Can Jam April - Herbs: Blueberry-Mint Jam

When the April CanJam was announced as herbs, I wasn't very excited.

Herbs?

I want to start using things from my garden for the CanJams, but chives are the only herb growing out there right now. Sure I have a tsp. of a few other herbs that are starting to sprout up, but I didn't want to chop off their little baby heads.

I just did garlic-onion jam last CanJam, so I also didn't want to use the chives.

I still have a freezer full of blueberries from our berry picking vacation, so I knew that I wanted to use blueberries, but what herb goes with blueberries?

At first, I thought about Lavender. This Lavender? No the herb lavender!

I've heard of Blueberry-lavender jam, but my Mom suggested mint (Thanks Mom!).

Mint?

Really?

That's so weird - it just might work!
I just happened to have homemade mint extract in my freezer too. I made it last summer from the huge mint plant (bush) in my backyard. Sorry there aren't any pics of the mint extract process, I made it before I started taking pictures of everything.

So here it is:

Blueberry-Mint Jam

4 cups blueberries

2 cups mint extract (directions below)

1 Tbs bottled lemon juice

1 tsp butter

4 cups sugar

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

Bring blueberries, mint extract, lemon juice and butter to a rolling boil. Boil for 10 mins and then add sugar. Return to a boil. Boil for 10 mins. Add pectin and return to a boil. Boil at a rolling boil for 1 min. Transfer to prepared jars and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 mins.

To make mint extract: Take fresh mint leaves, remove the stems and measure the mint leaves. Put mint leaves in a bowl. Add boiling water to the bowl - if you have 2 cups mint leaves add one cup boiling water, if you have 1 cup mint leaves add 1/2 cup boiling water - you get the idea. Let mint leaves steep until cool or overnight in the fridge. Strain mint leaves from liquid and pour mint extract into ice cube trays. Freeze mint extract or skip the freezing and use in the recipe above.

Blueberries and mint extract

Boil!

Spoony likes the taste - yum!

With sugar and pectin.

In the jar.

Glossy

Spoony! Did you eat it all?!?

Nope. He saved a few jars.

Jars fresh from the canner.

I found a few mint sprigs in the garden and sacrificed them for this picture.

Poor plant babies.

So.................what does it taste like?!?

Yummy!

Fresh, clean, very blueberry-ish with a nice minty aftertaste, but not overpoweringly mint. In fact, if you didn't know there was mint in this jam I don't think you could pick out the flavor. It has an intriguing flavor, but like the Carrot Jam, no one would ever think blueberry-mint jam.

Oh, also this jam took me exactly 1 hour to make from start to cans sealing on the counter.

My Egg-celent Seed Planter

I planted some Lincoln shell peas. The seeds are from last year, so I put in some extra seeds. If they all sprout - Yay! If half sprout - Yay! Either way I will get some peas - Yay!

I covered the peas with some straw to hold in the moisture.
Moisture = good germination = more peas!
The straw was free! From the brush site. It's amazing what people will throw away.


This is my egg-celent seed planter. It's the egg holder that came with my refrigerator.
I put a few seeds in each opening, removed the seed spacer and lightly covered the seeds with soil. Hopefully, this way the seeds will be spaced and I won't have to thin the seedlings. I always promise to thin them, but then I forget about it until it's too late.

Rabbit Vs. Plants - Duh!

Tansy recently expanded her horizons.

This morning, I let her out of her house and into the x-pen, before I took a shower.

15 minutes later I returned to find my baby had turned into a teenager!

She figured out that she could jump up onto her house and get to the potted rosemary and grape vine. Half of the grape was gone and most of the rosemary was pruned to twigs.

*sigh*

They grow up so quickly. Soon she'll want the keys to the car and a later curfew or at least keys to her x-pen and late night banana snacks.

3 Penny Acre

I saw to a great band on Saturday.

3 Penny Acre

The are doing a Hwy 71 tour and I just happen to live near Hwy 71!

