Preserving Fruit

Summer in the Okanagan Valley of BC Canada means a lot of nice fresh fruit on trees and in stores. I love eating fruit fresh off the tree and next best thing, locally grown out of the stores, but what about winter time? I know I would love to have fruit available in winter, but really have never 'put up' anything, so don't know how to do it right. On Facebook I have found lots of different pages, or walls as they call them, to 'Like' and stay connected with. One of them, Away to Garden, is all about horticultural how-to and woo-woo. It is the source for garden information and inspiration, by Margaret Roach, head gardener. What I read there just now was about farm-fresh peaches, frozen to perfection, which is a timely article since peaches will soon be abundant in the Okanagan. I look forward to trying what Margaret has shared with us here, and to enjoying my nice peaches all winter long.

Manic Monday - Grace

It's just another
"Manic Monday"

Wow, lately it seems like every day is Manic Monday, lol. At least, the time between posts to Manic Monday sure has been flying quickly by. This week's theme is Grace, chosen by the grace of Mo at It's A Blog Eat Blog World. You'll find lots of links to other MM Bloggers at Mo's post for today. BTW, every time I do a Manic Monday post, my mind is singing the song... "It's just another Manic Monday, wish it was Sunday... that's my fun day, just another Manic Monday" or something like that, lol.


First, I would like to remember Grace Elder. Once upon a time, a fairly long time ago, I called her eldest son, Doug, my husband (common-law). During our time together I got to know his mom, Grace, and came to love her lots, she was a lady who had much grace. When Doug's violence became too much for me, I ended the relationship with him. Grace & I both felt no need to end our relationship, however. Grace is gone to a better place now, and is missed by all who loved her. I occasionally see her youngest, Don, and still call him friend, even brother-in-law.




I also wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Amazing Gracie over at Echoes of Grace! ... and many more!! :o)




As many of you know, I love taking and sharing photos. By the grace of God, I have been blessed with a wonderful digital camera with a 10x zoom. Gotta love it. I'm going to share with you some photos of my favorite smell (well, one of my faves anyway). Remember, if you would like to get a better look, click on the photo for a larger version.

Small square bales vary in size and weight, but can be lifted and carried by one person

I wonder if these graceful animals say grace before they eat their dinner, lol

Round bales, as you can see here, are a lot bigger than the small square bales. They need equipment, usually a tractor with a special attachment, to pick up and move one of these. Some farmers now make a large square bale, the same as the small ones, just a lot bigger, lol. A tractor is also needed to move these ones. I have no photo of the big ones just now.

Ahhhh, the smell of fresh cut hay, drying in the field on a hot, sunny day... nothing like it.

(sung of course to the tune of Amazing Grace, lol)

Amazing Grace, how sweet the smell
Of fresh cut hay, tooooo meeeeee,
Laying in the field, to get all dry
God's critters for to feeeeeed.

I can not believe I missed this one and am editing it in about 14 1/2 hours after the original post.


My rabbit is Grace Hawk!

Now, please have the grace to leave me a Fabulous Feedback! And if you have a Manic Monday post up, a link to it on Mr. Linky.




Have a graceful and wonderful week!!

My dear dogger, Reba, will roll over with joy if you visit her "doggy bloggy" too!

Pickled Eggs... Kiwi Style

Today (Sunday Nov. 26... even though the blog shows it as the 27th it is still the 26th to me, haha) I blogged, worked on weaving the table runner, did some housework, and did up some pickled eggs. Now, I know that many of you do more than this in a day so it wouldn't seem like all that much, but for me it is. With health challenges I usually don't accomplish as much as I'd like to. Also, I have a lot of other things on my plate that take up a lot of time, a lot of them to do with volunteer work I do for my Spiritual Centre. But today I took a "me" day and didn't even go to church. I stayed home all day and acutely feel like I accomplished something today.

There are 9 small bantam eggs in each of these 5 pint jars. I plan to give some... most... maybe all away as Christmas gifts, so will make some pretty cloth things for the top of the jars, and will keep the rings as I only have 6 of this size (at least that I could find today, lol).

One thing I've noticed about these eggs is that they've gone a pale brownish color. Where they are pressed against the jars they are still white, but otherwise, where the spicy vinegar touches them, they've changed color. I'm wondering if this is due to using brown sugar instead of honey? Kiwi, if you read this post, can you tell me if yours go this color? It could give them a little less of an appetizing look.

Pickled Eggs - Kiwi Style

Vinegar of choice
1 TBSP pickling spice per 750 ml (3 cups) vinegar

- Bring to boil
- Add a big dollop of honey or brown sugar
- Stir until dissolved. Cool

- Fill sterile glass jars with hard boiled eggs (shelled)
- Top with cold spicy vinegar
- Screw on lid

- Keep for 4 weeks before eating
- Keep in fridge if not sealed

Thank you for this recipe, Kiwi!!

