Chloe-"I've got my sword of galasies and I'm going to defeat the villaingers!"
(Ever noticed how villainous villagers usually are?)

Chloe-"Hey! let's tell each other smooky stories!"

I love that kid. A lot.

In other news I just got my fabric from Spoonflower. When I first discovered Spoonflower I was completely enamored with the idea of printing custom fabric. Two or three years later I finally learned enough to feel confident spending money on fabric I designed.

The first five are an homage to the much loved Blossom Festival sheets sets from Cannon. Sold by KMart in the early 70's these were much loved by little girls across the land. (We had the Cannon Malibu Stripe which were also pretty cool.)

Blossom Festival Blue














       Blossom Festival Black and White

                                                                                   

Blossom Festival PinkB

Blossom Festival Lime

Monkey Toile 

To be fair I changed the image size of the monkey toile to a much smaller repeat. I only ordered the extra large repeat by accident. I did make Wub a stinkin' cute shift dress from the mistake. 

Blackberry Jam

Makes about 8 half pint jars
2 quarts Blackberries rinsed
Sugar between 1 1/2 and 3 pounds depending on your liking
Pectin 2 packages or 3-4 tablespoons of bulk

Canning jars or freezer canning jars or leftover whipped cream cheese containers if you got 'em.

Making jam should be fun. NOT stressful, Not bothersome. Fun! If it's not fun for you, you should not make jam. Really.

That being said I am going to tell you how to easy can and seal your jam. A magic trick really. I don't sanitize my jars in boiling water and I don't use a hot water bath because that is too much trouble for me. However, I don't really have freezer/fridge room for freezer jam so shelf stable is important to me. If shelf stable is not important to you, or you just really like insane amounts of boiling water, by all means use whatever method works best for you.

You will need:
Glass canning jars with their rings and unused lids. (Used lids will not reseal) or whatever you want to put the jam in.
Canning funnel. If using metal you can sanitize it with the jars.
Ladle
Tongs
Scale
Metal or ceramic bowl  to soak the lids in.
Large wide pot to boil the jam in.
Blender, food processor or a food mill. ( I prefer the blender)
Mesh strainer if not using a food mill.
Cookie sheet.
Clean, lint free towels.
 A Jam recipe you like. I like my blackberry. 

When you are preserving something you want to keep shelf stable the very most important thing is clean. Clean utensils, clean work surface, clean hands, clean, clean clean.

First off turn your oven to 250. Line a cookie sheet with a clean lint free towel. Thoroughly wash your canning jars and rings in hot soapy water place the rings, ladle, tongs. (metal funnel) and jars right side up on the towel lined cookie sheet and place in the oven for at least one hour. This is a replacement for a boiling water bath to sanitize the jars. Do not skip or skimp on this step.

I want to note if you have a dishwasher with a sanitize cycle you can use it for the initial wash but you still want to put the jars in the oven at 250 while preparing the jam. 

Take a amount to weigh the bowl you are using. It will come in handy when figuring out sugar ratios later.

Mix the pectin with 1/4 cup sugar and set aside.

Crush your blackberries in a blender or food processor (May take two to three batches.) Pour the puree into a metal strainer set over a bowl to catch the puree. Work the puree through the strainer by stirring and mashing until only the seeds and residual pulp are left in the strainer. Discard seeds and pulp. Weigh the puree (subtracting the bowl weight) Start with the puree weight (Mine was 3 lbs 6 oz) and divide it in half to get the initial amount of sugar to add. (In my case 1 lb 11 oz) Stir this into the puree and give it a taste. If it's sweet enough proceed to the cooking stage. If not. Add more sugar two ounces at a time until it is sweetened to your taste.

Place the canning lids (plastic funnel) in a bowl and cover with very hot water.

Pour the puree into a large, heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Watch it. Don't leave. If you have to leave turn it off. It burns quick, It burns hot. It burns high. No one wants that. So yeah, don't leave, turn it off if you have to. Stir it too.

Once it comes to a boil stir in the reserved sugar/pectin mix. Bring it back to a boil and boil hard for one minute. Turn off the heat.

Now here's the semi tricky part. After the jam has boiled for one minute you need to test it for "set" which is how thick your jam is. Pick up some of the hot jam (maybe a half teaspoon) on a metal spoon and put the spoon in the freezer. Wait a minute  then test it.  if it seems jammy enough you can start canning. More like ice cream topping? Needs another tablespoon or two of pectin and another minute at full high boil.

Once the jam is the way you like it.Take the jars and rings out of the oven. (Leave them on the cookie sheet) Turn off the jam. Place the canning funnel in the first jar you want to fill. Use a ladle to fill the jar to within 1/4 inch of the top. Do not overfill or the magic trick won't work. Remove the funnel, put it in the next jar, lather rinse repeat until you run out of jam or jars or both.

Carefully wipe the rims of the jars with a clean lint free damp towel. Place the lid on the jars then the rings. Working carefully and quickly use a dishtowel to tighten the rings of the jars then flip the jars upside down on the counter and allow them to cool for at least 45 minutes.

This is the magic trick (and as far as I know it ONLY works safely with jams and jellies.) The heat from the jam against the lid melts the sealing compound forming a tight seal while the cooling jam creates a vacuum. Once cooled flip them over and test the bouncer to be sure they are tightly sealed. I've never had one not seal but if you do, put the jam in the fridge. It'll be fine in there for six or so months. (Because it'll last six or so months ha ha)

Loosen or even remove the rings from the jars. Properly sealed lids don't need the rings to stay put. Tightened rings will also hide if something went wrong on a bacterial level. Bad stuff gives off gas which will pop the lids off giving you a good warning "Don't eat me!" So loose or no rings discard if lids pop on their own.

