Harvest

Harvested three sweet chiles yesterday and just picked six yellow summer squash today. Looks like stir fry for dinner tonight.

Reply to
George Shirley
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enjoy!

i am finishing up the last jars of freezer jam from last year and making room in the freezer for more (hope!).

songbird

Reply to
songbird

All the years I've been preserving our own food I've never made freezer jam. I guess it's just so easy for me to make canned jellies and jams and a lot at one time. In addition both freezers stay full of prepared meals, meats, and frozen veggies.

Last time I made pear jelly I ended up with twenty odd pints and another fourteen half pints in one batch. That's the norm most of the time. The exception is figs, our fig tree is not a big producer yet so fig jam comes in one or two pints at a time.

This coming Wednesday the "pick your own" fruit farm is opening. Blueberries in May and June, blackberries in June, figs in July, pears in July, citrus in October/November. Probably be picking at least once a month. Prices are cheaper than in supermarkets and we both can pick large quantities in a short time. As it is the wild blackberries are ripening right now.

Reply to
George Shirley

Freezer jam is ideal for use with sweeteners such as Splenda, which comes in handy for a diabetic. And it is great for strawberries, too. Never found another fruit that is it better for, however.

Boron

Reply to
Boron Elgar

I've been diabetic since being diagnosed in the early nineties and have made jams, jellies, and preserves with Splenda many times. Very good recipes in the U of GA book, "So Easy to Preserve." Plus more recipes at the Splenda site. None were freezer types. I would maybe some day make freezer jam but it would have to be after we have eaten everything in 25 cubic feet of freezers.

I shoot 45 units of Levemir every morning, lasts up to 24 hours with me. Started years ago with 70/30 insulin, shooting four times a day, much easier with the new long term insulins. Probably could shoot less if I can get my weight down some more. Used to weigh 272 lbs at 5'8" tall and am currently at 196 and have shrunk to 5'6" and nearing 76 years. I'm trying but it sure is hard to give up all the good stuff.

Reply to
George Shirley

the taste is different enough that as long as i have freezer or fridge space i'll keep making it. it doesn't have to be frozen if you eat it within a few months. i also like that it uses less sugar and doesn't need the oven or stove on in the middle of the summer.

i've only done this with strawberries, i'm not sure i'd like it with any other fruit but some day if i get a bunch of something else i may give it a try. blueberries we usually eat fresh.

in a few more years you'll be making large batches of fig jam.

i hope you make a haul!

looks like we might get some rain tonight.

songbird

Reply to
songbird

I have an upright, a chest and two fridges' worth of freezer. How they are all at capacity all the time is beyond me.

I will check out the cooked jam recipes for Splenda. Thanks for the info on that. I will try using it again, but my success with it in other than freezer jam has been zip.

I was on diet and exercise for a long time, but am on metformin now. I am glad I can keep it at that for now. My dad, several of his siblings, 2 of my 3 siblings....genetic predisposition curse, I tell ya.

Reply to
Boron Elgar

Same here, Dad was diabetic the last ten years of his life, only family member other than me that had it. Must have come from the white side of the family, his Dad was full blood Choctaw and died of a heart attack at

  1. His mother was full blood, blue eyed blonde white woman, died at 89 of old age. My mothers family was half blood Cherokee on both parents side, Mom passed at 89 too. Both my great grandmother's died at 89, makes me wonder. I will be 76 in September, so far outlived my Dad, Grandad, Great granddad's on both sides. Thank you modern medicine. Now if they could only find a way to reverse the problems I've got from multiple strokes, 42 micro strokes, four major. The major strokes came in twos, have a stroke, thirty minutes later another one strikes. I believe they were caused by a medicine I was taking at the time but the doc who prescribed it croaked and his wife destroyed his records. Can't sue the pharmaceutical company without proof. Dang! I could have been a wealthy old guy with a little brain that still worked. Would have made my wife happy anyway.

What the heck! I've still got most of my brain, a lovely wife, two kids, five grands, six great grands, and lots of "married into family" young people who are wonderful too.

And I can still garden, need to get another garden seat with wheels though, the old plastic one is wearing out. We're harvesting yellow summer squash almost daily now. Still have a bunch shredded for bread in freezer along with several bags of potential squash casserole's in there. Sweet chile's are coming along nicely, the corn is finally up as are the crowder peas. Lima and green beans are climbing above the netting and blooming like crazy and we will be picking cucumbers by the end of the week. Can't get much better than that.

I wonder if state law allows for bodies being composted rather than buried. Hmmm, could always be cremated and add the nice body minerals to the fruit trees. That would be nice.

Reply to
George Shirley

The question is, does anyone track what you do with the ashes after you get them? My husband and his sister dumped both of this parents' ashes down the well. It is not a well that is in use nor has been for over 50 years.

Reply to
The Cook

I've always planned to be cremated and have said I would prefer they scatter my ashes on salt water. The Gulf of Mexico is about fifty miles from where we live now so it would be easy. My best friend said he would do it for me and I was suspicious. Asked how he would do it, said he would flush me down the toilet and, eventually, my ashes would get to the Gulf. Said it would save on gas and there would be no problems with the law. I decided to have the US Navy do it as they will and do it right, ie. scatter the ashes from a warship instead of off the trash barge. Reckon they could just add me to the garden too. I don't think anyone follows where the ashes go.

Friend of mine died young many years ago. Was cremated and his wife keeps the urn beside her bed and says good night to him every night according to their son. I just wonder if her new husband minds. Particularly since she didn't wait very long before remarrying.

Just got in from the garden, need to harvest sweet chiles and squash again. The figs are getting bigger all the time and I do believe I am seeing baby beans. Turned the soaker hoses on for awhile although it is supposed to rain tomorrow. Raised beds with Mel's Mix get dry quickly.

Reply to
George Shirley

Jam season is coming gardenettes!!!!!!!!!!! wooohoooo

Reply to
Chewbacka

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