Clean.

Berry Jam Recipe

Strawberry season is winding down early around here, but berry season as a whole has just begun. The black caps and mulberries are ripe, the raspberries are next, and blueberries and blackberries are on the horizon.

We make our jam with honey, and not much of it. We don't eat a ton of sweets around here so no one seems to mind if our jam is more fruity than dessert-y.

While apples, pears, and citrus are in a different jamming category, feel free to improvise the recipe below with whatever berries you have on hand. The batch below included some rhubarb mixed in with the strawberries.

For thickening without much sugar, we use natural pectin from the coop called Pomona's. It is a two-part process with a calcium water component and a pectin component. When combined they thicken the jam. So cool.

Pamona's is the only way I have found to successfully make a thick, low-sugar jam. We tried making our own pectin last year out of apples but made more of a sauce than a jam. A worthwhile experiment that I may try again some day, but for now I'm happy with the store-bought version and crazy thick jam.

Any Berry Jam

4 C berries (ripe, stemmed, and mashed)

1/3 - 1 C honey (we used 1/2 since we added rhubarb)

1/4 tsp stevia (optional)

1/4 package of Pamona's pectin

Wash, stem, and mash berries with a potato masher. Proceed according to the pectin instructions, adding the calcium water to the fruit mash and the pectin to the honey. Cook for two minutes. Fill sterilized jars, cap, and hot water bath can for 5 minutes.

Weekend Adventures

Thanks for your patience while I stayed away from this space for a couple of days this weekend. I'm trying to get clear on when I'm working on my business, when I'm writing (here and elsewhere), and when my time is spent simply being present with my kids and Pete. It's so good having many wonderful things to juggle (all of which I truly love), but sometimes I have to call a time-out to get my boundaries clear once more.

And the weekend? We spent our days running back and forth between enjoying the sunshine outside and seeking shelter from the prevalent summer storms.

There was time spent picnicking by the Kickapoo in the warm sunshine, watching the muddy waters rush by;

several inspiring country drives as the quest for rural living swells in us once more;

and an afternoon of "Mama-Sagie Time" as Sage calls it (perhaps the highlight of my weekend). We ate ice cream, held hands, skipped, read books at a library in another town, laughed countless big belly laughs, and did a little thrifting;

And last night my boys stayed up way past bedtime on a little stretch of creek re-finding their father-son groove after a hard day.

Oh, and a day later than usual, here is our meal plan for the week. xo Rachel

Download Meal-plan6282010

A Day Away

Our weekend runs Sunday to Monday around here. So today I am slipping away with my family for a day out in the sunshine and green space. I'll be back here tomorrow. Have a wonderful Monday!

 

The Lessons of This Week

Sage's best friend moved away yesterday. I could feel my boy's heart breaking inside my own chest as we watched his friend head down the road. It felt almost like I could suffocate from the ache he was holding. I held him and we cried together as we felt the weight of this departure. It is his first heartbreak from losing someone he loves in this lifetime.

We decided to spend the rest of the day on a mystery journey to the countryside to ease our hurt hearts. We found magic out there in the valleys around us. And we came home feeling a little lighter, a little more at peace. Thus begin the lessons we found this week:

1. Given time, heartbreak and hurt will fade.

2. "Misbehavior" is usually about something altogether different that what we see at the surface.

3. Nature soothes our souls.

4. Children are wise, fragile, precious, and strong beyond description.

5. And so are we all.

Add your lessons in the comments below, won't you?

Rainy Day Activities.

It has been raining here almost every day for weeks. Quick rains, gentle rains, fierce rains, long-hard rains. Walking across the lawn barefoot I find water squeezing up between my toes.

Because of this we've found ourselves doing more kitchen-table-crafting than we normally do in June. Its been sweet, really. Though my garden is starting to resemble a jungle instead of a productive veggie patch.

Our saving grace during the last two storms has been the amazing package we received from Stubby Pencil Studio this week. Packed with paints and markers and pencils and crafts that are so delicious it is blowing my mind. (Watch for our giveaway from them coming up soon!)

If the rains return this week we have some projects on the ready. Here is a preview:

We've had a secret plan in the works for these wooden cubes. I'll share what we make after the next deludge.

We've been saving our beer bottle caps for a long time. We have some great projects in the works with these already. The possibilities are limitless with simple free components like these.

I'm always inspired by what other folks are creating too. Here are two projects on our list from the web:

This sweet gnome Celebration Ring from Mothering with Rhythm and Rhyme made me smile the first time I saw it. So simple and so adorable! 

I've been meaning to paint up some of these garden sticks from Sweet Things for a long time. Since we don't find ourselves in the garden much when its raining, we could at least be working on a garden project while we wait for the clouds to clear. Aren't they lovely?

What are you inspired by these summer days? Feel free to share a link to recent projects you've completed or plans in the works in your home.

Small Girlie Sweaters.

There are a lot of little girls in my life. A lot. There is my own girlie-girl of course, and with a few notable exceptions most of my close friends have young daughters. My current small but unending knitting project has been on the needles for 12 months and 1 week. Indeed, I have lost my enthusiasm for socks on tiny needles. If I applied myself to those toe reductions they could be done in an evening. But its been a year. I'm over it.

I promised myself to finish Sage's socks before the leaves turn, and then I put them away. I needed something completely different. To rekindle my knitting fire I've picked up some sweet girlie projects that speak to my tiara-wearing pink and purple side. Below is the wool for a soon to be cast on sweater for Lupine. The colors are so her, the handspun rainbow yarn from this Etsy vendor is so dreamy soft... I can't wait.

And just last weekend - the one year anniversary of casting on Sage's socks - I cranked out a sweet ruffled tank top from yarn in my stash in three days flat. I love you, size 8 needles. The pattern is Monica (found on Ravelry for free) and I did a few simple modifications. Lupine and I both love it. I sized it to fit her (hopefully) for two summers.

Last night I cast on another girlie top, a sweater for a little girl in my life who I don't see nearly enough. She is owed a hand-knit from me when her baby gift, a woolen sleep sack, failed to fit her sweet round belly.

Oh, I love knitting in the summer. How weird.