Laura, Author at | Page 26 of 100

Canning for the First Time | Homemade Strawberry Jam

July 10, 2012 By Laura 4 Comments

Just a bit ago, I had shared with you all what a great strawberry season we had this year, and all we have learned in the process of growing them. Every season from the beginning, it had been my hope and plan, to learn make our own homemade strawberry jam. The problem was, it never seemed we had quite enough berries ready, at the same time. But then between a bag we froze last year, and some more we froze this year, I was sure it was time to really try making some jam! For the first-time-ever.

Our usual household jam, has always been Polaner’s All Fruit. Just reading and comparing ingredients with the other jams and jellies on the grocery store shelves, made the choice clear to me. I mean…I wanted all fruit. So I was thinking I’d try a sugarless recipe to make out own jam.

Inside the box of Pomona’s Universal Pectin (and calcium powder, necessary ingredients for making jam, I found a paper with several recipes, that I had actually read over a few times, since I bought the pectin months ago. I kept procrastinating, because in my head, making jam,and canning it and all, seems like a huge and scary task! And I still had questions.

So I was pretty happy when I noticed a JAMLINE on the recipe/directions paper!

I was like….”Really? There is a number I can call, with any questions I have about making this jam today?” It was a weekend, so I didn’t think anyone would really answer. I was imagining some company and all. But to my surprise, a woman and answered. And I could tell right away, she was not an employee in some company, but just a woman in her kitchen, who knows all there was to know, about making jam. It was the most relaxed and friendliest conversation. Like calling your Great-Aunt-Someone-Or-Other. We talked for awhile! I wish I actually got her real name. Maybe it was really the Pomona Family! Turns out she was located very near where I grew up in western MA. Anyway, she answered all of my questions, and I really enjoyed talking to her, as much as I did making the jam! I learned a lot in our chat, and was so glad I called!

I thought I’d highlight some the most interesting things (to me) that I learned:

When I told the woman I was planning to make the “All Fruit” (no sugar) recipe, because we normally eat Polaner’s All Fruit, she let me know right off the bat, that if that was our usual brand, we were probably going to be UNpleasantly surprised with our own jam. Why? Because as it turns out that the reason Polaner’s is so sweet, is because they use a lot of fruit juice concentrate in it. So there actually IS a lot sugar in it, in the end.
To give us as something as close to Polaner’s in taste, but still keep the sugar content acceptably low, she suggested I use the Low Sugar recipe. So that’s what I did. Well….we did. Michael was in the kitchen with me.
Just to compare the sugar content of the recipe I was going to follow, to the typical jams in the store, my recipe called for 2 Cups of sugar, while the store bought has 6+ Cups in a jar! We were going to use all of the strawberries we had, and make as much as we could. So we ended up double-1/2’ing the recipe….which added up to 5 Cups of sugar. Still….5 Cups for 12+ jars of jam was pretty good. I guess.

I used the 2 big ‘picks’ of berries that I had put in the freezer, after washing and hulling.

We mashed, stirred, cooked, stirred some more, filled (the jars) and then boiled them, and then let sit to cool. After some time we started hearing Pop! Pop! I was counting the pops, hoping they would all seal properly, so they didn’t spoil during storage.

You can get Pomona’s Recipes Low Sugar Recipe, and all of their jam and jelly recipes, HERE.

In the end we had about 16 jars of our very own Strawberry Jam! Made in the Richard Kitchen!
I was so ready to design some of my own canning labels.

Naturally, we had to try some as soon as we could. So the next morning we opened a jar. Very good! Definitely a bit different taste than the Polaner’s we were used to, but we all loved it! The consistency was not as gelled as we had hoped. Just a little runny—so I’m not sure about giving any of these jars for Christmas Gifts just yet. I actually may call that Jamline again, and ask they nice woman what we might do better next time. But we’ll have no problems eating up these jars, and maybe giving some away, anyway. I already gave my brother one yesterday, and he was so excited to get it.

So I’d done it. That little dream of making my own jam someday, with the strawberries I grew myself, had happened. And in retrospect, it was not nearly the big task I thought it would be. So I am quite sure that I’ll just make our own from now on. Providing of course, that we always grow enough berries. Although I’d never have a problem just getting them at one of our Farmer’s Markets if need be, either. I’m really so thrilled about this little accomplishment, and the idea that it’s one more homemade good, grown and made right here on our own little homestead. It’s not even jam that I love so much! It’s the idea, of it all…..just gardening and growing, cooking and canning…wearing an apron, even. You know…I like to be a little ‘Olivia Walton-ish’ when I can. Taking care of and feeding my family, with all of the home grown love I can put in it.
That’s always the sweetest and best ingredient of all. And it’s something you just can’t get in a jar bought at the store.

No matter how much sugar they put in it.

