I have many blog posts just waiting to be written, the last few months have been hard and strange and I am just starting to feel a little like myself again, although I think I have been forever altered, hopefully for the better.
We had our first snow of the season here on Quail Run Farm, we feel snug and cozy inside the warm farm house, as we prepare for Christmas and work on a few indoor projects.
In August I got a great deal on flats of strawberries.
(yes, I said August, I guess I’m a little behind on posting, I feel like my life skipped over most of September and all of October)
We hadn’t had strawberry jam in the house for years
(I refuse to buy jams)
so the girls and I went right to work making up loads of strawberry jam.
At the end of a very long day I was left with a bunch of strawberries, not enough for a full batch of jam, so I canned them in syrup, it was a grand experiment that paid off, these little gems are really good on top of yogurt or ice cream.
Everything else made it into jars and jars of strawberry jam
Even though I feel as if the world has and should stop
it hasn’t,
and life goes on,
seasons change,
children grow,
and the pain
it’s folded up neatly in your heart
as you put on a smile for the world.
Autumn has come to the farm, and we’ve been busy harvesting, preserving, and winterizing everything. I have lots of pictures and a few posts to add in the next few days. For now here are a few pictures, showing what we have been up to.
September 21, 2013,
Our Angel Son was born
at 20 weeks gestation.
While there are no words for the crushing grief we feel.
Our hearts are comforted
because we know
families are ETERNAL!
and we will have our baby boy back someday.
“In His Constant Care” Simon Dewy
Lead, Kindly Light
Lead, Kindly Light, amid th’encicrling gloom;
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene-one step enough for me
I was not ever thus, nor pray’d that thou
shouldst lead me on.
I loved to choose and see my path; but now,
Lead thou me on!
I loved the garish day, and spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years.
So long thy pow’r hath blessed me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O’er moor and fen, o’er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile,
Which I have loved long since, and lost a while!
At the first of the season I was gifted two jalapeño plants.
We aren’t really pepper people, but I figured it would hurt to grow some, and maybe I would get enough to make salsa or chili sauce. I then bought some regular bell peppers, just in case I could pull the salsa thing off.
Well it didn’t really work, I never got enough tomatoes the same time I got peppers to make it worth whipping up a batch of salsa, when I bottle things I go big, or go home. If I can’t make a lot, it just isn’t worth it to me.
However, that isn’t always the case for a few specialty items, things I wouldn’t want to have dozens and dozens of jars. Pepper jelly is one of those specialty items. I love pepper jelly, but we don’t eat jars at a time, a dozen lasts us well over a year, so a dozen is what I make.
I mixed two recipes from the Ball Canning Books. I didn’t make a true jelly, because I was way to lazy that day to let the pulp drip for hours to make a clear juice, it is more of a pepper jam.
.
I cut and seeded my peppers, using about a two to one ratio, more bell peppers than jalapeño, while I like the kick jalapeños give, I don’t like it to be too hot. 
Pretty green juice, the peppers all ground up ready to add to the cooking pot, along with sugar and pectin. It looks so pretty and green, but has a little bite if you breath too deeply. 
(this is what happens if you get distracted by homeschooling the kiddos and the sugar mixture boils over. I will say, a glass flat top stove makes cleaning up a mess like that a breeze) 
Pepper Jelly (jam) all bottled up and ready for cheese and crackers this winter.