produce was one of those stories that made my stomach somersault both figuratively and literally.

I am not generally a fan of the US media/news outlets as often their information seems to be more drama and less facts.  This article, regardless of it's credibility, made me stop and think about what we eat on a regular basis.  I am very happy that so much of my produce comes from my garden!  It also makes me want to do a bit more research on this area.  Anyone have any good resources?  Feel free to put links in comments below.

What are your thoughts on pesticides in commercial produce?