Since even homesteaders occasionally need cash, I've been working at Measured Progress over the last two months. While the work can be interesting, it is also mind-numbingly repetitive. I'm happy to be taking a break from it.
Canning has basically become my hobby. I make jam the way my in-laws watch movies: constantly. I started with a basic strawberry jam that is almost foolproof, followed it up with an amazing slow cooked apple butter and BAM!; I was hooked. I have enough jelled, sweetened fruit to see the Apocalypse through.
Earlier in the summer, Hay and I went berry-picking at Huber's, a local farm, for an afternoon's entertainment. We picked a gallon of fragrant red and black raspberries and another gallon of succulent blueberries. Huber's has reasonable prices, so the damage we inflicted on the checking account remained minimal.
After my second batch of jam I knew that I wanted to try more adventurous varieties and it was that, more than anything that led me to pick berries with Hay. I immediately made a wonderful raspberry jam that currently looks like deep garnets sitting in quilted jars.
Making the blueberry jam provided me with an opportunity to share my passion with my sis-in-law. She is not, by any definition, a homesteader. She seemed genuinely interested in the process, so I taught her as much as I could. To sweeten the deal I threw in a few jars of the very stuff she spent all afternoon toiling over.
June passed in a haze after that and July goes swiftly, as well. I'm hoping to get back into my larger projects by the end of the month.
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