Making Jam

Last week my friend and visiting teacher, Kathy, called to see if we could use some blackberries.  Their early variety is going gang busters, and she brought us two big ice cream buckets filled to the brims with beautiful big berries.  Alex and Anna and I ate some and I made some into jam that very afternoon.  

Aldi has had strawberries for a $1/lb and blueberries for $1.29/pint so, Saturday I bought 8 lbs of strawberries and 6 pints of blueberries thinking I'd make jam over the weekend, but it didn't happen.  I needed to get the berries used up before they spoiled and this afternoon we all got to work slicing, mashing and dicing fruit.  

We made peach, blackberry, blackberry/peach, and strawberry jam.  Then later I made peach syrup and blueberry syrup (which I processed!).  The peaches are white peaches and so delicious.  Kathy's husband brought us two large flats of very ripe peaches that make the best jam and syrup!  Oh, so good.  And the little ones have loved going into the fridge to eat a "lean" peach whenever they want.  [Stephen called them "lean-over peaches" when he brought them by, because you need to lean over when you eat them or you get juice all down the front of you.  

I used low sugar or no sugar needed pectin and had great success with it.  And I love only needing to use 1/4 the sugar traditional recipes call for and still getting a good set on the jam.  I also tested using truvia on batch of strawberry jam rather than cane sugar, it set beautifully, so I'm looking forward to tasting it too.  I think GR's count was 28 jars of jam ... most were pints for us to use, but I also used some jelly jars to give as gifts.    

This day in the kitchen with the kids has brought back sweet memories of making jam with my parents and siblings at my grandmothers home.  My parents discovered buckets and buckets of raspberries in Grandma's basement freezer and we spent the entire week we were there making jam.  


We processed the jam in QUART jars.  Yep, quart jars.  At the time I had no idea what that meant ... I didn't realize the significance of how much work that represented - even though I actively participated.  We'd never made jam before - that wasn't something we did.  Maybe we were using jars Grandma had, or maybe because we were a large family quart jars seemed more efficient?  I don't know.   But no one makes jam in quart jars ... everyone uses pints.  IF you are lucky one recipe yields a quart of jam, plus a little bit.  And we made cases and cases of raspberry jam, in quart jars.  I don't remember how many jars we made, nor do I really remember how much work it took to make that jam.  But we all remember that summer, sitting at stove in the Logan house, cooking raspberry jam.  And we all remember how amazing that raspberry jam tasted.  


As we visited family that summer, we left each family, including the newly married cousins, with a case of the jam.  I don't even remember how many cases we gave away or how many we kept ... maybe someone else remembers?  But I remember when we finally opened the last quart jar of raspberry jam a year or so later, we all savored every bite full!

Barb and Stu stayed with us this last night.  They are on their way to San Francisco for Stu's 4 year residency.   So exciting and yet a little sad to see go so far from home.  Closing one chapter and begin to open a new chapter so many miles away.  

Stuart is a huge board game fan and the kids really enjoy playing any and every game they can with him.  Tonight it was Monopoly.  It was a great game, and in true Stuart fashion he completely wiped everyone out!  At one point in the game, fairly early on, I hear Stuart explain to Sam ...

"If you want a game of revenge, play SORRY. This is a game of business."  

Flying head-on into a Tornado

This was Suzanne's facebook status Friday morning "I'm flying head-on into a family tornado. Giddy-up!"  And it was so true.  Almost all of us were all in town for a very short weekend packed with lots of family fun! 

Joe and Katy had a beautiful baby girl earlier this month and we couldn't wait to meet her and smoother her with cuddles.  Isn't she beautiful! 

My brother-in-law graduated from SLU's Med School Friday. He and Barb are packing up their apartment this weekend and moving to CA for his residency.  We're super excited for them, and super excited for Suz cause they'll practically be neighbors, but it's hard to imagine them all living so far away!

We helped my father clean out the garage.  A very small part of that process was Suz and I building a wood pile.  The wood had formerly been stored in the garage and needed to get moved out of the garage.  We teased Daddy that we were trying to make up for the fact that he only had two sons and four daughters.  

The garage clean out was so we could move furniture my parents drove out from my grandparents home this week.  Last weekend they and my dad's siblings and their spouses spent the weekend cleaning out my grandparents home, dividing up the contents among the descendants and load them up into two trucks ... one truck doing the western US, one truck doing the eastern US.  Mom and Dad made a quick stop at our house to unload a few things and catch a night's sleep before heading to St. Louis Thursday.  And Saturday after cleaning and organizing, we moved the furniture staying in St. Louis onto pallets in their garage until Mom decides where to put them inside.  

Joe and Suz also got Mom's impatient bed planted ... one of "our" traditional Mother's Day gifts to her that my brother is so good at making sure happens each year.  

