January Gardening!

It looks pretty stark out there right now, but I wanted to document the neatly organized tomato cages. You see, I left home in early October to care for my daughter, and left the tailend of the gardening up to my DH. Sadly, he tossed the cages to the side of the garden in an unruly stack which I found to be an eyesore upon returning. I've had shoulder surgery and cannot use my left arm for much, but one bright and sunny day went out to 'one arm' them into submission. The sight pleases me as does the garden empty of what looked like a pile of metal trash. We've had many deer visit this winter with a trail of poo all around the fence. This morning I discovered the mulch pawed away so they could nibble on the grass clippings laid down on the last mowing of the lawn.
Below is what the garden looks like today with a blanket of snow insulating it. You can see one old-fashioned tomato cage on the right where I have a small Peony planted.

The dear fence (electric) is not 'on', but keeps deer out right now anyway. There is no sign they've figured out how to enter.

The picture below shows only a few of the sparkles on the snow this morning. Really, it looked like a field of diamond...which reminds me of a Paul Simon song, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes. If I walked around enough out there would I have diamonds on the soles of my shoes?

The Gift from Mimi

My cousin Donald's wife, Mimi, has taken up watercolor late in her life. I've been very impressed with her talent and choice of subject matter. She reads my blog, so she knows I love lichen and sent this watercolor as a Christmas gift.

I LOVE it!!

What I love even more is that she uses her resources wisely and painted the lichen on the back of another watercolor that I love too.

What to do???????

I love both pictures a great deal, so I'm thinking on how to have them both framed. They are both huge gifts for me. The Blackcap Jam from Rachel was right up there at the top too. Anyway, I want to publicly thank Mimi for her generous gifts to me!

'My Christmas Gifts' 2009

The special gifts I made this year for my friends is festive cranberry sauce.

It is pretty, it is hard to stay out of, and it is easy to make.

My recipe calls for 8 cups of cranberries. I buy the bags of fresh ones when they are on sale and freeze them if there isn't time to put them up when I buy them.

So, you can use fresh or freshly frozen berries.

It is important to go through the bags of berries to discard the overripe/underripe ones.

By the time you have done this you have about 2 cups. It takes 4 bags for this recipe.

While I sort through the berries I bring 4 cups of water and 4 cups of sugar to a boil on a meduim high setting. Boil for about 5 minutes.

I use evaporated cane juice crystals because they are a kind of sugar that has not been bleached or processed to the point of losing the molasses.

When the water/sugar concoction has boiled for 5 minutes, add the 8 cups of fresh cranberries. Do not stir. You can see that I made the mistake of stirring and have foam to deal with. I don't mind it a bit, but you don't want to give foam away as a gift! The berries boil on meduim high until most of them have split their skins. You can hear the 'popping' as they do this while you putter around the kitchen with this activity. It takes about 10 minutes for this part.

You can see beside the cranberries a small saucepan with 7 lids and screw caps. I've washed them and am boiling them for about 5 minutes in about 3 inches of water. In the oven are 7 clean jars in a pan with about an inch of water at 220 degrees for 20 minutes.

When the berries are ready, fill the jars, wipe the rims clean with a damp cloth, place lids and screw caps on, and process for 10 minutes.

I use a steamer canner rather than a boiling water bath because it take much less time. I've used this steamer canner since we lived in Misery (Missouri, to some) in the 80's, so I know it is a time-saving way to process many foods.

Voila! Here is the finished product with labels for whom they are to be given.

My DH loves this stuff, putting it on pound cake for dessert if we haven't had chicken for dinner. He would eat it right out of the jar if I'd let him!