Hello, everyone!

I have been a long-time lurker but haven't posted on usenet in ages. I
feel like I know many of you, having read your helpful posts for such
a long time.

I've been preserving since 1981, watched it being done even before
that, and was lucky enough to marry into a family with lots of canning
experience. Like anything, one has to keep up with the times and
study new techniques which I've been doing all along.

We moved to our new home almost two years ago, with several acres for
gardens and orchards. We brought several scions of our huge Celeste
fig (I still miss "Mama Fig") and our entire grove of blueberries to
the new place. We added a couple of LSU Purples to our Celestes. Most
of the fruit trees were unscathed in the last freak cold snap in
February that took us down to 11 deg. F. A few of the Celestes and
one LSU were frozen to the ground but re-sprouted from the bottom. All
of our planted blueberries (almost every type of rabbiteye you can
think of) made it just fine and some are loaded with berries. The
rest are loaded with blooms. The dwarf container blueberries,
Jellybean and Peach Sorbet, are new to us and live on the deck.
They're loaded with berries and I look forward to seeing how they
taste. Sure are cute! They overwintered in the house with our citrus
trees (Meyer Lemons, Hamlin & Washington oranges, and a key lime).
I've already used the Meyers in a few pies and have frozen some zest -
we'll see how it holds up. I hope we'll have enough this year to make
jam exclusively from our own berries.

We are fortunate to have hundreds of blackberry and dewberry plants
all over the property and all are in full bloom (George, I am envious
that blackberry season is already upon you there!) We planted some
this year in an area protected from deer - Kiowi and a thornless
variety called Arapaho. The best jelly I ever made was with last
year's blackberries and dewberries with a wee bit of Chambord thrown
in. Barb, are you around? That one was inspired by one of your
recipes. People were fighting for it, as well as some Blueberry
Orange Preserves with a splash of Grand Marnier. Can't buy that at
the grocery store!

We've planted tomatoes in the veggie garden already and some stuff in
the herb garden and hope that we have as wonderful a bounty as we did
last year. We have many quarts of last year's tomatoes in the pantry
and lots of dried herbs I was able to dehydrate.

We worked hard last year to make raised beds for everything (we live
in central Alabama; if you dig down more than 3 inches you'll hit
rock) but it makes the results that much sweeter. Preserving your own
veggies and fruits is so satisfying, isn't it? With all the rain
we've had this weird spring, I hope we'll have good luck this year.

Sorry to have written a book but I thought it best to get the intros
and background out of the way. I hope traffic picks up in this
newsgroup now that the growing and preserving season is at hand for
some of us, just starting for others and is on the horizon for the
rest. Let's hope wintery weather is TRULY out of the forecast for
awhile.

On 5/1/2014 11:00 AM, bluechick wrote:
> Hello, everyone!
>
> I have been a long-time lurker but haven't posted on usenet in ages. I
> feel like I know many of you, having read your helpful posts for such
> a long time.
Welcome, always glad to see a lurker come out of the shadows and post.
>
> I've been preserving since 1981, watched it being done even before
> that, and was lucky enough to marry into a family with lots of canning
> experience. Like anything, one has to keep up with the times and
> study new techniques which I've been doing all along.

