Mud Day!

Hail Storm

We rarely ever have hail where we live, so my

2 year old and 15 year old were fascinated when we had a

pretty good hail storm a few minutes ago! Here are a few

pictures. :)

 

Strawberry Jam!

Today we made strawberry jam with the strawberries

that we picked at the farm.

(Recipe at the bottom of this post.)

 

K mashing the berries

B mashing the berries

K putting the lids in the pot to boil

K mixing pectin and sugar

K mixing the jam

B mixing the jam

let it boil for one minute

Tada! Homemade strawberry jam. :)

Listening for the beautiful "pop" letting me know that

the jars have sealed. :)

 

Strawberry Jam

 

- 6 cups crushed strawberries

- 4.5 cups sugar

- 3 TBS light pectin

 

- large pot for boiling jam

- small pot for boiling lids

- dish towel

- oven mitt or pot holder

- wooden spoon

- heat proof measuring cup with funnel

- 8 half pint jars with lids

- jar funnel

- magnet stick to pick lids up out of water

 

Wash all of your jars and place them in the oven set at 250. This sterilizes

the jars as well as making them ready for the hot jam to be poured into them.

Wash and hull strawberries. Put in a bowl and crush with a potato masher or pulse in

a food crusher. Pour into a large pot. Mix pectin with 1/4 cup of sugar. Stir pectin and

sugar mixture into berries, and bring to a boil over high heat.

Add the rest of the sugar. Stir and return to a hard boil for one minute.

Remove from heat after one minute. Skim the top, removing any pieces of

berry or foam. Boil lids for one minute to sterilize. Take jars out of the oven,

and place onto the dish towel. Pour the hot jam into the jars with a heat proof measuring

cup with a spout. Make sure the glass rims are clean and free from spills, or the jars won't seal.

Place the lids on and screw the rings on tightly.

That's it! Listen for the "pop" sound letting you know that the jars have sealed,

and you are done! :)

 

 

Wordless Wednesday: Strawberry Pickin' !

 By the way, my 2 year old in the picture above ^ didn't like strawberries until

we went and picked them! Then she couldn't stop eating them!!

 

 

For More Wordless Wednesday, visit 5 minutes for Mom!

Homemade butter how-to

Homemade Butter!

Buy a small container of heavy cream. Fill a jar halfway. Then shake! Takes about 8 minutes to separate. Drain off excess buttermilk. Use the same day. (If you want to store it, you need to rinse it more. Just add ice water, and drain. Repeat until water is clear, then you can store it in the fridge for a few weeks.) You can also use the buttermilk that you drained off to make biscuits!