Jay's Jammin'

  We go to McDaniel’s farm market a lot this time of year. They have a good selection of what we want, muskmelon, apples, onions, summer and winter squash.

  Not to forget pumpkins and gourds. And potatoes & tomatoes, you get the idea.

  Momma and me enjoying a day in the fresh(cold)air, picking up more apples on Monday. Why does that guy always have his mouth open, anyway?

  Another 1/2 bushel of Early Gold Delicious turned into 12 & 1/2 pints of Apple Pie Filling and 20 jars of Apple Rhubarb Chutney.

  Now I have to rearrange the stock on the shelving in the basement and label them so I can find them among about 40 varieties!!

  Saturday started our first tussle with the apple harvest. We picked up a 1/2 bushel of Yellow Delicious and some Wine saps for applesauce at Parker’s Orchard in Millington, Then we went over to McDaniel’s Farm Market for some Fujis and Galas for jams. I’m running down more often, by the time I awoke from a “nap” it was 9pm.

  Sunday was better, woke up, fixed breakfast for Momma and myself. Then we got started around 11am.

  By 10:30pm we had 9 pints of Momma’s applesauce with Cognac, 6 pints of Jay’s applesauce with cinnamon, 11 jars of Apple Pie Jam, and 18 jars of Dutch Apple Pie Jam. I guess we deserve a nice rest.  Later.

  We got off the jam wagon for a while this week. We bought a bushel of tomatoes on Monday and made SOUP. Tomato Bisque and and Tomato & Basil. 18 and 14 pints respectively. It gave me a chance to get the pressure canner out, the whole 14 pints of tomato basil fit into 1 load. Not 1oz of sugar in the whole project!
  Now back to the real thing, Apples!

  Funny subject, but that’s what occurred this week.

  This was the 50th anniversary of Utica, Michigan class of 1959. I never managed to go to any others. There were 73 of a class of 224 that made it.

  Nice fruit table to start. Open bar, but not many could indulge, health and other problems. Personally, I fnd tbl tawking on the intrwbs. OK, sober up.

  Looks like we three should have stuck to the fruit table. I didn’t know 50 years could add that much girth. All three of us would not have been over 160 lbs back then. .good party, anyway.From the left, Reuben Thonerfelt, Richard Schmitt(Park) and myself Albert Axsom.

  Today as I went off to dialysis, Mary tackled the 80lbs of beets we picked up yesterday. She was going to clean, peel and cut them up. I got home, had lunch and took a nap. When I woke up and came out to the kitchen…

this greeted me, almost all 49 pints finished. I only got to help on about 5 jars plus make the lables.

Saturday, at the request of my financial adviser to be a “fly on the wall”, we welcomed Tim into the dome for a session of jelly making. He wanted to learn how to make a seedless red raspberry jelly. We had gotten the fruit earlier so as to have it ready for Saturday. Do you know how long it take for raspberry juice to drain through a jelly bag? Two hours, that’s what. Tim very patiently stood there all that time, slowly stirring and scraping down the inside of the jelly bag, until we had the needed 4 cups of juice. After a break for lunch we proceeded with the regular steps in jelly making, heat juice and Sure-Jell to boil, add sugar, bring to boil again, put in jars with lids and rings, water bath for 10 minutes. WATER BATH, OMG, I forgot to turn gas on under canning kettle!
  Got water hot and processed jars for 10 minutes. Total output,14 4oz jars and 1 more recruit to the canning forces.

  Cinnamon pears next, and cider jelly.

  My glaucoma surgery with Dr Imami came out well, cataract repaired also. Then after 30 days back to Dr Ross for vitrectomy on the same eye. Recovering nicely.
  Since then we’ve put up red raspberry, Damson Plum Jam,  and Tangy Plum Sauce. Next up, cider jelly, and black raspberry jam .
  And in a turn-around I’ll be helping my financial adviser how to make seedless red raspberry jelly. More news anon.

  I awoke the next day to find Momma going through all the receipts for the last month at the dining table. Guess what? We were both being delusional. There was no record of any such purchase of jars.So she got on the road to Millington to pick some up at Rosati‘s When she returned we got busy and put up thirteen 12oz and two 16oz jars of dilled green beans. 
  OK, where are those plums

  Well, we stopped at Mcdaniel Farms store as the last stop on our “save mileage” tour of drugstore(drop off scrip),doctors office(pick up eye med sample), grocery (dog food & treats, bread, milk, grapes,eggs,and cat treats) Conlee Oil to fill truck(20.1 gallons), drugstore to pick up presciption spray for freezing needle site for dialysis.
  Got some green beans, garlic, and dill for making Dilly Beans. We planned ahead the other day & got a case of 12 oz jars for canning them. Arrived home, cannot find those @#%&^$# jars anywhere in this dome. Are we in the right one? There are over 200 domes in this tri-county area. No, there’s our dog & cat. This must be the blace. Out again in the morning for jars.

  I never know how many jars of jam, pie filling and canned fruit there is in a bushel . Yet we buy it any way. Then wonder why it takes so long to process. The peaches from Montrose Orchards were a little hard so we were from Friday the 14th to this morning finishing them.

  These were all that were left to do this morning. All done! Six pints of pie filling. Thirty- Two 1/2 pints of jam. Sixteen 1/2 pints of Peach Melba. . Twelve pints of cinnamon peaches. Eight 1/2 pints of peach and berry jam.
  Damn, we still have jars that are empty, the hunt starts for plums.

  We tried working with the peaches this morning, but they’re holding on to their pits for dear life. So we made the best of it using all those odd chunks and using leftover red raspberries, turning them into 8 jars of peach jam and 16 jars of Peach Melba jam. See MommasCorner for pics. Will try again in the morning.