Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Tuesday seems to roll around quickly lately. I seem to find a lot to do in a weeks time. The universe has been quite generous lately and the weather can't decide weather to finish summer or start fall. 

I managed to transplant my rosemary and sage into the ground. They grew to be very healthy in the hanging baskets. They look like foliage plants in the garden so I don't think that management will take them out. I harvested plenty for the winter months and made all kinds of goodies so I'm happy with my yield. Who knows at the rate they are still growing I may get some more from the plants before winter sets in. I did propagate the rosemary and have a beginner plant that has survived to grow inside. Fingers crossed. 

This was my first attempt at making my own rose water. The apartment I am in came with a rose bush. Not the healthiest when we moved in, but with a little bit of TLC and some green thumb it yielded some nice flowers. I harvested the flowers to make rose water. It was an easy project, but took a couple of hours and a gallon size bag of ice cubes. I got a little over one cup of rose water for my efforts.

The test of how good it came out will be when I make icing through the holidays. I'll let you know.

Like I said the universe has been more than generous this year. One of my daughters former co-workers asked if we would like some grapes. Of course we said yes. In the past I've received enough to make a grape crisp or a small pie. Well surprise, surprise. I received about a peck maybe more of concord grapes. I couldn't have been more excited (stressed) about what to do with so many. It all began early one morning and three hours later I had 14 cups of grape juice. I couldn't stand much longer so I put it in the refrigerator for the following day when I could organize the process. 

The final results of this wonderful gift was 19 cups of grape jelly, plus a little in a dish for my sandwiches/English muffins this week, and 4 cups of pie filling to use for pie or grape crisp. Thank goodness I have teenage grandsons that have healthy appetites and of course it's wonderful for gift giving. 

Oranges were on Savingstar.com this week and it is the time of year that I like to pick up Cara Cara oranges. They are pink inside and so wonderful. I got enough to make some beautiful orange marmalade. I saved a small sample to tase and wow was it awesome. I now have eight cups of devine marmalade. Needless to say it's been a busy week, but the aroma's in my little townhouse have been outstanding. I have a wonderful variety of jellies and jams to go with my peanut butter and I couldn't be happier. So grateful for mother earths bounty. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Everyone is saying that summer is winding down. In some ways it is, but there's so much more left. I think we measure summer by school vacations. Long after the kids go back to school there is still plenty to do. I still have harvesting, canning, cooking, and garden clean up ahead. After that the holidays slip in there so quickly and then there we are planning for next spring and suffering from garden fever. 

It's been busy here as it has been on farms across this great country. I  may only have a small container garden, but the farm markets are bursting at the seams with the wonders of nature. 

One of my favorite items to can is apricot jam. Our favorite meal around here is apricot ginger chicken. I got a great price at the farm market and I now have a nine cup supply to get us through the winter. I failed at dehydrating apricots. I admit to using too much citric acid and from now on will stick to jam.

I harvested peppermint. This was quite a bit for something that is growing in a pot on the deck. I made peppermint extract and dried leaves for tea. I am going to propagate a new plant and hope I can have fresh mint through the winter. Wish me luck. I'm going to do this with some spearmint also.

I got a few cloves of garlic. This was planted in defiance because we are not allowed to grow (farm) here at the townhouse. I was honest with them and told them I planted it to keep the mice away. LOL It has a bit longer to cure and then I will wash it and store it. My transplanted chives also produced an abundant crop for me and I have added chive butter and chopped chives to the freezer.

My daughters once every so often will take me to Niblack foods. It's a store with all the great stuff that I can't make for myself right now.  All organic products of course. I stay away because the bill can get quite high, but on this trip we got some saffron rice, a sesame snack, quinoa, raw sunflower seeds, pine nuts and coconut oil. I harvested a large bunch of basil and used the pine nuts to make my pesto for winter. I freeze it in ice cube trays. I propagated a new plant that I have inside now for use through winter. I hope I can keep it alive. I am going to make sunflower bread with the sunflower seeds. It came highly recommended with strawberry butter. Sounds like it would be great for a cool Saturday morning.

Every where I went in July it was Christmas. My Christmas gift to us in July was home made almond biscotti. I had made biscotti before, but it was a total fail, but I tried again with a simple recipe this time and now I can't wait to make my lemon lavender biscotti for the holidays with our great lavender harvest.

I have been baking my own bread this summer and this was two loafs of french bread that I must say was out of this world as just a slice of bread, but topped with home made basil pesto, tomato and mozzarella cheese and broiled was a beautifully light summer dinner. I'm amazed at how little pesto is required to make something so delicious.

For this coming week I have more harvesting to do. I see my rose bush is blossoming again and I want to make rose water for cooking. My sage is running away in its hanging basket and I need to harvest it. I am going to put it in the ground so that next year it may be ready sooner. I'm also going to put the rosemary in the ground. It's not farming or putting in a garden, it is a small pleasure from mother earth. 

Thank you everyone for stopping by. I'm having a wonderful summer and I hope you all are too. Have a wonderful week and happy harvest.

In all my years.

Canning is second nature to me. Or is it?

Failed Strawberry Jam.

Imagine my shock.

 

So with strawberries being so reasonable and my last jar of jam gone, I decided to make some more. I have been canning and putting food by for about forty years now and this is my first ever failed batch of jam. By failed I mean that it didn't set. Not fatal and I know I can make it over. But...

 

 

Imagine my delight.

After thinking it over for a while I decided it wasn't failure at all. I will set them aside in the pantry and use it for special things. Strawberry shortcake through the winter, cheesecake topping, ice cream topping and even some for atop home made waffles. Being so sweet I may have to add a few fresh strawberries with them, but for now I have strawberry GOLD.