Todays work was convert 7 1/2lbs of frozen raspberries into jam...
And water bath canning...
Tomorrow it will be off with the clips, check seals and label...
Sometime in the future enjoy...perhaps on fresh bread with butter, or cream...
Or maybe sandwiched between sponges and buttercream...
Or even nestlesd in pastry cases...
Summer in a jar...
Blessings, J. x
Soon we are taking ownership of a lamb and beef carcass...
This has necessitated much activity to take place in the Little Winter kitchen...
Many pots and pans have been called into use...
Much boiling, putting into jars and water bath processing has taken place over the past few months...
There is still some way to go...and we have been eating through what has been done at a goodly rate...
So here is a little peak at what I have managed so far...and what I have so far held on to!
We have pears in syrup, stewed apple, apple sauce, unsweetend apple, apple juice...two pressings, the second with the new juicer which is much clearer than the first...apricots, runner bean chutney, harvest chutney and Christmas chutney.
Ah for more free time in which to do these things...I have as yet to can anything which needs pressure canning, though I now own the necessary beast...
Tomorrow I am hoping to make some more chutney, and will possibly get around to juicing some blackberries. The trouble is with such activities is the time it takes, but the satisfaction of a cupboard full of ready to go foods with a long shelf life is certainly a most wonderful feeling.
The best pears are lovely with cream or ice cream, and the ones that have turned browner are amazing hidden under a crumble topping or steamed sponge...maybe with a hint of ginger.
I have taken a liking to the WECK canning jars, however yesterday discovered that I had been sent some Kilner jar lids in error as part of my last order. I had left them saftely packaged up in their fives and only realised when I couldn't attatch the clip required before water bathing.
So, if I go a little quiet for a time on here, you'll know what I am most likely up to!
Blessings, J. x
So I know I was hankering after leaving our tree up which appeared to be doing well until Old Twelfth Night, but yesterday I sadly realised that the top had indeed become very dry...as the weather has grown colder, our woodburner has been lit earlier and I suppose this didn't help it, though it did keep us nice and toasty despite not having a working boiler throughout the Christmas period.
On Wednesday afternoon we did have a visit from the boiler man, who needed to phone technical support who suggested that it most likely would be the magic eye that hubby had already tried...however when the man saw the one that had arrived and not worked he could see that it was not the correct one. The correct one was duly ordered and he was going to return yesterday morning to fit it. Sadly he developed a bout of vertigo and couldn't come. Happily though they let hubby pick it up and fit it himself...and even happier news it worked...we have hot water and heating once more. We can shower in our own home instead of traipsing with wet hair back across the gardens from next door. Best of all for me is the ability to wash the larger dishes and pans in enough hot water to get them clean...boiling the small kettle it not really sufficient in one go, and carrying the kettle in from the woodburner is heavy and time consuming to reheat.
I think our temperature is currently minus 1.9. It is very grey and not very inspiring. I have much to do on the computer and am intending to put something nice and sedate on the telly to watch whilst beavering away. My back has become weaker over Christmas...I think the culmination of difficulties at work, both physically and mentally and lots of standing around cooking along with not so many walks on inclement days lead to my back woes.
Though I didn't venture out for a walk yesterday I did on Wednesday and well...
So now I really must get on with my day...with or without a list things need to get done...
Blessings, J. x
So today has dawned bright...it is lovely, however I am feeling a little under the weather, and having been downstairs since 12:30am I'm not up to much at all. My brain is telling me to force my feet into a pair of wellies, and get some much needed vitamin D. My muscles however don't feel quite so keen. A lot of co-workers have been dropping with seasonal ailments, and after a couple of days feeling sick I now ache and have a sore throat. I'm blaming continually getting hot then cold at work. My job entails going indoors and then outside. It has been perishingly cold. Devon knows how to blow a bitter cold wind thet eekes into your very bones and soul.
~
We have deided to leave the festive tree up for now...I am of the persuasion that trees go up sometime on or after the shortest day and stay up until at least twelfth night...however the actual season lasts for 40 days and doesn't end until Candlemas. Now I'm not hopeful that our tree will be looking anything more than a brown stick by then, however it might just last until old twelvey, when we will wassail our apple trees to ensure a bountiful harvest.
~
I have succeeded in keeping the Christmas cake off limits until twelfth night this time, I don't often manage it, however after sunset tonight it will be a case of tuck in! We are organising a family twelfth night quiz for this evening, though I say we it's really me. I am about halfway through setting the questions.
~
Isn't it strange, normally I would be happy to just go out for one walk a day, however as soon as someone says you can only go out for exercise once a day you suddenly have a yearning to do so much more...maybe a quick dash to the postbox...to post off some business cheques will have to suffice if this hankering starts becoming an itch that really needs scratching.
~
Right, my mind is made up, I am going to venture down the lane, maybe not into the woods, but a little exercise has got to be a good thing. Especially as the title of todays' post is Running Out Of...well that could be anything from patience, hope, or clarity.
Blessings, J. x
We always knew that this Christmas was not going to be anyway near a normal one...
And I was OK with that...
Eldest and her family who live next door were coming for dinner...
And youngest was coming for tea, she had to work in the morning and again on Boxing Day...
Then just as we were sitting down to roast beef...not turkey...I'm saving that for when we can all be together...
Youngest and her caveman came in to announce she'd finished work a bit early, but actually they wouldn't be coming to tea after all...they were visiting his mother and her husband and dinner was to be much later than they first thought...
I was OK with this...we are lucky in that for childcare we are in a bubble...there is no way either of us can take care of the children on both days required due to our own work commitments...
There was no way Sonshine and his partner could have travelled down...and we asked them not to way before the cancelled Christmas news...
It was OK...Christmas comes whatever...
Then the other day I had a message from Sonshine with a photo...
They had had snow, and were making snow pancakes...
Now when my children were younger they loved to watch Brambly Hedge...
And the mice had snow pancakes for breakfast when it snowed...
We adopted the name...no snow required in the cooking...just outside on the ground...
The fact that he had remembered when we've been apart for the most emotionnal time of year had me leaking from the eyes...
~
Yesterday our tree nearly became a casualty of my frustrations...
I had a particularly nasty journey home from work in the snow and ice on New Years Eve...
My workplace is really out in the back of beyond...
And I have to drive across very high ground which always gets the worst of any weather...
I had nearly lost the car on the way to work at 2:30, and had managed for the first time ever to forget my phone, so I was rather nervous making the journey home...
Mostly in second gear...
It took just over 40 minutes, and I was literally shaking when I eventually opened our cottage door...
My evening meal was eventually consumed by me jsut after 11pm...
I didn't take my break so I could leave half an hour earlier...
However, instead of ousting the tree, I merely pushed it to a slightly new location, it is still in good condition, despite the kittens running underneath it and occasionally taking a swipe at the baubles...
It is smelling lovely, and as I couldn't smell it before I am grateful I decided to keep it up...
I have another late shift today, and the current temperature is minus 4.4...
Wellies and phone will be coming with me, and I may be uttering a few words to him upstairs before I set off if you get what I mean!
However right now I am going to light the woodburner and do a little blog catch up reading...
Life might not be very exciting, but it has been filled with mundane tasks such as bringing home a load of logs, baking and cleaning...
Blessings, J. x
