Leaves on Fire

Everyone has a favorite time of the year, for me it is Autumn.  Leaves burning bright and a respite from the Summer's heat refreshes my outlook on life.  The cooler weather also brings boots, scarves, jeans, and flannel out of the closet and this makes me happy, almost giddy.  During the long Summer months the kids and I would be trapped inside from mid-morning to close to sunset.  Now we can explore anytime of the day.

The native plums leaves turn every fall color imaginable.  Tyler loves to pick everything and anything that comes from trees and bushes.  So we decided to gather leaves.  Travis was more determined to find all things edible.  I helped him find 3 plums, no pit this time.  I wonder what my explorers see through their 3 and 1 year old eyes. I am sure it would be a fascinating perspective.

Autumn is also a time to reap the harvest.  There are pears, plums, grapes, and raspberries to indulge in, and we do!! I wish this time of year was not so fleeting, but we will savor every moment, especially carmel Apple Pops (also makes me giddy).

native plum harvest and misadventures in jam making

When the plums turn I know Summer in on it's decline and fall is near.  This year is the exception Summer is still in full swing and every edible fruit is early.  This is due to the record breaking heat and drought.  Our plum thickets are on drip line so they do not have to worry about the lack of water so they produced massive amounts of fruit.  Every year depending if I have an infant (they seem to take up my spare time) I try to make plum jam.  Two years ago the raspberries and plums were ready at the same time.  Oh it was sooooooo good, sweet and tart and perfection in every bite.  Well, my raspberries are still white, so plain old plum jam it is.

We invited our neighbors Aidan and his lovely momma Stacey to help pick plums.  Tyler loves to pick anything edible.  To his mother's exasperation he is bound and determined to pick every unripe pear on the pear tree and peach off the peach tree.  So now that something is actually ripe he and his momma are very excited.  We also love that that we can share this harvest with special friends.

Travis wonders how many plums he can sneak while I take pictures

Travis only managed to swallow one pit.  Which I deem as a success considering how many he went after.  Now I am just waiting and watching for native plum leaves to poke out of his ears.  

Feeding the fish is FUN!

Fish hitting the surface

 Now time to process.  I really really wanted to use my victorio food strainer to prepare the fruit.  I will never, never use that machine for native plums.  From years past to make the jam only takes 2 or 3 hours.  This time it took 5 or 6 hours.  Partly from me ignoring directions and the plum's skins are to numerous and tough.  I foolishly left the pits in the first time and it jammed.  It takes at least 15 to 20 minutes to unjam the darn thing.  The strainer jammed 3 times and my I was done.  Oh the curses came and they came continuously and fluently.  By the time I had 6 and 2/3 cup i was 4 and 1/2 hours into my project. Oh the humanity!

Jam time!  I like to use the low pectin when I jam.  The flavors of sweet and tart set the fruit off perfectly.  Ball also has a great website for measurements and recipes http://www.freshpreserving.com/tools/reference/pectin.aspx .  The recipe is for 8 jelly jars, I only had pint jars so I received 4 jars for all my labor.  Disappointing but I learned many lessons from this plum season.

Wash the pretty plums

heat up plums so seeds are easier to pop out

Never use this to process plums from plum thicket.  I usually use a food processor and will from now on.  

A mess, I won't even show you the state of my sink.  

Follow the recipe and make your jam

All done!

Grow garden Grow

I absolutely positively love my garden this year.  I read this post on pinterest the other day, "Gardening is my therapy".  I am in full agreement.  I have even escaped my boys and picked weeds in the 100 degree heat multiple times this year.  I can solve the world's problems, come up with new ideas, and become reinvigorated for the day all in 45 mins of pulling those pesky weeds.

We laid weed barrier and soaker hose this spring.  The past few years (basically when I had children) the garden has been an embarrassment.  Something had to change and change it did.  I still have weeds but I can see my produce.

Most of my plants are happy but I have had a few failures. Some aphid attacks, a heirloom tomato plant that wouldn't produce (soaker hose wasn't watering) and the replanting of beans, carrots, and lettuce (very little lettuce and carrots came up even after that).

My success include exuberant early girl tomato plants, massive amounts of squash (anyone can grow squash not sure if that is an accomplishment ), happy herbs, and lots of beans.

We also have pears and peaches for the first time.  We have so many peaches I think the branches will break because of the weight.  A plethora of plums and grapes awaits me this fall. Really I have never seen the grapes this healthy and happy. I have so many plans for my vegetables that include salsas, jams, jellies, and pickles.  I made an investment in a heavy duty vegetable strainer to make my life much easier.  Hopefully no microburst or hail will disrupt my plans, knock on wood.

I know Travis isn't in the garden in this picture, but he is growing like a weed.  Plus he really really wanted to come out with me.  Too bad it was bed time.

C'mon rain.  We need a end to this excessively dry weather!

It looks as if the heavens are shining down upon my early girls and they are basking in the glow.

Rhubarb was a new addition this year

Darn that barnyard grass.  I let it get too big and now when I weed the onions I pull them up as well as the grass.  

Lime basil

Pretty lavender

Baby wasps love the mint