They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
We bottled up the elderberry cordial and elixir that has been aging in the refrigerator for a few weeks to months. Some lessons learned from this go-round. It is harsher and less smooth than last year. Next year I need to pay closer attention to the alcohol percentage. We were mixing everclear and 40% vodka… Continue reading Elderberry Cordial and Elixir
Another bumper harvest of Elderberries last Friday morning (Aug 28). It took about 90 minutes to strip them all from the stems, yielding about 9 Lbs of berries. We steam juiced these on Saturday. There was enough berry to make two batches of elderberry "Port" wine. The steam juicer is a very handy way to… Continue reading Elderberry “Port” and Elderberry Wine
We ordinarily try to avoid making Sunday a canning day, but when you have 65 Lbs of peaches sitting in boxes in the garage, you can't let them sit too long. They don't keep, especially when they are picked by over-zealous kids who have a tendency to drop them into the box, rather than gently… Continue reading Canning Peaches, on a Sunday
Once again we have been several days without a blog. I have a stack of pictures and will try to get caught up. This was on Monday, August 10th. Mommy was at the fair, getting the nutrition and food preservation building decorated, and taking in all the entries that people brought in to drop off.… Continue reading Elderberry syrup… Again.
After the superb elderberry harvest and juicing last Tuesday... No, not that last Tuesday. The last Tuesday before that last Tuesday... We had a whole bunch of elderberry juice, and nowhere to put it. But first, dark and early Wednesday morning (Aug 12) planted out another tray of cabbages. They each have their own cozy… Continue reading Elderberry… Syrup?, Crabapple-Rhubarb.
Tuesday: the last full day before Pierce Co Fair starts. It was also a Monday, because on Monday we were too busy to Monday, due to baking for fair, and taking stuff to fair grounds for turn in, and decorating at the fair grounds. But Monday is the sort of thing that cannot be indefinitely… Continue reading Elderberries, beans, crabapples
Last week was the first elderberry picking of the year. I did a second picking Monday morning, early. The dried elderberries from last weekend are done, so we transfer them into a bowl and put the next batch in. The previous batch yielded almost a quart after drying. We found that if the clusters are… Continue reading Elderberries, Basil, Baking and Brewing.
"Look Daddy! I'm a stwirrel!" "Tan I help you took?" When was the last time you had a squirrel cook you potato-water griddle cakes for breakfast? Tuesday morning we got over to the farm for another picking of blackberries. The big thornless blackberries are a little the worse for wear at the moment. We are… Continue reading Blackberries, First Elderberries, and Drought problems.
Not everything can be woodworking around here. There are too many other things that need to be done. For instance the raspberries are coming on fast, And when we checked on the blackberries, some of them were ripening. They always ripen from the end of the branch first. In every cluster the most distal berry… Continue reading Garden and Orchard Update.
Monday was a bit of an off day. Mommy and Daddy both had to work, but Auntie Mate was here to shepherd the kids through school. They did a great job being good for her. On Tuesday, we tried to get the house back into the normal swing of things, and to push ahead on… Continue reading Elderberry Elixir
