Making Progress

I can't believe how quickly everything is growing. I feel like I am literally watching them grow!

Sproutlings!

We've got tiny plants sprouting! I was getting a little worried because a big snow storm came right after we planted our seeds so our house got much colder than it had been for weeks. After a few days my mom suggested putting a heating pad under the flat and running it for an hour. So I've been doing that periodically throughout the day and it worked! These are basil sprouts. Can't wait to see what comes up next.


I also planted sweet oat grass the same day that we planted the peppers and such. Apparently cats really like this stuff, so if you're a cat Stay Away From My Oat Grass! These are supposed to be purely ornamental. I'm hoping they lovely by Easter. They have started to sprout, so we're doing well so far.

Get Ready, Here Comes Spring!

Seeds have been planted, now we watch them grow. My mom is starting tomato plants at her house, so we planted bell peppers (2 kinds), Jalapenos, Bannana Peppers, Basil (2 kinds) Rosemary, Oregano and Sage.

Jam!

My mom and I canned strawberry/raspberry jam last night. It is really yummy.



So here is the info I'll need next time. Read if you feel like it. We made 3 batches with 4 lbs of strawberries and 10 packages (6 oz each) of raspberries. This worked out to be exactly 15 cups of fruit. We ended up with 22 cups of jam. (15 various sized jars). Kroger "can-jel" calls for 5 cups of fruit and 7 cups of sugar. (yikes!) Regular sure jell calls of 6 cups of fruit and 5 cups of sugar. We did one batch with sure jell and the other 2 with can-jel (the last was 4/5ths of a batch, so we divided everything to work out). Next time get more fruit and use sure jell. The ratio of strawberries to raspberries is really good. So there you go.

Feeling A Little Amish...

Amish women keep track of all their canning from year to year. How many jars of what. So, in a more technologically advanced way, I'm feeling a little Amish tonight as I log how many jars of what I canned this year.

From left to right:

Amana Orange 4 pints
Cherokee Purple 3 pints
Oregon Spring 4 pints
Homestead 11 pints

Red Tomato Juice 4 pints
Amana Juice 1 pints

Red Salsa 5 pints
Amana Salsa 2 pints

Incidentally, Amana is an Amish colony in Iowa. I've been there, it was pretty cool. Hmmm


And I know you love my labels. Just remember: a little more technologically advanced, not necessarily a lot more.

Lots of Work for A Little

My Mother-in-law Terilynn and I slaved away in my kitchen for 3.5 hours tonight making salsa. This is what we got out of it! And yes, that is orange salsa on the right. We made two different batches (cooking simultaneously) so we could have some of the weird looking salsa for fun. Well, two jars later...

I'm Getting Tired of Canning

I'm thinking it's time to make some salsa and get it over with!