4th of July

July 4, 2012 By Laura Leave a Comment

HaPpY 4th of JULY, Everyone!

Since I wanted some photos, to go along with our wishes for you, I thought today would be a good day to show you where I put my painted American Birdhouse. It’s out on the potting bench near the gardens! So now you know! I’ve got a whole red-white and blue theme going on out there, and it’ll be there throughout the month of July. Then I’ll likely change it up, to some other summer theme.

The birdhouse has held up very well in weather, despite the sun and rain beating on it. Again, I credit that to the wax finish. It seems to be a great protector for outdoor wood, in my experience.

Have a safe and memorable celebration of our country, with your families and friends!

We’ll see you again soon.

3 Little Garden Chairs | Refinishing

July 2, 2012 By Laura 9 Comments

There’s been these 3 little chairs, sitting in our basement for years now. One of my husband Michael’s clients offered them to him, knowing we had triplets, and thinking maybe we could use them. They are about toddler size. So he brought them home, and they’ve been in the basement ever since. I’ve never been a primary-colors kind of girl. I thought maybe I would repaint them or do something with them at some point, for the kids, or maybe as available props for my photography studio. But, I was just never inspired to ‘have-at’ them.

Until of course, I was.

001 I know these are ugly. Please don’t leave! I promise you, it gets much better! We were hauling out all kinds of things out of our basement that needed to GO, for our yard sale. Michael put these chairs out there, and when I saw them I said, “Hey! We’re not selling these! I could make them into cute little garden chairs!” Well then….there was my inspiration. The idea hit me for the first time, and flew out of my mouth. (As most thoughts do, if you must know. But I’m getting better.) As so as it was, I was finally inspired to do something with these 3 little chairs.

The challenge was the primary colors of paint that was already on them. Yes, I was going to paint them anyway, but I was NOT going to NOT distress them. And I sure as heck was NOT going to strip them. They didn’t mean enough to me, to work that hard. I mean, I love to paint, and to sand, and even to wax. But stripping off paint? Not so much. So the primary colors underneath were staying, and I was starting to imagine, they were going to look pretty cool when I was done!

I’ll say right here, that I didn’t take photos of every step of the process. But I think you all know what painting and sanding looks like. I DID take a whole bunch of photos of the chairs all done though! Lots. Those are the more fun photos you all like to see most, right. Because there was no special complicated process. I will tell you just how I did it right now, which was easy as 1-2-3, and then you can see so many photos I had so much fun taking as well, simply to show you.

Since I had 3 chairs, I thought it would be perfect to use the cans of the 3 colors of Annie Sloan chalk paints that I still had: Provence, Versailles, and Paris Grey. So, 1) I painted each one those colors. It was actually very scattered painting sessions over a period of a few weeks, and my girls helped some too when they wanted to. 2) Then I distressed them to my liking. (That means, a lot of sanding. ; )

3) Lastly, I waxed them with my Annie Sloan waxes. It was especially important for them to be waxed, because I knew they were going to be left outside in all kinds of weather. So they needed some kind of protection, to preserve all of my efforts, of making them into cute little garden chairs around our homestead. I did wax each chair one at a time, from start to finish. First I did the clear wax all over a chair, let it set up a bit, but before it was completely dry, I worked in some dark wax where I wanted it, to give them a more antiqued, aged look. It kind of has to be done that way, because the dark wax is potent stuff. It only takes a little bit, and if the clear wax is too dried, it is hard to rub off – or even rub around, the dark wax. So that is always the little bit tricky part, as well as wicked messy and sticky and stinky. But I’ll tell you what, this point in my project process really proved even to me, how much I love furniture refinishing! Because it was also sunny and hot this day. But I was out on our deck working away in the sun, sweating my a*# off (but wouldn’t you know it, it’s still all there!), but singing and rocking out to the music, with that nasty sock on my busy hands, and having a ball!

Or I might of been high on wax fumes. Hard to say. But it was fun! That much I’m sure of.

Not much chatting left. Just a ton of photos, and some tidbits I think you might like to know.

Here you can see a couple of things, that really make these chairs beautiful to me. Knowing the primary colors underneath were going to show, I was careful in deciding which paint color was going on which chair. So here is the (Annie Sloan) Provence, on the dark blue. You can also best see in this photo, the dark wax work, that helps make the chair look more aged.

And a bunch of photos, where I have this one right now . . . . . .

Do you love it? I do!! I love the color, and I love where it is, with the daisies and the white picket fence there. What I don’t love, is our yard. You may have noticed the lack of real grass. We pretty much just have crabgrass, and fine sand. I don’t much like the cement steps either. But, we have decided to hold off a bit and not invest in our grounds anymore, until we make some other pretty big decisions. So, we make due, with making ugly . . . pretty, best we can for now.