As I plan to give these as gifts, I wanted them sealed so they can sit under the Christmas tree without refrigeration. As the recipe said to cool the spicy vinegar first, I did, but with the limited knowledge I have in this area, I figured it had to be hot to seal the jars, so after everything was put together and the lids/rings were on the jars, I put them into my soup pot and covered them with water, then brought it to just starting to boil. I removed the jars from the hot water and turned them upside down for awhile then right side up. All of them sealed!! I hope it didn't alter (ruin) the taste or texture of the pickled eggs inside.

I'm looking forward to trying them out after the 4 weeks, which will take us right up to Christmas eve.

On the weather front... it's snowing and blowing out there. I was out just awhile ago and the drifts are pretty deep. I forgot to look at the thermometer while out there, but Environment Canada web site says it was -13 C at 1:00 am, so pretty "cool" out. I'm happy and grateful to be in a warm, comfortable home tonight and every night.

US Thanksgiving

This coming Thursday will be Thanksgiving day in the United States. We in Canada celebrate this day in October, and I personally try to celebrate thanks giving every day of the year. Gratitude is a very powerful thing.

At my Spiritual Centre, in honor of the upcoming US celebration, Rev. Dale Jukes shared with us a poem that was sent to him by a minister/friend in the US. Apparently Dr. Arleen didn't write this herself, and Rev. Dale doesn't know who did... I just have to share it with you though as it is so good. It had everyone in church laughing.

T'was the night of Thanksgiving, but I just couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned - the dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack - became infatuation.
So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge - full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey - and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling, so plump and so round,
'til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding - and a handful of pie.
But I managed to yell, as I soared past the trees...
"Happy eating to all - pass the cranberries, please."

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious - may your pies take the prize,
May your thanksgiving dinner - stay off of your thighs.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Birds in the Freezer

On Saturday, October 14th, I finally got busy with this particular job. I've never eaten pigeon, but decided maybe it's time to try that. Over the previous week or so I caught 4 young pigeons and put them into a cage where they were well fed while awaiting their fate. I also had 2 young Bantam roosters and 1 young Americana/Sex Link Layer rooster that needed to go.

First, of course, you prep for the job.

I lit the wood burning stove out in my yard and put a tin pail of water on to heat. Then I sharpened 2 knives, 1 hatchet... washed the work area and put water into the cooler.


Is a pigeon in the hand worth 3 in the cage?

With each bird, I held it gently and safely, closely as I said a prayer... for the bird and for myself... then quickly and humanely "dispatched" it. It was then dipped into the hot water to make it easier to pluck, then plucked, "cleaned", washed, etc.


Decisions, decisions!

It was a real challenge for me to choose between the two young Americana/Sex Link Layer roosters. I wanted to keep one of these boys, had put one in the freezer earlier this summer, so had to choose between these two. I ended up keeping the all white one and putting the brown & white one in the freezer. Later when I looked at these pictures I saw again that the white one doesn't have the facial feathers that the brown & white one did. Had I remembered that sooner I would have done it the other way around. These facial feathers are an Americana thing and look real cool.

Young Bantam Rooster

There were two of these young boys, but I only took a picture of this one. The other looked pretty much the same. They were smaller than I'd like to have had, but if I waited for them to get bigger it would be too cold to do the work outside... the dead of winter is no time for that. So I decided to put them in the freezer now... somewhat like Cornish Game Hens :o)

Ready to freeze

I thought I would be proud of this "accomplishment" as this is the first time I've done this kind of thing. And I am... and I'm not. To tell the truth, this picture bothers me, likely more than the job did. I did what I "had to do" and that was all okay... but looking at this picture disturbs me. It's good to have home grown birds in the freezer to eat this winter though... if I'm able to do so when the time comes. Only time will tell. If it bothers me too much I'll take them to a friend or my mom to have them do the cooking and see if that helps. Some farm girl I am... LOL.

Damson Plums

Some people like eating these little plums, but I'm not really big on them for eating. However, I love them for making jam. One year I made a batch of Italian Prune Plum jam and one of Damson Plum jam. The IPP jam was very good... then I tasted the DP jam and haven't made IPP jam since... LOL.

On the left is all Damson Plum jam. The 3 jars on the right are Damson Plum, Italian Prune Plum and Mac Apple jam. I had some IPPs that needed finishing up before they went bad and knew I couldn't eat them all in time, but there weren't enough to make jam so I added some DPs and some apple chunks. It turned out to be fairly good jam, but still not as great as the Damson. I still have lots more plums in the trees though many have fallen on the ground now. I hope to get more picked and some more jam made yet, and/or put plums in the freezer for later jam making.

Brandy Plum Jam and Jelly

These are the jars of Brandy Plum jam and jelly I made in early September 2006. Having entered a jar each of jam and jelly into the Salmon Arm Fair I had to make some... and my plums were not yet ripe. Not the Italian Prune plums or the Damson plums. Quite by luck, I met someone who has Brandy plum trees, full of ripe fruit waiting for me to go pick and turn into preserves.

My Brandy Plum Jam took 1st place at the fair while the jelly took no prize. For more results on other entries and such I had/did at Salmon Arm Fair, go check out my "old blog" Born2Cree8.