Nada, I know EXACTLY how you feel. Lately people have been asking me if I would like their cans (two different neighbors just brought over some this week, they must somehow know it’s Jam Season) and I have to be sheepish and say, well, okay, are you sure you won’t be needing them? I do envy you your marmalade. From your mom’s trees? Wow. (That would be so cool, having a source of citrus…hmm.) I have made candied peel before, a really long time ago; I don’t seem to remember it was really hard at all, though it should’ve been harder because the stuff disappeared so quickly!

Artemisia, I have no clue, sorry! I have avoided planting them because I tell myself I don’t want to weed them. Tom keeps badgering me. And now that I have putatively “enough” beds I suppose I need to give in and plant them this fall.

Gigi, come on by and I will hand one off to you! Less mess that way. But do let us know your schedule; we’d love to get up to SH now that everyone is healthy.

it seems to me that making a mess is worth the results that are achieved.

I’ve just started my annual marmalade making. It promises to go on for several months as my mother’s tree keeps bearing fruit. I might try candying some peel this year……I’ve got to start on apples too, the local season will end soon.

My strawberries are long gone. It’s raspberry season now, and I need to get out there tomorrow morning and harvest for jam.

Ali, yeah, but it is fun to find the microclimate. Is there a place you can espalier some fruit trees on your house, maybe on a south-facing little bit? I did some of that when I lived in Minnesota (albeit it was with tender roses not fruit trees). Oh don’t even talk to me about defrosting our chest freezer. Dang it’s 3 years now, and we’ve got 20 birds in there now. Yipes. Need another one considering we’re getting 1/2 pig and 1/4 cow this fall. eeps! Maybe that’s when I will defrost. Great idea about canning in the a.m. though; I am never so forethoughtful.

Jules, be brave!! Come to think of it the first thing I ever canned I had no help either except a recalcitrant boyfriend who did a lackluster job of washing the jars. Sent him to walk the dog whilst I finished with the peaches, if I am remembering correctly. Call your mom by all means. But tomatoes can be pretty easy, if you run them through a food mill to get rid of their skins and seeds first. That’s me though as I am pretty lazy.

Jeri, that straw trick sounds great. I do hate junking up my junkdrawer with these rarely-used things but then again I do love the fact that the strawberry huller works so well. Ah a quandry.

CC: exactly. Spooky looking things all around. Just think of the blokes who thought these doodads up and put them into production. Now that’s clever stuff borne of the “there has GOT to be a better way to do this.”

Hayden! Dang, I was going to email you to check when your plans were. I absolutely forgot, and I apologize…I can be quite the flake sometimes. I would go ahead and can as usual. Give the leftovers away, we did when we moved here! Apricot jam though yum. Too bad your week was kind of cold for camping.

Oh Stacie there’s nothing quick about freezer jam considering you still get the sticky cooked jam all over everything. I would say the only thing with canning is there’s that one extra step. That step gives me time to clean up all the stickiness as everything else cans up. I was wondering if you would get much of a harvest this year, though. We’re high and too dry, can you believe that? Goofy Midwestern weather.

Hi Lori. I love those tart cherries, but I am alone (as usual) in that love in this house. They’re wonderful in pies. They can be a bit tougher to pit though. The clafoutis though are also a yum way to prepare them. Here’s my oh-so-scientific recipe: Butter a glass pie dish or small-ish casserole. Line bottom with washed, unpitted (!!) cherries. Make a dough of equal parts sugar, flour, milk (I use 1 cup each) and 1/2t vanilla and four eggs or so. Whip this together, pour over the fruit, bake in a 375* oven for almost an hour. You can do this with strawberries or any other fruit too but just watch the juiciness factor of the fruit if you do so. I usually add an extra egg, but you can use more flour to thicken things up. But a coffee cake sounds good too!

I received a batch of early cherries in our CSA share this week – what do you do with these small, really sour ones? I’m thinking they need to be cooked in something with lots of sugar – maybe a coffee cake or something similar. I’d love any suggestions you may have. I have a feeling I’m going to wish I had a fancy dandy cherry pitter like some people…

I LOVE clafoutis!

Strawberries are ready here too. I MUST defrost my freezer before I pick too many. I’m planning to go this afternoon just for some fresh eating and jam berries. Then jam tomorrow morning when it is cool.