Tomatoes &c.

I will be needing some mason jars before long! Take a look at these July bearing tomatoes. There's DOZENS of them! There are several long bunches just like this one hanging out from all over the plant.

And not to be outdone, there are several tomatoes on both of my heirloom plants. Green Zebra on the left, Purple Cherokee on the right.

Mm. Tomatoes.

Cherry variety will be ready to eat before long. And the beefsteaks are starting too, but they've got a ways before catching up to the July plant.

Also, I have a pepper coming along already---can you spot it in the picture? Haha. It's much bigger now, these shots were all taken a couple days ago.


My garden is officially a jungle, by the way. The tomatoes have reached the top of their cages. They've begun to grow outwards and into my paths and onto the fencing in some places. I have to finagle my way in to check on the center of the garden; they've climbed into the beans; the pea vines have latched onto them for support. Wildly warm weather is to blame, I tell you!

I have a feeling I will have plenty of cucumbers too... as soon as they start blossoming. 

Pickles anyone? Haha, we will have to see how adventuresome I get.

I sure am looking forward to trying those lemon cucumbers; they're all mixed together with the normal cucumbers, so it'll be a surprise to see what comes on.

Fingers crossed for lots of lemons!

What a dainty little pea pod!

I've been snacking on them when I go out to the garden so much, I may not get to harvest any. :d I'm trying to be patient though, I want to stir fry them up.

Mm, peas.

On a final note, may it be noted that today, June 26th, I went RASPBERRY picking. I picked not a quart, but an entire FLAT.

I let that comment stand on its own! Bluberries are also ripe, but I will leave those for another day. (Assuming they're still in season!)

Mm, berries.

How to Make Strawberry Jam

This weekend, I learned how to make jam from my grandma for my birthday! For future reference, and to share what I learned, I thought I'd make a post about it.

First step! Pick one or two quarts of berries. Two to three quarts will yield 10 mashed cups, which will give you over 70 ounces of finished jam. You'll want to pick more than two quarts though, berries are really yummy. C:

Then you'll have to wash them and hull them. That's rather self-explanatory.

Before I move on, you'll need:

A large bowl, a big pot, a masher (like the ones you use for mashed potatoes); canning jars, lids, and rings; pectin, sugar.

You'll also want something to take the jars out of the hot water with; I have jar-grabbers but an over mitt will do. A funnel is also handy, to pour the jam into the jars with. It makes a mess otherwise.

Okay! Now, taking a few handfuls of berries at a time, mash them up in a large bowl. This will give you small bits of the berries in the jam, which is what I like. You could use a food processor, it will just give you fewer berry pieces. Chop them how you like them!

Measure 5 cups of the mashed berries into a large pot. Make sure there is enough room for the berries to boil up; they will boil over if your pot is too small!


Next, pour one entire package of Sure-Jell pectin into the berries, and mix it all together. If you want to use a different kind or brand of pectin, you may want to refer to the specific directions that come with it. Using a lower amount of pectin will give you runnier jam. On my directions, it called for considerably less pectin; 50% less, in fact. I prefer my jam pretty thick (like the consistency of Smucker's preserves). You can also add a small amount of butter at this point (like a small tablespoon) to reduce the amount of foam that will appear later.

While stirring, let the mixture come to a rolling boil on the stove top. Keep stirring all the while, and don't cover it. You will know it's come to a strong, rolling boil when it still bubbles away while you're stirring.

Now add 7 cups of sugar, slowly, to the boiling berry/pectin mixture. Keep stirring. After a few minutes, the berries will expand and come up considerably. There may be quite a bit of foam on top, you can just scoop this off and into a small bowl. Turn off the burner and remove the berries (you can stop stirring now).

Now, in the meantime you should have washed and scalded your jam jars, the covers, and the rings. To do this, you can just put them through the dishwasher. If you're like me, and you ARE the dishwasher, you can wash them all by hand and boil the jam jars. You should NOT boil the covers, however. Just run those under very very hot water from the tap.

With your jam jars set out, take your funnel (if you have one) and start filling the jars with the soon-to-be jam. Fill them up just below the ring outlines on the jars. If you're messy (like me), take a paper towel and clean the jars around the ring-outline.

Plop on the cover (make sure you've just grabbed on, sometimes they stick together) and screw on the ring, as tight as it will go. You can flip them over once quickly to burn off any bacteria from the inside cover, although it's quite rare to have any issues with spoilage.

Next, bring a large pot of shallow water up to a boil. Take each of the jam jars and boil them for 10 minutes (less if the jar is really small). The water shouldn't cover the top of the jam jar; just a couple inches of water will do. This process is just to ensure the jam jars seal properly.

Remove the jars from the water (with jar grabbers or an oven mitt). Set them aside to cool. You'll hear little popping noises as the tops of the covers seal. Should one not seal (the top isn't pressed down), just stick it in the fridge and use that one first. Chances are, you'll want to use one right away anyway, so it's no big deal.

As the jam cools, it will jell together. The process might take an hour or two, depending on the size of the jar, but if you have extra in the bottom of the pan, feel free to try some right away!

The batch I made at my grandma's house was really good, I can't wait to try some other recipes! Wild blackberry jam from these bushes behind my apartment perhaps?Strawberry mint jam, using my mint plant? I'll have to hunt for some good recipes.