Now go enjoy your jam.

In your jammies...

And I'll kick her sir...

Chloe-I'm gonna be a Hi-Yaher when I grow up.
Becky-Like a ninja?
Chloe- No, a Hi-Yaher! and I'm gonna save the world because I've been practicing all day!

One more gift...

The past year and a half has been rough. Losing Dad hit me much harder than I ever knew it would. The economy has been rough. Dear friends have endured hardships and tragedy. The bakery has gone through several major changes, some of which were extremely unpleasant. It's felt like "What now?!?" for far too long.

But through it all I've maintained my sense of humour. Or so I thought.

Last Friday my Uncle George died. I cried. I came home, I listened to Freddy Fender, I cried. I thought about my dad and I cried. I thought about Carol and the cousins and I cried.

They asked us to speak at the service. What could I say that wouldn't make me cry even harder? I sat and I listened to the words others said about George. How giving and kind and funny. Funny...

I remembered as a child when the Clevelands came to town there was always so much laughter. When we were broke and broken there was always something to laugh over.

As an adult I realised that life is hard, often unfair, sometimes tragic and bitter. But life is good and beautiful and filled with joy. You can turn your eyes to the sorrow. You can fill your heart with tragedy. You can swallow down choking mouthfuls of bitter despair or you can feel the true weight of good, find delight in simple beauty and  let joyful laughter spill from your lips.

We can choose what aspects of life are important to us and I try always to choose joy.

But for a while I had lost my way.

Sitting in church listening to people telling their stories of George, of a house filled with love and laughter, of the gifts he gave others, I discovered I knew what I wanted to say. I knew I wanted to tell everyone that I learned that love and laughter are far more important than bitterness and woe and what a precious gift that was.

I didn't say it as well as I wanted and I cried too. But the shadow that had lain across my heart this long time was lifted. My eyes opened to the fact that I had not been "fine". I had let my heart fill with sadness. My sense of humour  had begun to atrophy and I had let cynicism creep up on me. 

I will miss George 

Memory is a treacherous b******.

Tonight after dinner we had to make a run to the store. (For the shop not us.)

We got in got what we needed and were out of the store  in about 15 minutes.

Heading home Karl started singing. He doesn't sing very often at least not seriously so I was enjoying his rendition of "Blueberry Hill".

I smiled because my dad loved that song. He didn't sing very often either but he would belt out a bit of "Blueberry Hill" every once in awhile. Usually directed at my mom.

Then I thought about when he was slipping away from us. His breathing laboured as we sat around him. Holding his hands and patting his head. I didn't want him to be scared. I knew he was dying and I wanted to tell him that I loved him.

He wasn't perfect. He was impatient and cranky and sometimes completely unreasonable.  But he was my dad. He took us on picnics and berry picking and to quirky restaurants. He grew roses like some sort of rose savant.

There isn't enough time to say "I love you and you love me and I remember those times and always will." To say "We didn't always agree but none of it matters because you're my dad and you did a damn fine job of being my dad." So many things you can't say because the words are trapped by the tears you are trying not to cry. So little time to hold his hand and pat his head and hope that he's not scared.

So I opened up my mouth and the first thing that could get past the tears was "I found my thrill, on Blueberry Hill" It was a little shaky but it helped that Cate and Lora joined in. "On Blueberry Hill, when I found you..."

"The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill and it lingered until my dreams came true.
The wind in the willows played loves sweet melody
But all of those vows we made were never to be
Though we're apart you follow me still
For you were my thrill on Blueberry Hill."

So we talked to him as best we could and held his hand and sang a few songs to him. I think he knew we were there. I think he knew the things we couldn't say, didn't have time to say.

I started crying as Karl sang. I didn't want to cry. I liked the singing. I liked the song. I didn't want it to end.

Things do end though. I try to always remember good things about Dad. To laugh when Chloe sticks her tongue out the side of her mouth when she's concentrating and somehow manages to look just like Grandpa Geo. To remember berry picking and farmer's markets, long, pointless drives into the night and the simple joy of knowing the best and oddest places to eat. I want to be happy when I think of him

 but sometimes, I cry.

Erm...

So Tuesday I was sewing lapped t'shirts for Ben and Jude and Chloe was sitting at the table drawing. She paused, looked up at me and said. "Mommy, what's a virgin?"

My brain went into panic mode.  

Interior Dialogue-"Where did she hear that word? She doesn't hang around older kids..was it on t.v.? Oh God! how do I dumb this down? The farthest we've got on where do babies come from is 'Mommies and Daddies make them.' Ack, okay calm down..."

Mommy-(very casually)"Where did you hear that word baby?"

Chloe-"Martha Speaks!"

Interior Dialogue-"Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, they wouldn't say that word on Martha Speaks, what word did they say. Think, think, think..."

Mommy-"You mean version?"

Chloe-"Yes, version."

Mommy-(In a much relieved voice.) Okay, see how Mommy is making both Ben and Jude the same type of shirt but each one is slightly different? That means I made two different versions."

Chloe looks at me for a moment then says- "No Mommy, like you don't like something."

Mommy-"Oh...aversion!" (Such as I have an aversion to this topic)

That said...

Lapped T'Shirts for Ben and Jude

Two different versions...

Jolene

I've been trying to catch her singing this for weeks now. Thank goodness for Terie!