We were luckier than you, of course we're probably a lot older too. We
both started canning at about 8 years of age, that would be the late
forties and have kept it up through nearly 54 years of marriage. Alas,
our children are to busy with careers to do any preserving other than
freezing a few things. We are now teaching one of our grandsons how to
grow and preserve his own food. Was by there yesterday and he has a
grand idea to quadruple his raised bed gardens and to start more gardens
along his back fence. With two active boys I hope he is lucky with that.
>
> We moved to our new home almost two years ago, with several acres for
> gardens and orchards. We brought several scions of our huge Celeste
> fig (I still miss "Mama Fig") and our entire grove of blueberries to
> the new place. We added a couple of LSU Purples to our Celestes. Most
> of the fruit trees were unscathed in the last freak cold snap in
> February that took us down to 11 deg. F. A few of the Celestes and
> one LSU were frozen to the ground but re-sprouted from the bottom. All
> of our planted blueberries (almost every type of rabbiteye you can
> think of) made it just fine and some are loaded with berries. The
> rest are loaded with blooms. The dwarf container blueberries,
> Jellybean and Peach Sorbet, are new to us and live on the deck.
> They're loaded with berries and I look forward to seeing how they
> taste. Sure are cute! They overwintered in the house with our citrus
> trees (Meyer Lemons, Hamlin & Washington oranges, and a key lime).
> I've already used the Meyers in a few pies and have frozen some zest -
> we'll see how it holds up. I hope we'll have enough this year to make
> jam exclusively from our own berries.

It will be two years in December that we have been in this new house,
your property got bigger, ours got much smaller. Our previous place was
a large house on nearly 14,000 square feet; this one is a large house on
6500 square feet. I reckon it is enough to keep two people in their
mid-seventies busy though. I do miss all our fruit trees we had in
Louisiana. Here we have a small Celeste, planted last year, has baby
figs on it now; a Meiwa kumquat tree that is about four feet tall and
gave us probably a quart of kumquats last fall. This spring it got frost
bit so will be awhile before fruit shows up. Same thing happened to the
Tennousi pear tree in the front yard, bloomed, got a late frost, no fruit.

We have raised beds that equal four feet wide by 32 feet long. I'm
hoping to add another four by sixteen this fall, makes the mowing turn
into a weed eater job. In addition we have 66 feet by two feet running
along two fence lines with a mix of vegetables, herbs, and flowers in
those two. We also have colorful veggies growing in a flower bed out
front, mostly Swiss chard and bright colored kale and four Barbados
dwarf cherry plants. If the Homeowners Assn would allow it I would plant
fruit trees all in the front of the house.
>
> We are fortunate to have hundreds of blackberry and dewberry plants
> all over the property and all are in full bloom (George, I am envious
> that blackberry season is already upon you there!) We planted some
> this year in an area protected from deer - Kiowi and a thornless
> variety called Arapaho. The best jelly I ever made was with last
> year's blackberries and dewberries with a wee bit of Chambord thrown
> in. Barb, are you around? That one was inspired by one of your
> recipes. People were fighting for it, as well as some Blueberry
> Orange Preserves with a splash of Grand Marnier. Can't buy that at
> the grocery store!
Alas, both types are small and seedy this spring, not enough rain.
Stopped along a local road this morning on the way to the library and
scanned about four acres of mixed dewberry and blackberry, to small, to
seedy. Two ladies with a small boy were picking some and told us they
had to hunt to find good berries. No rain in sight now for at least
another week. I just checked the canning pantry and we only have eleven
pints of blackberry jam and jelly left. It's off to the berry farm soon.
>
> We've planted tomatoes in the veggie garden already and some stuff in
> the herb garden and hope that we have as wonderful a bounty as we did
> last year. We have many quarts of last year's tomatoes in the pantry
> and lots of dried herbs I was able to dehydrate.
>
> We worked hard last year to make raised beds for everything (we live
> in central Alabama; if you dig down more than 3 inches you'll hit
> rock) but it makes the results that much sweeter. Preserving your own
> veggies and fruits is so satisfying, isn't it? With all the rain
> we've had this weird spring, I hope we'll have good luck this year.
Huh, would swap our clay for your rocks, the clay is impenetrable, water
runs off the grass, which has about an inch of sand on top of the clay.
We have to dig holes four feet deep and across to set out fruit trees
and then amend the soil with vermiculite, peat moss, and compost. During
a heavy rain we worry about the trees floating out. There is five feet
of compacted clay and sand under our property. It does get us out of
paying the gubmint for flood insurance.
>
> Sorry to have written a book but I thought it best to get the intros
> and background out of the way. I hope traffic picks up in this
> newsgroup now that the growing and preserving season is at hand for
> some of us, just starting for others and is on the horizon for the
> rest. Let's hope wintery weather is TRULY out of the forecast for
> awhile.
>
It certainly is here although last night it got down to 48F and hasn't
risen about 70 yet this afternoon. Writing a book is a good intro. I
don't expect the newsgroup to grow much, not many young people are
interested in doing the things we enjoy. I'm getting ready to post a
note on the HOA website offering to teach home gardening and preserving,
in hopes of getting more converts. Keep letting us know what is
happening. I think I've been on this newsgroup since about 1990 and have
watched it lose people all that time.

