Tarts for the Sweet

Skye found this recipe in one of my collection of canning books, Sunset Home Canning. (Hey, it's an addiction -- I simply cannot pass one up!) Aren't they pretty? She made them all by herself. Actually, I picked up store-bought pie crust for her to use. We were getting ready for her Suzuki Book II party, making two dishes for a potluck picnic, and cooking for a friend with sick family, and I just didn't have time to teach her to make pie crust. She was fearlessly ready to make it from her Granny's recipe, but I suggested she take a short cut this one time and promised to teach her how to make pie crust soon. She used two favors of jam from our pantry: blueberry and raspberry. Have I mentioned that I have discovered the joys of homemade raspberry jam? I'm currently hoarding a second round of raspberries in the freezer for another batch of jam.

Ike

Hurricane Ike came ashore hundreds of miles from our home in northwest Arkansas, yet we still felt his touch. We got up early Saturday morning to make phone calls to check on family in Houston. Love's sister and her kids and my niece and her husband all rode out Ike in place, with only a loss of electricity and a few shingles.

Ike blew into our corner of the world much weakened, but he still left his touch. Neighbors told us today that the wind roared last night, but we uncharacteristically slept through the whole thing. We awoke this morning to lots of pecans and pecan limbs on the ground, but no major tree losses. (We did see lots of broken Bradford pears on our way to church this morning -- good riddance.) We have the heaviest pecan crop on the trees we've had in years, but first Gustav and now Ike have left lots of those immature pecans on the ground. A good lesson for Skye -- never count your pralines until they're cooled.

Every pepper bush in the vegetable garden is now leaning at an angle somewhat less the 90 degrees, but none are uprooted. It was tempting to try to right them, but I decided the best course of action was leave them be -- they will surely grow as good crooked as upright.

The raspberries are all leaning, but once again: no harm done -- I think.

We did pick up ten pounds of windfalls from under the apple tree. I studied a bit and decided on applesauce. The Fujis aren't quite ripe yet, but the applesauce is fabulous. My only fear is that Skye is about to become an applesauce snob -- she has already declared this first batch far superior to the stuff from the grocery store.

8 Cups of Heaven

Once the novelty wore off harvesting raspberries, Skye stepped aside and let me at the bushes. Oh, she still slips out to the Berry Patch to graze, but for the past week or so, I have been harvesting a 1/2 cup, cup, or 2 cups a day from our Heritage bushes. Unlike Skye, I don't eat them. I squirrel them away, dumping them into a freezer container each evening. Last night, I hit my goal: 8 cups of frozen berries. Tonight, I made jam.

It is glorious jam, destined for early morning toast, jam tarts, and pb&j lunchbox sandwiches. Check out the mashed berries, along with the perfect mashing tool: Love's Mamaw's meat tenderizer. The flat end is perfect for mashing any berry, and these berries were perfect for mashing!

First Apple Harvest

My husband, who is not a farmer, says the apples on the Fuji tree are going to break the limbs. My brother, who is a farmer, says the apples on the Fuji tree are going to break the limbs. I guess I’d better start harvesting apples.

I did thin the crop, I really did. But the apples are huge and the tree is loaded. I picked up a windfall yesterday and tested it – yummy! Even though my ripening calendar says to let them ripen through October or even November, I’m going to begin selective harvest this week to ease the stress on the tree.

One problem, though: what am I going to do with the frozen apples that didn’t get used up from last year? I’m thinking I’m going to cook them for applesauce. Any ideas? Can I make good applesauce from frozen apples?

Blondes ARE More Fun

Skye came tearing into the house yesterday evening with her usual refrain: "Momma, look!" And just what was she waving in front of my face this time? Our first ever ripe golden raspberry! I tried her patience greatly, but I made her refrain from eating it until we took its picture and then went back to the berry patch and picked a red raspberry for a comparison shot. Isn't it a beauty? It's an Anne, which I set out this spring. I didn't get to eat the berry, but Skye reports that it tastes very similar to the red ones. I know some of the "red ones" are Heritage raspberries, and I suspect that they may all be.

The raspberry harvest is coming along nicely. I'm using my usual philosophy concerning the harvest of berries. Skye picks them, and she gets to eat as many as she wants. This scheme does several things at once: develops ownership in the berry patch in her, provides her with healthy treats, I don't have to pick (much), and I will eventually get some for my projects, if not this year, then next year. And it has worked well so far. We now have way more blueberries than she can eat each summer, and she considers those blueberries a family project -- and they are. This year, the second year for blackberry production, I made a cobbler and a batch of jelly, even with Skye eating all she wanted -- which was lots, after I taught her that the only proper way to eat blackberries is with cream (real cream, not non-dairy whipped topping) and sugar. So far, I have squirreled away two pints of raspberries this fall. I hope I can make jam from frozen raspberries. I've been juggling so fast since the school year started that I haven't taken the time to research that one. But the next golden raspberry -- it's mine!