Wowa! I never thought there would be a positive side to living near a highway.

Before going to the show, I didn't know anything about them.

My Mom bought the tickets and told me we were taking my Grandparents out for their anniversary.

Hey, free night out AND I love my Grandparents! How could I say no?

3 Penny Acre is VERY AWESOME - if you can, GO to their next show!

Their harmonies are amazing. Seriously.

I have to say though, the crowd was a little um.......geriatric.

Is that a nice way to say old(ish) and subdued?

Anyway, great band.

I would love to hear 3 Penny Acre and Highland Reign play together.

Catty and Tansy

My cat Catty loves to "play" with Tansy. She watches Tansy and sometimes puts her paw through the bars of the x-pen. I don't know how they will eventually get along (once Tansy is spayed), but I'm glad there is a cage between them!

Although, Tansy doesn't really seem to be too bothered by Catty.

Showing Off Plants

Just a post to show off the beautiful plants!

Aren't they gorgeous?

My Mom and I are throwing around the idea of having a plant sale in mid-May.

We started way too many plants (again - how does that happen every year?).

Last year we gave away the extras, but this year I think it would be fun to have a plant sale.

We could sell plants and I could sell a few of my cement mushrooms and glass plate flowers.

So, if you live in central Minnesota and want some plants........

Garden Redo - Totally New!

I changed the garden!

Now, there are 12 beds in the veggie half with 3 foot paths between each bed.

I LOVE the 3 foot paths. It is so much easier to get a wheelbarrow in between the beds. Also, the layout is much easier to navigate.

Finally - FINALLY! I have the pond exactly the way I want it. No more moving- I promise.

This will be a little patio area, as soon as I can move the tulips.

I still have a lot to do. There are some interesting projects I have in mind.

Re-a-lly interesting.

If you speak Minnesotan, you know interesting has a different meaning here.

It is a polite way to say- gross, disgusting, never-do-that-again, but this time it means strange, unusual, weird.

Wa-ha! Stay tuned!

Garden Clean-up

I have been working on cleaning my garden up this week.

It was a long, hard winter and there was a lot to clean up.

First, I picked up all the junk, trash, ect.

Then, I fixed the pond.

Last Fall I took most of the rocks off of the liner and took out the stream. I ran out of time and it got too cold, so I finished it this week.

Finally, I have the pond exactly the way I want it!

After only moving it 10 times!

Then I placed 2 more raised beds in area I want to make into a small patio. I just have to wait until the tulips bloom, and I can move them, to get started on the patio.

Then I started moving all my raised beds. Again.

Yes, I am crazy.

Cement Garden Mushrooms

I made a cement mushroom for my garden.

It was easy and fun!

First, I found a nice big bowl, sprayed it with Pam and then covered the bowl with plastic wrap.

Then I mixed up some cement and poured a little into the bottom of the bowl.

I put a few pieces of wire mesh (window screen) in the cement for added strength.

Then I topped up the bowl with cement and then added a bottle to each bowl.

The one on the right turned out to be too small (it looked silly), so I poured cement into a bigger bowl and added the too small mushroom.

I let the cement sit for about 10 minutes, until it was firm, then I popped the mushrooms out.

I put the mushrooms in a plastic bag with some water to cure.

Finally, I painted it with outdoor paint and gave it several layers of varnish.

Tansy and Crocuses

I took a few pictures of Tansy outside in the crocuses.

Just pictures of Tansy!

Spring!

She really liked the flavor of crocus flowers.

Jump! Whoops, she's still a baby and she couldn't quite make it over the crocuses.

"Nummy mo fwowers!"

Garden Path Advice?

These are pictures of my garden last year.

I need some help!

I would like to have green paths in between the raised beds, but I'm afraid grass will work its way into the raised beds.

I've used chipped wood for the last couple years, but it takes a lot of wood chips and they decompose, so I have to haul in more chips every Spring.

Last year I didn't even get all the paths covered with chips.

Do you have any advice?

What do you use in between your raised beds?