George

bluechick wrote:
....
> Sorry to have written a book but I thought it best to get the intros
> and background out of the way. I hope traffic picks up in this
> newsgroup now that the growing and preserving season is at hand for
> some of us, just starting for others and is on the horizon for the
> rest. Let's hope wintery weather is TRULY out of the forecast for
> awhile.

seems to have worked just fine! welcome to the
funny farm!


songbird

On Thu, 01 May 2014 15:23:10 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>On 5/1/2014 11:00 AM, bluechick wrote:
>> Hello, everyone!
>>
>> I have been a long-time lurker but haven't posted on usenet in ages. I
>> feel like I know many of you, having read your helpful posts for such
>> a long time.
>Welcome, always glad to see a lurker come out of the shadows and post.

Thanks, George!

>We were luckier than you, of course we're probably a lot older too. We
>both started canning at about 8 years of age, that would be the late
>forties and have kept it up through nearly 54 years of marriage. Alas,
>our children are to busy with careers to do any preserving other than
>freezing a few things. We are now teaching one of our grandsons how to
>grow and preserve his own food. Was by there yesterday and he has a
>grand idea to quadruple his raised bed gardens and to start more gardens
>along his back fence. With two active boys I hope he is lucky with that.

We're in our early 60s. Still young yet. You've been canning and
preserving a lot longer than I have. I probably would have stopped
canning long ago if it hadn't been for my mother-in-law. She was an
old hand at it and encouraged me. I still miss our combined canning
sessions but we made such a mess it looked like we'd used every spoon
and pot. We could sure destroy a kitchen between the two of us. Ha!
I am glad to hear that you're teaching your grandson about growing and
preserving.

>It will be two years in December that we have been in this new house,
>your property got bigger, ours got much smaller. Our previous place was
>a large house on nearly 14,000 square feet; this one is a large house on
>6500 square feet. I reckon it is enough to keep two people in their
>mid-seventies busy though. I do miss all our fruit trees we had in
>Louisiana. Here we have a small Celeste, planted last year, has baby
>figs on it now; a Meiwa kumquat tree that is about four feet tall and
>gave us probably a quart of kumquats last fall. This spring it got frost
>bit so will be awhile before fruit shows up. Same thing happened to the
>Tennousi pear tree in the front yard, bloomed, got a late frost, no fruit.

I grew up with fruit trees all over the place and it's so nice to be
able to grow them again. Sorry to hear about your frost damage. I
hope your Celeste, Meiwa and Tennousi produce for you soon. If not
this year, maybe next. Mother Nature needs to stop sending those late
frosts, though.

>We have raised beds that equal four feet wide by 32 feet long. I'm
>hoping to add another four by sixteen this fall, makes the mowing turn
>into a weed eater job. In addition we have 66 feet by two feet running
>along two fence lines with a mix of vegetables, herbs, and flowers in
>those two. We also have colorful veggies growing in a flower bed out
>front, mostly Swiss chard and bright colored kale and four Barbados
>dwarf cherry plants. If the Homeowners Assn would allow it I would plant
>fruit trees all in the front of the house.

Turn the whole yard into a raised-bed garden and orchard. No mower or
weedeater needed! I guess the HOA might not like it, though you could
try bribing 'em with homemade jams and jellies.

