Squirrelly

I'm feeling squirrelly! Not goofy (I think I covered that with my last rant), but like it's time to store up acorns for the winter. A little crisp fall air and I can't help myself, I start stuffing the freezer and cupboards full. A couple of weeks ago, Chris and I canned 52 pints of jalabeanos! That should last us a while. It took all day and we were exhausted! How did farm wives do it? They canned every day for weeks, all while doing their regular work AND feeding the work crews!




This is 9 dozen ears of corn. Paul went to Rochester and stopped at a farm stand. I told him that the cheapest price here was $3 a dozen (Coborn's), so he drove a hard bargain with the guy. They started at $6 a dozen and ended with $20 for 9 dozen. (I asked for 3 or 4 dozen). The boys helped me peel them and I spent all morning cutting off the kernals and scraping the cobs. Right now, it's all cooking in the roaster. When it cools, I will package it in ziplocks and stack it in the freezer. This winter it will be "fast food" when I microwave it for dinner. Intellectually, I KNOW that I can BUY corn, canned or frozen, all year round and don't have to do this, but somehow, I NEED to! I also need to make jelly, wine, beer, spaghetti sauce, frozen green beans, applesauce and more than one kind of pickle. Part of it is a "Locavore" thing, the idea that eating locally grown food is superior to eating food shipped from far away. Partly it's because I can make these things just the way we like them, and without a lot of preservatives. It just makes me happy to see the bags and jars of stuff I worked so hard on putting up. Unfortunately, this all is ready to be put up at the same time! With some of it, like wild grapes and berries, we have to do the picking as well as preserving. Grapes are having a good year, and I've got a batch of wine fermenting away. It will be a couple of years until it's really good, wild grapes are kind of sharp. I could not resist getting this going even though I had preschool open house last night and squeezing grapes makes my hands purple. Looked nice with my yellow shirt.
These are the balloons that were tied to the mailbox of a house that was having a garage sale. They lost most of their air, and were lookin' a little, um, testicle-ish. How are you doing with the hunt for outrageous garage sale items? I haven't received ANY photos yet! Don't make me win my own contest, people.













Speaking of outrageous things, I met this nice dog in a sundress at Joann's yesterday. Her name is Molly. She gets all dressed up and goes to the hospital to cheer up the patients. It must work, she made me laugh! Little Miss Molly wasn't even embarrassed to be wearing the sundress, (like my dog would be,) she seemed to like it. Paul says now she REALLY looks like musky-bait. In a hula-popper.












This is how you get juice from the fruit to make jelly. Cook it with a little water, smash it, and strain it in a jelly bag. I picked these door handles on purpose because they are so good to hang a jelly bag from. Don't be tempted to squeeze the bag, that will make the jelly cloudy (and your hands blue!).

I have to go, there's a farmer's market in Anoka today, and I think I need more green beans. Maybe some cucumbers.

Here is an easy recipe for making freezer jelly from wild grapes. It is delicious! Put it right back in the refrigerator after using it, as it has no preservatives it molds quickly. Be sure that you are picking grapes and not something else.

This is from"Abundantly Wild" by Teresa Marrone.



Wild Grape Jelly

1 1/2 cups grape juice from wild grapes
2 1/2 cups sugar
Half of a 1.75 ounce box of powdered pectin
1/3 cup plus 1 Tbls water

Combine juice and sugar in a glass mixing bowl, stirring to dissolve sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. In a small saucepan, combine pectin and water, stir well, mixture may be lumpy. Heat to full rolling boil over high heat and boil for one full minute. Stir constantly.
pour over juice in bowl. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy, about 3 minutes. Mixture should not be cloudy. Pour into freezer containers, leave enough room at the top for expansion. Let sit at room temperature for 24 hours, it should be set. If it isn't, refrigerate it for several days or until set. Sometimes it may take up to a week. Then freeze it.

To make juice: Place washed grapes (no stems) in a pan, add 1/2 cup water per pound of grapes. (about 3 cups). Crush grapes with a potato masher. Heat for 5 minutes at medium heat, do not boil and crush again. Cook for 5-10 more minutes until skins lose much of their color. Strain through several layers of cheesecloth or in a jelly bag. You should get about 1 1/2 cups juice from each pound of grapes. When using the juice, leave the dregs in the bottom of the bowl, don't use it, it may cause your jelly to crystallize.