Next up, is the one that was yellow chair, which I painted Versailles. It’s out front with the garden beds, next to the covered bench and potting bench . . . . . .

Again, you can really see the paint underneath, where I excessively sanded, just the right amount. : ) You can also see the dark wax work, which only adds some character to it, to me. And do you see where the paint dripped? Some may think that is some imperfection. But I see it, and it makes me smile and feel happy. Because it reminds me of the memory, that my little girl was helping me paint this chair.

And lastly, is the red chair, that I painted Paris Grey! I really wasn’t sure where I was going to put this one. So I just stuck it under the apple tree, and it seemed to look like it was at home there. Funny thing is . . . . . . it’s not at our home. (Yikes!)

The apple tree is not actually ours, nor on our property of course. Just over the line, but we pretend it’s ours. The owner is not usually around at all, and Michael does manage the property. (My excuse to take such liberties.) But she’s coming tomorrow for a week, so we’ll see if I get my hand slapped, or she kicks it back to our side, along with the birdhouse. And if I get arrested or anything, I’ll surely let you know. Because we’ll need to collect some bail! (You all would help me get out. Right?! Say yes.)

Care to sit for a spell, in the cool shade of the apple tree?

See? I really go to town, with my sand paper! This one even has a little broken piece. Again = love.

I always say . . . . . . it’s the little things, that make me so happy.

Thanks for taking a stroll around my gardens with me. (We literally, walked around the garden beds.) I always love when you visit us here, so please come again. We invite you to join us on Facebook too.

Save

Lessons Learned with Growing Strawberries

June 27, 2012 By Laura 23 Comments

Here at our bitty homestead, we’re in our fourth year of gardening in the raised beds that Michael built. This includes growing strawberries, which has come with a few surprises and lessons learned, some quite by accident! I thought I would tell you a little bit about that today. Especially because lately, we’ve had more strawberries than we’ve known what to do with, and it was the last thing we expected.

The first thing we learned, the very next morning after planting our very first strawberry starter plants 4 years ago, was that we needed to find a way to protect them from the birds and small animals, if we ever wanted to have any berries to pick. There were squirrels feasting on our new plantings in our bed, and that put Michael in high gear. By the end of the day, he had built this ‘cover’ for the strawberry bed, that has protected it 100% ever since. It is just made of chicken wire and strapping, but it has been the perfect solution. It lets all of the light and rain/water in, the hungry critters out, and lifts right off for picking time.

Initially, we had planted both Ever Bearing, as well as June Bearing plants. But after 2 years and not being so happy with the June Bearing plants, we ripped them out at the beginning of last season, and let the Ever Bearing take over. They were just too small, and not as good as the Ever Bearing. We weren’t sure we’d get any more Ever Bearing berries out of it that late in the game, but at least the June Bearing were out of the way.

In the first couple seasons of production, we got some consistent berries to pick. There were some every day. But rarely enough all at once, to really do anything with. So we just ate them snack-style all within the day we picked them. Year/Season 3 (last year) was better in the overall crop, with the Ever bearing having taken over the bed, and producing after all. We actually had enough at once to have dessert a few times. I also saved the berries picked a few(0ther) days in a row, vacuum sealed them in a freezer bad, labeled and dated the bag, and put them in the freezer.

BTW, the vacuum sealer machine was a brand called ME. ; ) I sealed the bag tightly with a drinking straw stuck in the bag, put my hot lips up to it, and sucked all of the air out myself! Until it was pretty shrunk-wrapped looking, and I was blue.

Now here are two things to take note of, in our new strawberry growing experience:

1) In the beginning, we had researched a lot on strawberries, and read that strawberry plants tend to only produce for about 3 years, before you really need to start again, because they won’t produce much anymore. The first season is also expected to be somewhat of a slimmer crop, because the roots are really just trying to get established in the soil. In fact, it’s recommended that you pluck off the first flowers that produce (indications that a strawberry is about to form there), to give those roots more time to establish well.

2) Another thing we had read to do, was to cut or mow the plants down to an inch or 2 at the end of the season, and cover the whole bed with hay, or some other non-seed producing mulch, for the frost season. Then in the spring after any risk of frost had passed, you could remove the top layer or so if there was a lot of it, but that generally the plants would grow right up through it – and then prior to breaking ground, the plants down in the soil would be protected from cold temperatures. So that’s what we did, and we found all of that to be true.In the meantime, my friend Paula told me that some woman Ann…or Annie Something….(I gathered from the way I was told, that I should know who this woman was…), highly recommends not covering your beds with any extra mulch of any kind.

However, come the end of Season/Year 3, we figured those plants were DONE anyway. We had gotten 3 years out of them, and planned on plating new starters the following spring. So did not bother covering the bed with hay. We just let all of the abundance of plants, with stems, runner, leaves and all, just die there in the bed. By autumn, it was looking as neglected and ugly as could be, in that cage. And early spring was not looking much better.

