Monday, August 25, 2014

Some Of This And A Little Of That!

Well, the dog days of summer are in full swing here in Mississippi.  We have had temps up to a hundred with heat indexes from a hundred and five up close to a hundred and ten.  I can't believe I'm saying this after the winter we had last year but I'm ready for MUCH cooler weather. 

So far, I have canned five pints of watermelon preserves and four pints of watermelon jelly. 

I have the rind of one more melon in the refrigerator to peel and cook out this week.  I may have a boiler full of watermelon when it's sliced but it cooks down to a small amount when it's finished.  I hope to can at least a dozen jars of the preserves but it will take at least another three melons and maybe more.

Here's what the watermelon preserves and jelly look like:
 

 photo d2ce9d18-2f8f-439f-938e-6b641257a709.jpg

The garden has plenty of peppers and a few ripe tomatoes in it.  There's also some herbs that are still producing. 

We have several tomato plants that are still growing but not producing as of yet. 

 We did have a tomato plant come up volunteer and is loaded with tomatoes.  I have no idea what type of tomato this is but the tomatoes are about the size of a fifty cent piece. 

 photo DSCN0497.jpg

The plant is a good size plant and is healthy.  We're looking forward to our "free" tomatoes.  :)

Now is the time for us to get started on our fall garden.  This is the week we plan to clean out the beds and get them ready for collard greens, cabbage, kale, turnip greens, mustard and Swiss chard. 

Here in our area the collard greens and kale will survive the winter.  The other greens will be gone after the first freeze. 

I want to have a nice size area for the greens so I can freeze some of them for later in the winter.

Also, I want to plant a pot of lettuces and keep it in the kitchen window so we can have fresh lettuce for salad this winter.  I've never tried this before but am hoping that it's successful since lettuce prices are going up every day here in our area.

That's about all of the goings on here at Hunny Bunny Haven.  I hope you will come back again. 

When we get the beds of greens going I will post more pictures.  Fingers crossed there will be greens to photograph.

See you all down the road a bit!


Friday, August 8, 2014

Sweets For The Sweetie.

It's jelly making time here at Hunny Bunny Haven.  I've canned seventeen pints and two half-pints of apple jelly this week. 

 
 

 
Along with the jelly I have eleven quart bags of apples in our freezer.  I see fried apple pies later on in the fall and winter. 

Our daughter, Sandi gave us two watermelons from their garden.  After we ate what we wanted, I peeled and sliced one of them.  It's setting overnight in the refrigerator.  After letting it set overnight with sugar on it, I will make watermelon preserves out of it tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I will peel and slice (I may try cubing the next one) the other one to make more preserves from.

My sister told me I could get some pears from the trees they have to make pear preserves and pear jelly, also.

I have some figs in the freezer and four bags (gallon size) of blueberries in the freezer to make fig preserves and blueberry jelly out of as soon as I get the other fruits canned.

It's been several years since I've had any fruits available to me.  I'm excited to be canning and preserving some for my family this year. 

William likes to have jellies, jams or preserves with his breakfast every morning.  He should be a happy camper with what we are being given or have been able to harvest from our blueberry bushes this summer.

That's all that's going on at Hunny Bunny Haven.  I'm a little tired but it's a happy kind of tired.  One that makes me feel as if I've accomplished something.

Thanks for stopping by and do come back again.