Let's get Jammin'!!!!

We are growing strawberries in our home garden, but we really wanted to make some strawberry jam. We do not have enough strawberries at one time to make a good-sized batch, so we drove up the road a bit to one of our favorite strawberry patches to go to: Porters in Fuquay. The staff there are so friendly and the strawberries are amazing! Though, I think this is the last trip for us until next year. We saw quite a bit of fuzzy strawberries since it's getting to the end of the season. 

They love to pick berries

To prep the jam, there was a lot of prep. The process itself doesn't take long, but we had a lot of waiting time. 

1.  Use your favorite Jam recipe (I use one without Pectin)
2. Hull your strawberries (this is by FAR the longest part of the process)
3. Wash strawberries
4. Start Water Bath canner to heat up. This took a while.
5. Put strawberries on the stove to boil and mash them with a potato masher.
6. Sanitize your jars and lids. Warm jars in oven at the lowest setting. This prevents jars from breaking.
7. Add sugar and lemon juice (per your recipe). 
8. Pour mashed strawberries into jars.
9. Leave appropriate headspace and remove bubbles along the sides.
10. Place seal and ring on the jars.
11. Make sure water bath canner water is boiling.
12. Place carefully in a water bath canner pot. The water level SHOULD be about 1" above the lids.
13. Bring water back to a boil and let sit for 10-15 mins. 
14. Pull the cans out carefully.
15. Allow to sit for 24 hours or at least until the lids pop.

Strawberries starting to boil

Warming up the jars after being sterilized

Water Bath Canner almost ready

Final Product! Waiting for the seals to POP and now we have jam that is good for up to a year (granted it probably won't make it past a couple of weeks). 

Newest Pest: Slugs

We went almost 2 weeks without a good rain. Praise God! It finally rained! And then it rained a LOT. We had so many blessings! The water tower was now overflowing, our garden got ALL the water it needed and is thriving, but along with these positives, a new pest has emerged....Slugs....

These little teenie guys were first found on our Squash and Zucchini, but it was only maybe one every other day or so. No big deal. However, after all the rain we had, I found about 20 in the broccoli between about 6 plants. That is CRAZY! And who knows how many more were hiding and I just didn't see them. I picked them off the plants, but I am not sure that my pesticides will handle slugs.

What is your favorite Go-To to get rid of slugs? I need some ideas before they move to more plants!

Why is the Broccoli so popular????

Gross!

 

Beauty in the Garden

Not only is our garden making food for us, but while we are trying to wait patiently for the fruits of our labor to be ready, in the meantime, enjoying the flowers and nature that is around the plants.

Who knew that potatoes produced such BEAUTIFUL flowers??? Our Yukon potatoes seem to have white flowers, and the Red potatoes seem to have a lavender color. They are so pretty! I almost wanted to pick some and bring them inside, because they are just such a neat bloom, but I decided against it since this is a good indication of the health of the potatoes. 

Yukon Potato Blossoms

Red Potato Blossoms

The strawberries have been so much fun, and my lavender has been amazing to watch grow. I have never had lavender get to the point where it blooms! We have some bees that seem to really like the lavender too. Slowly, we are trying to learn to not be afraid of the bees. I know that they are necessary. We need them to help with pollination so we are able to have fruits. But I tell you, as soon as those boogers fly in front of my face, I freak out every time. We will still keep them though.

He's a Happy Bee!

Kenz enjoying one of her fresh strawberries in front of our beautiful lavender.

Our first of many amphibious friends we have found.

Meet Mr. Tree Frog

We have found quite a few frogs around our home lately. Several tree frogs, who seem to REALLY like our broccoli, and a couple of toads here and there on the front porch. Guess they like to look at pretty plants too. 💖

We are all about catch and release (except cabbage worms and the butterflies they grow into). We catch a little critter and then take a closer look at it. We love using this as a teaching method for the kiddos. Also for us grown-ups too! Because how long has it been since you held a frog or watched how little animals interact with an active garden? It is really amazing to see how all of nature connects together. We leave the frogs in our garden so they eat the pests that eat the leaves and harm plants. We have discovered new beetles that we never knew existed. It's just a really neat thing to watch all the things we can learn about with having our little garden outside. 

~ Ginny ~