Until, new green plants broke through the broken down decay all around it. We still figured they would develop much, and that we’d need to plant new at the end of May or so. But they just kept growing, and then they were flowering and producing like (not yet mature) berries, all through May. By June, we were picking!

Our very first picking, was a pretty healthy bunch! But there were SO many more than these, that we would have picked as well. We just wanted to give them one more day. From then on, there were many strawberries that needed to be picked, every day or 2! So we had to gather, that Ann(ie) Something was right. There is no need to go through the extra efforts, or expense, of covering the beds with any other form of mulch, to protect them plants from the cold. The plants all dying down at the end of their season, establish themselves as their own bedding cover. In fact, it seems allowing that, by intended means of giving up these old plants, somehow reaped a supposed extra year of production, and our overall best and largest season of strawberries ever!

So as you have probably gathered by now, we’ve been learning along the way here, and it’s been delicious and rewarding! Who knows. Maybe we’ll get a 5th year out of these plants, next year? Yeah…..likely not. But we all feel like we know more now, to be more successful in growing strawberries, than ever. That’s really part of the fun of gardening: learning! The kids have labored and learned right along with us, and it’s been so wonderful.

You might be wondering, what we did with having such a constant flow of incoming fresh strawberries on our hands. Well……we ate some as we washed them. Some were fresh berries on top of our cereal in the morning. There was Strawberry Shortcake to be had, a few times. And lastly, some more went into the freezer for the plan of making jam, and others were made into a new and creative snack dessert. The last two mentioned, are new strawberry-themed posts, coming up soon. So stay with us!

Do you grow strawberries? In beds or out of the ground? How do you keep the birds and critters from eating them?
Tell us about your strawberry-growing experiences, or hopes.

. . . . . .

Come join us on FACEBOOK, or TWITTER!

Polka Dot and Plaid 4th of July Printables, for Celebrations/Cookouts

June 18, 2012 By Laura 6 Comments

Free printables for you!

2021 NOTE – WE’RE SORRY, BUT THE FILES TO THESE PRINTABLES ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE. 🙁

I have been having fun designing some 4th of July printables to share with you, to add a fun red, white and blue themed touch to any cookout or celebration you may have planned, with family and/or friends. (Or, you can even print the cute Bitty Pennants out and string up in your home!) These are the little details that make hosting a gathering so fun to plan, and also the details that impress your guests, and make them smile. So I hope you like them! I tried to design them with simple direction right on them, to show you how easy they can be to prepare. But I will give you some printing tips, at the end here as well, after you look at the previews of the printables in this post. But first . . . . . .

*IMPORTANT NOTE: *Do NOT save the images of the printables you see below,but rather use the download links after the images at the end, for the full size printables. What you see here are just low resolution previews, and not suitable for printing.

I must say, I think these Bitty Pennants are adorable! I gave them some tabs, so they can be folded right over some thin ribbon or string, and then just secured with a little piece of tape. If you choose to download the pennants, please note that you will need both Part 1 and 2.

These wrappers, designed for cupcakes, could possibly also be used around the bottom of those short clear acrylic cups, filled with fruit treat ideas like these.

How cute would these little cards be, sitting tent-like on your food table in front of each dish, letting guests know what’s on the menu?

Lastly, these cards I actually designed last year, but decided to offer them all to you again. They are a bit bigger cards, and print as a full 8.5 x 11 sheet. All you need to do is cut on the solid line, and fold on the dotted. You can hang them to spin on strings, put them tent like on the tables, or slide them under a glass table top. They are like birthday cards for America, and really remind everyone the reason for celebrating, and the gift that our freedom is.

Printing suggestions: I recommend printing any or all printables at least on some good cardstock, as opposed to regular printer paper. Be sure for each download you choose of the links below, that you choose the correct orientation for printing, as well as your highest quality printing setting! Also, if you’d really like to get vibrant colors closer to what you see on your computers, try printing on matte photo paper.

With that, here are the download links, for the actual full-size printables. Just click on the link, and when the image comes up, right click, and ‘Save Image As’, to where you will be able to a location where you will find them on your computer. (Again, do not save and print the images above, or they will look terrible, and waste your ink and paper.)

Bitty Pennants-Part 1

Bitty Pennants-Part 2

Cupcake Wrappers

Dish-Name Table Card Tents

America’s Birthday Cards

I hope you enjoy these, as well as your celebrations of fun, food, family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

*******End of Post*****
This long single image below for Pinterest pinning! : )

Save

So I was pretty happy when I noticed a JAMLINE on the recipe/directions paper!

I thought I’d highlight some the most interesting things (to me) that I learned:

Amazon Affiliates