>> We are fortunate to have hundreds of blackberry and dewberry plants

>Alas, both types are small and seedy this spring, not enough rain.
>Stopped along a local road this morning on the way to the library and
>scanned about four acres of mixed dewberry and blackberry, to small, to
>seedy. Two ladies with a small boy were picking some and told us they
>had to hunt to find good berries. No rain in sight now for at least
>another week. I just checked the canning pantry and we only have eleven
>pints of blackberry jam and jelly left. It's off to the berry farm soon.

Our blackberries and dewberries were fat and good at the beginning of
last season but it turned very hot and dry suddenly and they all
turned into hard, seedy little nuggets, just like you describe. We
still managed to get several quarts of juice out of them but it was a
lot of work. The jelly was worth it. I hope all this rain we have
had so far will pay off with fat, juicy berries. I know the canes are
loaded with more blooms than I saw last year so I'm keeping my fingers
crossed. I hope y'all get some rain soon. The southeast and east
coast has had too much rain while the southwest and west coast hasn't
had nearly enough.

>Huh, would swap our clay for your rocks, the clay is impenetrable, water
>runs off the grass, which has about an inch of sand on top of the clay.
>We have to dig holes four feet deep and across to set out fruit trees
>and then amend the soil with vermiculite, peat moss, and compost. During
>a heavy rain we worry about the trees floating out. There is five feet
>of compacted clay and sand under our property. It does get us out of
>paying the gubmint for flood insurance.

Oh, I'll ship you a load of rocks. You can keep the clay, though.
Don't mention digging holes. If I have to dig another hole, pounding
out all the rocks, I will scream. We dug so many holes last year for
the berries, figs and bamboo that my wrists still hurt. We borrowed
the neighbor's tractor and auger for some of them but most of them
were in areas too steep or narrow for the tractor to get to.

>> Sorry to have written a book but I thought it best to get the intros
>> and background out of the way. I hope traffic picks up in this
>> newsgroup now that the growing and preserving season is at hand for
>> some of us, just starting for others and is on the horizon for the
>> rest. Let's hope wintery weather is TRULY out of the forecast for
>> awhile.
>>
>It certainly is here although last night it got down to 48F and hasn't
>risen about 70 yet this afternoon. Writing a book is a good intro. I
>don't expect the newsgroup to grow much, not many young people are
>interested in doing the things we enjoy. I'm getting ready to post a
>note on the HOA website offering to teach home gardening and preserving,
>in hopes of getting more converts. Keep letting us know what is
>happening. I think I've been on this newsgroup since about 1990 and have
>watched it lose people all that time.

It was cool today here, too. It's going to get hot next week. The
tomatoes ought to love it.

Agreed. I doubt there will be much "new blood" here in the group but
I hope that some of the regular posters will pop in now and then as
the season progresses. I know there have been such wonderful posters
here in the past who've taught me so much and I haven't seen them in
ages. I remember people like Edrena and I miss them. But usenet, as
a whole, isn't as active as it once was. I wish I had been able to
post here before now. Such is life...

I'm so glad you replied, George. Your posts are a treat to read and
you are a treasure. Take care and don't work too hard. I will post
back as I can when the berries and tomatoes come in.

On Thu, 1 May 2014 17:03:03 -0400, songbird >
wrote:

> seems to have worked just fine! welcome to the
>funny farm!
>
>
> songbird



Thanks so much, songbird! It's so kind of you to reply. I hope to
post back as soon as I have some berries to pick and make into jelly.
I'm drooling at the thought of it.

bluechick wrote:
>songbird wrote:
>
>> seems to have worked just fine! welcome to the
>>funny farm!
>>
>>
>> songbird
>
>
>
> Thanks so much, songbird! It's so kind of you to reply. I hope to
> post back as soon as I have some berries to pick and make into jelly.
> I'm drooling at the thought of it.

