Mmm, Pickles!

I was inspired by The Matron of Husbandry. Picked up a handful of cukes at Tracy’s yesterday and added to them the one my dad brought over on Wednesday. After conferring with my mom and with the help of the Little Cowboy and Paddock Boy I made a very small batch of pickles tonight. No pictures as I dropped the camera one too many times and it officially quit working this week. There are only certain kinds of pictures that work well with a cell phone camera, and late night pictures aren’t one of those.

On other fronts, the family all went to the auction today. We could have brought home some goats (the reason we went in the first place). Thankfully we didn’t. Lots of goats were sold for meat. Too many went through lame. Next weekend may be another story though. Project for this week: Goat safe pen(s).

I almost wanted to bring home some calves, too. So forlorn and sold sooo cheap. The market is bad for everything right now, not just horses. Definitely have to have a strong constitution to be able to sit there and watch the proceedings. If we had the pens already set up and the milk replacer on hand...well, let’s just say that a few calves would have sold for dirt cheap and would have ended up in our trailer.

No Sugar Added!

The other day I made a batch of “no sugar added” red raspberry jelly from berries I picked at my parents’ place. Tonight I made a batch of red currant jelly, also “no sugar added” from part of the last of the currants that I finally finished picking. I have about 2 cups of juice left and it may go into a combination jelly of currant, blueberry and creeping blackberry. Or I will make red currant syrup instead. My son is asking for a batch of blueberry jelly, but the husband, aka Paddock Boy, likes his blueberries whole in pancakes all winter. I don’t know if I can sneak enough berries away from the stash he wants to put in the freezer or not. I refuse to buy blueberries at the store or Tracy’s Roadside Produce since we have access to our own bushes, but I will keep Tracy in business with other purchases. The Washington corn from Wapato has been spectacular lately!

Jelly Batch #3

A repeat of red currant. This time I only had to process it once! I didn’t strain the juice this go around, so there is the occasional seed and quite a bit of pulp. Not as clear looking, but just as tasty! Strange that the yield wasn’t the full 12 jars, but oh well!

Next up: Red raspberry. Not sure if I am going to get “creative” like I did with the golden raspberry ginger. I have ’til the evening to decide.

Oh, and there are still a few more currants to be picked.

And blueberries. Maybe I’ll try a triple berry jam! I picked up Ball Blue Book of Preserving at Tracy’s Roadside Produce today when my son helped pick out the half flat of red raspberries. Guess I have some reading to do!

Jelly Batch #2

My son and I stopped at Tracy’s Roadside Produce on Tuesday. I needed to drop off my second batch of herb bundles to sell. Yes, I am really farming! Sold 3 bundles last week. Took in 5 more on Tuesday.

Little Man said wanted some berries. We had a choice between blackberries, tayberries, and golden raspberries. He picked the golden raspberries.

In reading some blogs the other day I stumbled on the Crunchy Chicken Cooks blog where she mentions a great recipe for Triple Orgasm Strawberry Jam. I decided to play with tweaking a raspberry jam/jelly recipe this time around.

My end product...Golden Raspberry Ginger Jelly. And I must say, that I am very happy with the resulting taste. The color, however, isn’t the most appetizing. Probably comes from the fact that I didn’t cook the jelly right after squeezing the juice and refrigerated it overnight in the stainless steel pot. Or maybe the ginger juice made the raspberry juice turn brown. Oh well. Next time I will try it differently.

Oh, and this is where my rosemary and other herbs currently reside. Most are in pots in front of the barn, and most are planted in composted horse manure!