Can Not wait the berries are coming

 It is almost berry picking season while looking at our flowers to pick and make our jelly with I always check our berries and they are almost ready to start picking I can not wait for our summer picking to start this year. We have worked hard for our food forest and looking into what to help make it thrive.

Mulberry trees, we have 12 or so mature trees we pick from to make our jam with I also freeze these and put them in bread and muffins because they are tart .

These guys are gooseberry they turn a dark purple and almost taste like grapes, We love them in Jam and mixed in with apples. We have cultivated 3 big groves of these and are working on higher yields of these by giving them more sun and area to grow. This bush is in the chicken yard cause the ladies love them too.

More and more mulberry this one is in the creek and better for short pickers

These are the patches we are really working on this year we have 4 big groves of raspberries we are working on this year so we get more then we did last year and watching close so we pick for a longer season.

Spring Garden Update

 We Have Sprouts

It finally got to spring in Zone 5 ... and we have started to sprout some of our very large gardens and are so excited. Weeding and planting have taken up a lot of our May.

This patch is our bush-type plants, peppers/eggplant, sprouts, and bush beans the one above it is bushy things like cauliflower and broccoli  In front of it you can see a bit of our multi tomatoes 

Soon we will add the climbing stuff to this bed it's our climbers , beans, and cucumbers 

Tea Garden, strawberry bed, and tomatoes 

Close up of the tea garden it is going so well.

Trashcan potatoes are filling to the top in no time .....

Honeysuckle Syrup

 Yes, we really use all this syrup

Today we noticed the honey suckle bushes in full bloom so it is time to store a bit more of spring .. yes we use all this stuff we have already gone through 3 of my jelly and 1 of my syrups in the weeks since making it.

Collected and cleaned 

Smell so amazing 

Boil 1 cup of flowers to 1 cup water ... when the water changes color strain our the flowers 

 add one cup of sugar and simmer on low till the spoon comes out and the drips are slow 

I always can small when doing spring jelly 1 to store, 1 to use and 1 to share.

I can in a water bath for my syrups and it works well to water bath just put in boiling water for 15 mins and then let cool on the counter when you hear the pop you are sealed up and can store for up to 6 months in the fridge and a year in the root cellar.

 We have been watching closely all of the wonderful landscape edibles we have. The girls say this one tastes like the bees honey combs.

Poor Mans Honey and Violet simple syrup

 This week has been a fast week of getting things harvested and canned with the spring flowers. A big part of this is setting the flowers in hot water for 24 hours ... I have to put them on the windows because the tiny hands can not keep from touching them 

We made Poor mans honey which is 
2 cups dandelion tops ( the sunbursts ) with no greens we clip them off 
1 cup water   let steep for 24 hours in the end remove the flours and move to a saucepan then add 2 tablespoons lemon juice 4 cups sugar

if you want at this point add 2 tables spoons of pectin to make jelly boil it for 15 mins and then into jars it goes,

       

The violet syrup is similar it is 
1 cup violets no green 
1 cup water 
2 cups sugar

add 2 tables spoons of lemon juice to give it a light purple color or caster sugar to turn it blue. Boil for 15 mins then jar.

Trick to keeping food budget down

 Homesteading comes with extra cost but big rewards for us. The biggest was the cost of the land for the homestead .Keeping our food budget low we plant and eat a lot of food from the land.  But as we save to fill our freezers I pick up some pretty good deals. This St. Pat's day not many people got together for a big meal so corn beef prices were low like silly extremely low. I picked up as many as would equal the lowest price one 3 total and am making jerky with them.

The same with Easter hams, they were deep discounted so I brought to the lowest one and got 5 all summer. We will eat on these for ham sandwiches , salads , and I might even try drying it too.

All larger cuts of meat are really discounted. I cut up a loin into 6 meals of chops , stir fry strips , roasts , and stew chunks  for the price of one pack of chops last week.

So if you are looking to save and have been lucky to have a freezer ( we have 2 ) . This is the way to go to stock up for the summer hunger as I call it.

Wild Violet Jelly

                     Eating our weeds making wonderful things

Today I am going to share a wonderful sweet treat from our backyard.

Wild violet jelly is wonderful on biscuits or even a good pb and j sandwich .

Spring in our house means a small batch canning every chance I get.

We have a lot of fruit to harvest in late summer off our bushes and vines so our weed jelly

keeps us going till then.

3 cups water 

1 cup violets 

2 tsp lemon juice 

½ cup sugar 

1 and ½  tablespoon pectin 

In a small saucepan boil water and violets for 15 mins  until the water is colored Discard boiled violets then add lemon juice and sugar simmer for 10 mins on low  then add pectin and follow the directions on the package to set it ( depending on the kind you use it could be bringing it back to a boil).  While things are boiling and simmering I prepare my jars for canning in boiling water .  Fill the jars leave a bit of head space add back to water bath for 10 to 15 mins when done turn them upside down and let cool for 12 hrs … if the lids pop eat right away if they do not and have a tight seal then they can stay in our root cellar for up to 6 months.  I do have to note violets are a bit of a laxative so do not eat the whole jar in one sitting and it is also why I make small jars of it .

Historically, violet has been used as a respiratory herb and to treat hacking cough ,It’s also used as a lymphatic tonic, to help with lymph edema and breast issues something around here we like and need so we take the laxative with the lymph node help.

                                    this is an amazing tool Daddy O found me