Maureen's Famous Strawberry Preserve Recipe!!

It's strawberry season here in Ontario...this is one of my favourite times of the year, because it all starts with the strawberry...the other berries will soon be following, and I just can't wait!!   I've been making a conscious effort in the last few years, to put away as much food as possible, pick things in season,  and spend less at the grocery store!  With the strawberries I picked, we made 25 jars of jams and preserves, and managed to freeze 4 bags full.  I'm hoping to get out once more before the season is over...strawberries don't tend to last long in this house, especially in the dead of a Canadian winter!!

I want to share with you my recipe for Strawberry Preserves...this is my absolute favorite thing to do with berries!!!  There is nothing like cracking open a jar of these...I had a friend who told me she had a bath, and ate the whole jar with a spoon in the tub, (I consider that to be a great compliment)!!

To make the preserves you will need...

8 cups strawberries

2 Tbsp bottled lemon juice

5 cups sugar

7 half pint jars, (250 ml size)

To start, clean and stem the strawberries, then cut them in half.  Put berries lemon juice and sugar into a large saucepan.

Stir, bringing the mixture to a boil.  Cook the mixture on med heat until the preserves thicken...this usually takes about 30-45 min.  Depends on how thick you want them to be.

Remove pan from the heat and skim off the foam that has formed...

Ladle into hot, steralized jars...seal the jars and put them into a water bath canner for 10 minutes.  Put the jars on a flat, dry surface and leave them alone for 24 hours.

Now avoid the temptation to eat them right away...save for fall and winter when you desperately need a strawberry fix!!

Trust me...you want to make these!! 

Happy pickin' and preservin'

xo maureen

Make your own Chive Blossom Vinegar!!! (part one)

Hello beautiful friends...so, I'm a chive blossom vinegar admirer.  I've seen a few blogs with lovely pictures of chives sitting in mason jars on kitchen ledges...and I mean, I just HAD to have some of my own!  Not to mention, what a fabulous and creative use of chive blossoms!  Here is a little tutorial on how to make your own lovely chive blossom vinegar! 

First go out and harvest your lovely chive blossoms...you could use scissors to do this, cut just a tiny bit of the stem under the flower...of course I did this first thing in the morning and was feeling a little "lazy" shall we say, and just used my fingers!!

Then when you get them inside, you are going to pull off the two dead petals that lie on the bottom of your blossom...you can see them in this picture, and you'll definately know what I mean as you are doing it yourself.

Fill your freshly steralized mason jars up with the blossoms...pack them in there!!!

While you are doing this, and because you are a true multi tasker, start boiling your vinegar.

Now get out a funnel and pour the vinegar into your mason jars...many of the books I read recommended using plastic over the mouth of the jar, because the vinegar will corrode the regular metal mason jar lids, I'm a little leery of plastic these days, so I used parchment paper over the top and then screwed on the mason jar ring...so far, so good.

Place your chive blossom vinegar in a sunny windowsill, and oh my!  Doesn't it look pretty???!!!!!

The vinegar turns the most lovely shade of pink!!!!  You are supposed to leave it in the windowsill for a week or two, but I did read that after two weeks it can get quite strong.  I'm going to check mine in a week, and if it's to my liking, strain it and bottle it, (into a lovely jar with a cork)!  Stay tuned for part two!!

Oh...and if you have made some vinegar of your own, leave a link in our comments section of your own chive creation!

Now get on out there and harvest some chives y'all!!!

Happy herb harvesting!!!

(now say it three times fast)!

xo maureen

*Don't forget about our Rainbow Gnome Giveaway giveaway...go check out the details and leave a comment...remember you can enter one time per day if you are a follower on our blog page or facebook, (or if you become a new friend), and once if you are not!  We need to find our gnomes a good home...

so go and enter!!!

Can you guess what is happening in this picture????

Can you guess what is happening in the picture below???

Here...I'll give you a hint...

If you look in the corner of the above picture you can see the skunk that infiltrated our henhouse...

when Keith went out last night he found the torn apart corpses of our 3 baby chicks, (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday)...we blamed the chickens, as chickens are known to kill baby chicks, but then a look behind a straw bale revealed this little critter looking up at us.  After Keith got out of the henhouse we had to find a way to get it out, because we have broody hens sitting on nests of future chicks...it was decided that the telescopic shovel was the weapon of choice, which he used well to knock over all the straw bales, revealing the skunk in his or her full glory.  Then he banged a shovel on the henhouse walls and the skunk finally ran out the front door, (after about an hour).  Of course it didn't leave without leaving us a reminder that it was here...I'll just say that even the chickens didn't want to go into the henhouse last night.

And here is the ACTION shot...

Yes!  That is Keith, my nature loving partner, throwing a rock at the skunk!!!  Luckily his aim was off and he missed...however, the skunk was back again last night to try to get back into our coop.  Now, off to look for a youtube video on how to catch a skunk!!!

Here are some totally useless facts about skunks:

 In Minnesota it is illegal to tease a skunk.

Spotted skunks do handstands before they spray.

Skunks are omnivores and eat fruit, insects, and fish...they are even known to eat rattlesnakes!

Great horned owls will swoop down at night and carry off skunks to eat...they do not smell the skunks offensive odour.

Skunky Love
Maureen

In the garden...

Oh...for the LOVE of digging!!!

The whole day was spent blissfully in the garden.  I love this time of year...usually my ambitious nature grabs ahold and I have plans for a garden that is bigger, better, and more bountiful than the garden of the year past.

I garden with passion, with wild ambition and most importantly, I garden with hope!!   There is no greater pleasure than putting in a little seed and "hoping" that it will grow.  Days pass, and I go up to my garden day after day, just waiting, aching for those first little green heads to poke their way through the ground.  It is a miracle in action, and while I know the science behind the process of seeds turning into plants, it's still pretty mind blowing.

Matilda watching the neighbours tractor in the field

We have almost all of our cold weather crops in...spinach, carrots, beets, onions, parsnips, peas, and tomorrow will come the rutabagas, more onions, and some flowers!!   It's lovely to include children in the garden...while I was raking and digging the beds, Matilda was beside me with a little garden spade and bucket, digging and dumping and then coming in for a kiss or hug!  Ruby was busy climbing trees and talking it up with the farmer and his dog, "Blackie",who was fixing up the fence posts the keep his cows in the pasture next door to us.  On a day like today I think my life just may be enchanted!! 

The flowers forming on our lilacs...

In honour of planting, flowers and gardening...here is a little poem to share

(I am a huge fan of classic poetry, and love to share it with my kids)!

A Garden

A sensitive plant in a garden grew,

And the young winds fed it with silver dew,

And it opened its fan-like leaves to the light,

And closed them beneath the kisses of night.

And the Spring arose on the garden fair,

And the Spirit of Love fell everywhere;

And each flower and herb on Earth's dark breast

Rose from the dreams of its wintry nest.

-Percy Bysshe Shelley

In gardening bliss
Maureen