you're welcome, also there are a few other good newsgroups
for gardening and lawn care topics to follow if you have
the time:

rec.gardening, rec.gardening.edible, alt.home.lawn.garden


songbird

On Fri, 2 May 2014 08:45:37 -0400, songbird >
wrote:

> you're welcome, also there are a few other good newsgroups
>for gardening and lawn care topics to follow if you have
>the time:
>
> rec.gardening, rec.gardening.edible, alt.home.lawn.garden
>

Thanks! I've followed a couple of those from time to time over the
years. Might have to take a look at them again. Time is the problem,
though, this time of the year. Especially since dear husband has
about 1000 projects for us to do.

bluechick wrote:
>songbird wrote:
>
>> you're welcome, also there are a few other good newsgroups
>>for gardening and lawn care topics to follow if you have
>>the time:
>>
>> rec.gardening, rec.gardening.edible, alt.home.lawn.garden
>>
>
> Thanks! I've followed a couple of those from time to time over the
> years. Might have to take a look at them again. Time is the problem,
> though, this time of the year. Especially since dear husband has
> about 1000 projects for us to do.

oh yea, i know that feeling, Ma keeps stacking
them up too this time of the year, when i've got
my own list full already.

the weather has been so odd the past few days
that i've not gotten far on anything other than
a few indoors projects.


songbird

On 5/4/2014 12:02 PM, songbird wrote:
> bluechick wrote:
>> songbird wrote:
>>
>>> you're welcome, also there are a few other good newsgroups
>>> for gardening and lawn care topics to follow if you have
>>> the time:
>>>
>>> rec.gardening, rec.gardening.edible, alt.home.lawn.garden
>>>
>>
>> Thanks! I've followed a couple of those from time to time over the
>> years. Might have to take a look at them again. Time is the problem,
>> though, this time of the year. Especially since dear husband has
>> about 1000 projects for us to do.
>
> oh yea, i know that feeling, Ma keeps stacking
> them up too this time of the year, when i've got
> my own list full already.
>
> the weather has been so odd the past few days
> that i've not gotten far on anything other than
> a few indoors projects.
>
>
> songbird
>
Same here, my list of honey do'es covers two pages now. Yesterday middle
grandson (he's only 31 yo) and I installed a new kitchen sink and faucet
set. His first time to do that job, he's a lot younger and more able to
crawl under a sink than I am. We got a nice American Standard, single
bowl sink that also has a colander and a smaller sink that can be put in
the big one. It's 22 inches wide by 33 inches long so now I can get my
canning pots in there to fill them up. One of these days I'm going to
put in a faucet over the stove as I'm getting a bit long in the teeth
and weak in muscles to be picking up huge pots of water. Only took us
five hours with multiple trips to the hardware store for this and that
plus digging around in my fifty year stash of odd parts of that and
this. Nice sink once it was done.

We will start canning whole blackberries somewhere around the fifteenth
of May, the nearby blackberry farm sent me an email to let me know they
would be ready to pick by then if not sooner. We made so much jam and
jelly from them last year that we only need a bunch for homemade
cobblers this year and, alas, the both freezers are completely full as
it is.

We harvest our first summer squash yesterday, about six inches long and
a couple of inches in diameter. Will be chopped into a salad for our
main meal today along with fresh spinach leaves, Swiss chard, scallions,
fresh lettuce, radishes, and sweet chiles, all from our gardens. I cut
up some boneless, skinless chicken thighs and pan fried them in a little
Spanish olive oil just to have some meat in there. May even turn some
carrot and candied ginger bread I made the other day into croutons for
it. That bread is odd looking, a bright yellow with dark spots (ginger)
in it but is very tasty. Now I will have to make another loaf of
something to replace it plus we need another sweet as the tropical fruit
cobbler I made earlier in the week is about gone. I guess y'all can tell
I like to cook and to eat both.

