Can Jam March - Allium

The third Can Jam challenge of the year was allium.

I was happy, because I have lots of garlic left over from last year's garden .

I also had 2 Copra onions from last year's garden that I was saving for something special.

Something special like Onion Garlic Jam!

This is seriously good stuff.

When I'm cooking something and I really like it, this is what I say to myself, "Mmmm, oh yeah. This is some seriously good stuff. I'll just try a little more."

Onion Garlic Jam

4 cups cooked garlic/onion puree -For texture if desired, reserve 1 cup onions cooked, but unpureed
4 cups brown sugar

3 cups vinegar

2 Tbs salt

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

Variety of home grown garlic.

Garlic bulbs ready for roasting in a 400F degree oven, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt.



My 2 normal large sized onions and a JUMBO onion from the grocery store.
It was huge!

Slicing up a Copra onion. It is amazing how well these onions store through the winter. This onion is over 6 months old.

More onion slicing.

Cooking the onion slices with a little butter and salt.

The salt breaks the cell walls in the onions and helps them release more water.

Less water = more onion flavored jam.

Roasted garlic ready for pureeing.

All the ingredients in the pot ready to be boiled up.

Bring everything to a boil and then add pectin.

Return to a boil and continue cooking for 1 min at a rolling boil that can't be stirred down.

I cooked mine for about 5 mins at a rolling boil, because I wanted a very firm jam.

Pectin added - reboiling.

Pour into sterilized jars and adjust 2 piece tops.

Process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 mins.

This post to me a ridiculously long time to write, because I have a new fur baby distraction.

Tansy!

I also worked 7 out of the last 8 days..........my one day off? I made jam! LOL

New Bunny!

Do you remember in Anne of Green Gables when Matthew Cuthburt goes to the General Store to buy Anne a dress with puffy sleeves?

He ends up buying a rake, 50 lbs of brown sugar, ect.

Well, today I went to the "General Store" looking for straw.

I thought the Ladies might like some straw to dig in. I gave them a couple bales last Spring, they had fun digging through them and then I composted the straw.

I didn't find any straw.

It couldn't hurt to take a peek at the baby chicks - right?

Awwwww - there was one baby bunny all alone.

It came right up to my hand and let me pet it.

Awwwww - it fit perfectly in my hand.

It was so cute!

No.

I bought some canning jars, a magazine, some more canning lids and went home.

.

.

.

Then three hours later I went back to the store and bought her!

I think she is a she, because she was in the bin marked female, but of course she might turn out to be a he.

Only time will tell.

Now I need to name her.

She was only sniffing.


Catty says, "Whaz that!"



"Lemme out! I chew you big fur ball!"

Update: She has a name! - Tansy Tweed.

Daring Cook's Challenge - Risotto

Blog check in line:
The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

First we had to make our own stock. The recipe called for chicken stock.

But you probably all know how I feel about that!

No ladies in my soup, thanks very much!

I used the same recipe here that I used to make the soup for the Potato Dinner Party.

Roasted onions, carrots, celery, cabbage, bay leaves, garlic paste, basil, thyme, miso and water.

I used about 3 quarts of water.


Brought everything to a boil.
Let it simmer.
When the carrot was soft, I tasted the stock and adjusted the flavors.



Then I strained the stock.
I had 2 quarts and 1 1/2 pints of stock.

Ingredients for risotto.

I had a little bit of trouble making this, because the rice was vacuum sealed.

Which is weird for me, but I suppose it keeps the rice fresh.

Saute onion.

Add rice and 3ml wine.

1 quart stock.
Stir, stir, boil.

Add 2nd quart of stock.

Repeat stir, stir, boil.

Done!

It was OK.

But I really liked it the next day.

I fried 2 cups of risotto in a little butter, added 2 of the Ladies' eggs and some frozen mixed vegetables.

That was good.

Learning To Knit

My Grandma taught me how to knit today!

I'm so excited! She gave me a ball of blue yarn and 2 pink knitting needles, so now I am working on a scarf.

Our next lesson will be purling. Or maybe casting off first and THEN purling.

It's really fun!

She was a great teacher too - very patient and super encouraging.

I love my Grandma!

Potato Starts From the USDA

Last year I followed a link to a USDA web site. They requested your name, address, e-mail, ect. and in return you could request seeds, bulbs or starts.

Then they requested that you collect growth information about the items that they sent you and report back to them at the end of the growing season.

They didn't have to send me the seeds!

But they did

And they sent little letters with the "germplasms".

~

"It is the policy of the National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) to provide available materials in small quantities for research and education purposes, not for home gardening use. Please understand that this is a one time distribution because it is not our function to provide seed for home use gardening uses. We encourage you to save seeds for your own use. Standard easy to grow types are available from commercial sources. Within one year we will send you our standard forms asking for information about the performance of material you have received. The information you provide will help us better serve our mission."

~

"It is the policy of the NPGS to provide available materials in small quantities for research, education and genetic improvement purposes, not for home gardening or personal hobby type use. The material in the US NPGS is maintained to support research. While "research" can sometimes be defined loosely, our policy is not to distribute seed to homeowners "for their veggie gardens". The reason being that government agencies are not allowed to maintain programs that would be considered competing with private industry."

~

So.....they don't want to send their stuff to homeowners?

Only renters? How unfair!

Naw, I'm just being sarcastic.

I do have a hard time imagining someone (who? a scientist?) carefully tracking the growth of 10 seeds or 2 potato starts and then reporting to the government.

Of course, maybe if they have a grant......but hey! I'm saving the government money! They don't have to pay me to test and report - I'm doing it for free.

Really, if they didn't want to they didn't have to send the seeds to me.

~

Another thing - they sent the potatoes to me at the end of August. I live in Minnesota, so the potatoes had to live in my fridge for 6 months. Finally, on March 1st I took them out, because they weren't getting any better looking.

I would hate to kill them and have the USDA track me down!

I cut each potato into pieces. Some were bigger, so I cut them into 3 pieces with 2 eyes on each piece. Then I let them 'cure' overnight, exposed to the air.

I carefully marked each planting square with a number, letter and sign.
Then I wrote down the information in my planting book.

Planting the starts.







Four days later - we have green shoots!

I usually plant my potato starts outside, but these little babies couldn't wait another 2 months.

It will be interesting to see how this experiment works out.

Varieties started: Fortuna - Granola - Gladstone - Ottar - Bernadette - Iris

Tomato Starts Growing

The seeds' babies are still growing!

Starting Seeds - Spring 2010

It's time to start seeds!

Last week I went over to my Mom's house and we started peppers, eggplants, geraniums and petunias.

The propagation unit showing off its wicking layer.

Spreading in the starter soil.

Pressing the soil into each cell.

Seeds ready to be covered (except for the petunias - they need light to germinate).

Everything written out in the planting book.

The grow lab.


Fast forward ONE WEEK..........................................

Bing!

We have sprouts!

These are almost ready for transplanting.

They are so tiny!

Just to show you how we position the light over the propagation unit.