Orchard

I'm so excited! We officially have an orchard. All our trees are dwarf varieties. Last fall I bought a Winesap apple tree and two blueberry bushes. One is an Elliot and the other is ?. On Saturday we bought four more trees: a Granny Smith apple, a Yellow Delicious apple, a black plum, and a Bartlett pear. We also got two grape vines. Both of the grape varieties are seedless. One is black, and one is green. Our plan is to plant the front half of the front yard in fruit trees, and then we will plant the west side yard in nut trees, more than likely. Let me tell you, figuring out how to plant those puppies (as in, the arrangement) was a nightmare. I must have walked at least a mile measuring this way and that. My original plan was to plant each tree or bush or vine in proximity to it's neighbor based on it's mature size according to the labels. I realized this was going to give more of a woodsy appearance than a neat, orderly, rowed orchard. I was actually cool with that. But then I remembered that this would have to be mowed, and what a pain it would be to have to constantly swerve in and out and around all these irregularly placed trees. And we plan to live with this for the next 50 years of so! Argh! After laying out all the trees/bushes/vines according to their individual needs, I decided that I needed to place them uniformly for ease of mowing. So... everything is planted 15 feet apart, with the rows being offset 7.5 feet, to make the appearance more pleasing and to help block the view from the road. Why, oh WHY do I have to make everything so complicated?! Because I am going to have to live with it for the rest of my life and I want it to look RIGHT, that's why!!!

I know it's hard to see the trees, but if you click on the picture it will open in it's own window, and you can see it much better then.

Strawberry Jam

My momma always made the best strawberry jam. It was one of her specialties. I haven't had REAL strawberry jam in over eleven years; since I left home. Now I have a real house with a real kitchen, and I'm gonna have me some jam!

I started my quest for jam by going to my former local U-pick farm. They wanted $3.60 a pound, and you pick them yourself! I nearly fainted!!! They are $1.50 a quart in the grocery store right now, and there's about a pound and a half in a quart! I refused to pay that much. If necessary, I'd wait until my own plants are big enough to produce. Last Tuesday I asked around my new town for contact info on a U-pick farm for strawberries. The next day, one of the ladies I visited with gave me a call. She knew of an Amish family who might have some. She gave me their telephone number (Amish...telephone...?) and I called. The Amish wife and mother had a traditional Amish sounding name. It was so neat. She spoke with a very thick Dutch accent. They do more of a truck-patch style farm, and don't normally allow others to come and pick. They do the work themselves. However, the berries were so sparse, it wasn't worth her time to pick them anymore for the season. I asked if she would consider allowing me to come and pick myself. I didn't mind if it was harder picking. She told me there were so few that she didn't know if I would be able to find enough to make the 12 quarts I wanted. I told her I was okay with that. I'd take what I could get. She agreed that I could come as long as I understood I may not be able to find as many as I wanted. We arranged for me to arrive at their farm at 8:30 Thursday morning. I arrived ten minutes late, because even with directions, it was hard to find. It's one of those places where you can't get there from here. She was so gracious and not at all put out with my tardiness. She had five children, and I surmise one on the way, even though she looked to be around 18 herself. (I know she wasn't, but she looked SO young!) They were all so sweet and friendly. From what I've read about the Amish I expected the children to be somewhat fearful of outsiders, and the adults to be standoffish. That wasn't the case at all. She and I talked a mile a minute the whole time I was there. She had gone out the night before and picked 12 quarts of berries for me, because she was worried I wouldn't be able to find enough, and she only charged me $2.70 a quart for them, "Because they're so scrawny." I was thrilled! I plan to return in the fall for sweet potatoes, and feel I might have made a friend.

It was so interesting to get to see a real Amish home and see how they REALLY live. They didn't have any electric outlets or light switches. They had gas lamps every where, but they had a refrigerator. I expected everything to be plain, no frills or anything to lend prettiness. She had curtains at the windows, not just blinds, and she also had flowers on her canisters and tea kettle. There was a picture on the wall, too. I can't say enough about what a positive experience it was.

I canned 12 pints of freezer jam, seven pints of canned jam that can just sit on a shelf, and then froze a gallon freezer bag FULL of berries to be used later.