Probably be cutting, blanching, and freezing more chard this week as it
looks to be about ready to bolt. We've had days with high forties temps
lately and that is unusually cool for this season here in Houston, TX
area. Won't be long until we have to buy lettuce and carrots but we do
have green tomatoes about golf ball size growing on the vines.

George

On Sun, 4 May 2014 13:02:03 -0400, songbird >
wrote:

>bluechick wrote:
>>songbird wrote:
>>
>>> you're welcome, also there are a few other good newsgroups
>>>for gardening and lawn care topics to follow if you have
>>>the time:
>>>
>>> rec.gardening, rec.gardening.edible, alt.home.lawn.garden
>>>
>>
>> Thanks! I've followed a couple of those from time to time over the
>> years. Might have to take a look at them again. Time is the problem,
>> though, this time of the year. Especially since dear husband has
>> about 1000 projects for us to do.
>
> oh yea, i know that feeling, Ma keeps stacking
>them up too this time of the year, when i've got
>my own list full already.

My list involves indoor stuff now. May 1st felt like July 1st. It's
already getting too hot to do much outside unless it gets done early
in the morning. It's going to be hot and dry the rest of the week and
I've already had to pop out to the garden to water the tomatoes before
the sun hits. After that, I'd love to say I'd done my chores for the
day but that Honey Do list is too long already!

> the weather has been so odd the past few days
>that i've not gotten far on anything other than
>a few indoors projects.

I know what you mean. Our spring was much too cold and we didn't get
"rain" so much as we got "open flood gates". It made putting in the
spring garden, and getting stuff to survive, very difficult this year.
May your weather calm down and get normal again. I'm beginning to
wonder what "normal" is these days, though.

On 5/1/2014 10:00 AM, bluechick wrote:
> Hello, everyone!
>
> I have been a long-time lurker but haven't posted on usenet in ages. I
> feel like I know many of you, having read your helpful posts for such
> a long time.



Welcome. A new voice is uually a Good Thing. Just be careful about
bragging about your weather. We can barely put up with George
harvesting his crops while some of us are still buried in snow. ;-)
(We had 8 inches here on Mother's Day.)

I bought some tomato plants and flowers today but they probably won't go
into the ground until Memorial Day. Denver area has a very short
growing season.

You will find good advice and cautionary tales here. Welcome aboard!

gloria p

On Thu, 15 May 2014 14:25:57 -0600, gloria p >
wrote:

>On 5/1/2014 10:00 AM, bluechick wrote:
>> Hello, everyone!
>>
>> I have been a long-time lurker but haven't posted on usenet in ages. I
>> feel like I know many of you, having read your helpful posts for such
>> a long time.
>
>
>
>Welcome. A new voice is uually a Good Thing. Just be careful about
>bragging about your weather. We can barely put up with George
>harvesting his crops while some of us are still buried in snow. ;-)
>(We had 8 inches here on Mother's Day.)

Thank you, Gloria! I know better than to brag too much about weather.
It will change in 5 minutes to something awful. Right now, it
feels more like fall than the summer-like weather we've had lately.
I'm sure it will turn hot again in due time.

>I bought some tomato plants and flowers today but they probably won't go
>into the ground until Memorial Day. Denver area has a very short
>growing season.

I'm sure you make the most of your short growing season. We have a
long one here but it seems short some years when it gets too hot and
dry for anything to grow (except the bugs, which seem to get bigger
every year). We had one of those summers two years ago with triple
digit temperatures for days on end and drought. But good things can
happen from bad weather: we had wonderful fruit that year with very
concentrated flavor. Our big Celeste fig tree had figs that tasted
like peaches. The markets were full of peaches and pears that were
intensely sweet. But I don't want to have to go through weeks of 100
degree days without rain to get that again!

>You will find good advice and cautionary tales here. Welcome aboard!

Already have! The group has been great. Thanks again!

>gloria p

bluechick