Damn Jam

 Me versus the boiling raspberry jam. The jam won. 

So our neighbors from across the field asked us to care for their chickens while they were away on vacation. They also pointed out another neighbor on vacation who had requested that the raspberries be picked from their bushes to encourage berries through the season.

Tom and I picked 5 dry cups of berries. (That's really a whole other funny story!)

Yesterday, I made jam. 

I was convinced I was a terrible jam maker. 

For 1.) I am terrible about reading a recipe. Especially ones that emphasize a process. Such as jam. I normally read for ingredients and go from there. 

2.) I am not great at doing things quickly. I have only been able to manage making a meal with a single side and time things to be done all at once maybe ONE time in my life. 

Jam is processed rather quickly. 

Set up takes the longest- sanitizing jars, gathering utensils, preparing the fruit, and measuring the sugar. 

This time I thought I managed it pretty well. 

Until the almost end :( 

I had one hiccup while boiling the fruit. That being that it was definitely boiling and some decided to jump out and land on my foot. Ouch! 

But on a more serious note, I had read in a canning book that jam temps out at 225F to set properly. 

So I boiled my jam for the 1 minute after mixing in the sugar, but the temp only got to 205. I boiled again and still only got to 205. I noticed the texture off the spoon seemed nice and thick so I said screw the temp. I was nervous of "burning" the flavor of the jam or possibly making it too thick. I had some help with Tom through this.

Tom held the jars while I poured in the jam. I water bathed them for 10 minutes and took them out.

That's when I noticed my BIG problem. 

Air. 

I forgot to take the air out of the jars before putting the lids on. They didn't explode, which is good, but I was sure that this could potentially compromise the shelf life.

So I immediately popped the lids, took out the air, and put the lids back on. But I was so worried about the air, I forgot to wipe the edges clean. I popped the lids again, wiped the edges, put the lids back on, and water bathed for a second 10 minutes. 

At this point. I was worried about the lids sealing because I had already processed them once. I thought maybe I had a chance, since the gum never really cooled and formed to the jar. 

While watching Orange is the New Black, Tom looked over at me after hearing a distinct PING. My only response was, "Damn, that's a good sounds to hear!" 

Twice more and I was feeling good. 

So only 2 things left to worry about. 

1.) Taste. 

2.) Texture. 

I boiled twice and water bathed twice. I hope it doesn't alter the taste and/or texture to be unfavorable. Taste testing is tonight. I'll report back what we think.

Veggies & Herbs

Tom really wanted to do a large garden this year. I am hesitant. I know how much time I have already spent in my flower beds improving and maintaining them. It's been a lot of work. I can't imagine adding in a large vegetable garden. In addition, we are very undecided as to where in our yard we would put such a garden.

Our neighbor offered a solution.

She gave us an old 55 gallon barrel.

We cut it in half. Drilled holes in the bottom for drainage. Built a base with 2 by fours. Lined them with cocoa liner (the garden center was sold out of the cheaper black landscaping material). Then layered cow manure, miracle grow garden soil, and top soil.


Here are the results:

top row: bell peppers
bottom row: broccoli and cauliflower

top row: brussel sprouts
bottom row: zucchini and summer squash

round planter is patio cucumbers
left square planter is jalapeno peppers
right square planter is roma tomato

 I also planted my herbs.

oregano, sweet basil, dill, cilantro, thyme

I am excited to see how this turns out! Maybe next year, we will put in a larger garden. Or maybe we will find that this offers enough of the experience to harvest a few veggies ourselves.

Note: the edges are a little sharp on the barrels. Tom has an idea to cut a slit in a hose and slip that over the edges. We haven't done this yet. But, I am anticipating that we will need to especially on the barrel with the squashes. I don't want to get cut and I don't want the edges to damage the plants as they grow and vine out.

Deck the... deck!

We bought a Generac 2500 PSI washer last week. On Friday, Tom began power washing. We really didn't get much done that evening since we work late. But he hooked it up and played around with it. He found it was a little more powerful than he thought...

Tom didn't realize how powerful his pressure washer would be. He hooked up the straight attachment and "carved" his name into the deck. You could still see it etched in after he washed over the area!

Almost permanent.  

 Tom resumed pressure washing on Saturday and finished on Sunday. Probably a bit over 8 cumulative hours of washing. Our water bill is going to be so high!

On Monday, we began using  Thompson's WaterSeal Clear Multi-Surface Waterproofer to seal the deck. Tom left work early(ish- he got called back for a service call). I started helping when I got home. We worked together from about 6:45-9:30pm sealing the spindles and other small/tedious areas. Tom knew this would be most time consuming, so we started with that. We left the deck for Tuesday.

We finished the project at 7:45pm Tuesday! Here are the before and afters:

All the while... the weather forecast kept calling for rain. It kept changing from 30% chance to 60% chance. I was praying so hard that it would not rain!

I didn't sleep well Tuesday night thinking I kept hearing rain. Throughout the day Wednesday, I probably checked the forecast, 10 times. Tom stated he did this as well! Finally, 7:45 rolled about and NO RAIN!!! It began raining about 11:00pm. The water was beading up, just as it should! We are very relieved and happy with the results.

railing

deck

We learned that Thompson's Waterproofer needs to be applied every year. We're ok with that being it was the first time that we did the deck and this year we had to purchase the pressure washer. Next year, we'll be able to afford a longer lasting product and might even pick a tint to add to the stain.

With the remaining sealant, I am going to wash and seal the concrete in the garage!

Decor Galore

In addition to not being sure if I hate the living room paint color or not, I was getting that a college dorm house vibe again. I needed something to change. My mom was here this weekend and we went to a surplus store. I bought some art work that I thought might help the space out a bit.

My approach to putting up the art work was inspired by a pinterest post. You've probably seen it or one like it. My mom found it kind of confusing. It was a lot of work.

I started by gathering all the pieces to be put up. Cut a template for each piece using newspaper. Arranged them on the floor for a general out lay.
Taped them to the walls to determine spacing using a pencil and level to help.
Tapped the nails.
And hung them up.

To be very transparent- this seemed helpful in theory, but it slowed the process way down. What I thought would take an hour or so took almost all afternoon and into the evening. And I think it could have been possible to enjoy the results just as much, if not more, by starting with one or two pieces put up and placing others around them by eye-balling it.

Any ways... Here's my results.

Bathroom Reno... Sorta.

Tom left for the weekend. So I bought some paint and a pre-cut sheet of vinyl flooring. Well, let's just say he was excited to help, because he came back home and we accomplished more than I had planned.

I used a darker grey for the bathroom. I used the same color we used in the living room on the insides of the cabinets to add a pop of color.

I took the doors off on the bottom cabinets to the left for a more "open" concept and have hidden things/organized with these great bins I got from a home store.

We added a curved double shower rod, new handles/knobs to the cabinets. We replaced the toilet American Standard Clean Dual Flush toilet! I am a dork, and I am super excited for this toilet. I love that we will be saving some water!

I know the flooring doesn't match exactly, but we got close enough. The pre-cut sheet was super affordable. We didn't adhear it to the existing floor.

I don't have a before picture! I found a couple before pictures!

 

After pictures:

We WILL eventually be putting in the new tub, fan, and sink faucet (already purchased- they are in the basement still in the boxes!). We have to purchase the tub and shower fixtures that match the faucet. Then, we have to pick out and purchase new tile flooring, the tile surrounding to the shower, and backslash tile for the vanity.

My dream would be for a new vanity & vanity top and a pocket door. This space is SMALL.