It's been a while since we've done a super quick visit to the parents like this ... Some of the kids and I arrived Friday night, GR brought our two soccer players who had tournaments, Saturday evening (driving my parents car that they'd left at our place), and then we all headed back to KS Sunday afternoon for our last week of school! ... but it was so worth it to see everyone, visit and help my parents get a good chunk of the work they wanted to get done, done this weekend.    

Family Farming

This weekend was one of our families favorite activities - the local farm tour. We've managed to visit new farms each year and it's always a great mix of education and fun.  The girls went with Grandma and Grandpa after Emily's early morning soccer game and spent most of the morning and early afternoon visiting seven different farms.  

The boys went with us to two farms after Sam's early afternoon game.  Our favorite stop was a family run beef and pork farm.  If was their first year participating in the tour and they did a fabulous job. 

These little piglets are about a week old.  I am always surprised at how quickly animals grow in comparison to humans.  By 5-6 weeks the piglets are weened and by 6 months they are considered adults.  The flip side is that by about 4 they are considered done and sent to market. 

Like many Kansas farms, this is a family run operation with multiple generations and families working together to make the operation work.  They've raised hogs for fifty years or so, and recently a branch of the family added beef to the farm's offerings.  They raise a pure bread of cows from Germany that can be used for both beef and milk (though they only use them for beef).  They grow their own hay and corn so they can prepare their own feed mix for the animals. 
 

They send all their bulls to market to maintain genetic diversity.  This guy was getting a hair cut while we were there.  Getting all preened for the American Royal.  
 

Sam and Alex were really excited when the farmer said it was okay for them to climb the bails of hay.  So while the adults asked questions about the cows, farm and how to order their meat, the boys climbed and jumped and climbed and jumped until it was time to get back on the tracker and move on.

 

A Day on the Farmstead

The kids have been in school for two weeks and Anna starts preschool tomorrow. Anna has missed having siblings around to play with and is really looking forward to preschool. We spent our first day off from school, on a family adventure with Diane, going to a children's farm we haven't been to in a while. 

It has really changed in the last couple of years.  Lots of new additions with hands-on exhibits that help kids see what a turn of the century working farm might have been like.  We were excited to see the new additions but also very grateful our old favorites were still around.  We started at the fishing pond where everyone got a fishing poll and can of worms.  Sam did some fishing this summer with his day camp and has wanted to go again ever since.  He had no problem baiting his hook, but really struggled to catch a fish.  We've decided the fish are very good a eating the bait and not getting caught. 

Diane, using Alex's poll, caught our only fish for the morning.  As you can tell, she was ecstatic, and so were all of us!  It was terribly exciting.  I did find it a bit ironic that the woman who spent her honeymoon fishing (never mind the fact that it was nearly 40 years ago), made me unhook the fish and throw it back.  I had no idea what I was doing, but I managed to get the hook out -- fish movie around a lot, and hooks weren't really made to come out easily -- and we're pretty sure the fish survived the experience. 

Anna and Alex both got to take a short little ride a pony. 

This past summer we went to Grants Farm in St. Louis and fed the goats there.  The kids really enjoyed it, but it quickly got to be a bit overwhelming for those that went inside the gate and were among the goats.  I was really glad that here, it was just fine to keep the fence between you and the goats.  Children really do love to feed other living things don't they, especially when it's in a bottle. 

We spent a little time in the one room school house and then headed out to the playground to run and feed the ducks and see some of the original part of the farm.  We finished our late morning with lunch at Sonic, meeting up with GR for a little while and being able to eat lunch outside!  The weather has been so hot for so much of the end of summer, it's nice to have cooler temperatures, we were actually a little chilly sitting in the shade.  What a nice change!!  
 

An Evening on the Lake

GR made arrangements for us to spend Friday evening on the lake, tubing.  GR typically gets out with Joe a couple times a year to go tubing, but as a family this was our first invitation.  The kids were so excited.  To insure the life jackets would fit the kids, Joe brought a bunch by Wednesday night.  It was all I could do to keep the kids from wearing them constantly before we got to shore.  

We had so much fun out on the water!  And at least for me, it feels like it's been ages since we've all had pure fun together.  

I was really, really impressed with how quickly the kids acclimating to the tube and as you can see from the huge smiles on each face, they loved every second of it. 

When it was Alex's turn, we quickly discovered that he was not big enough to distribute his weight enough to keep the tube upright.  So Becca and GR served as counter weights while the two little ones took a turn around the lake.  GR said Alex kept switching from grinning from ear to ear to saying, "oh dear ... oh dear...  oh dear."  Love it!

We followed up the evening with Culvers frozen custard.  And came home to a house full of family who arrived for Sam's baptism in the morning.  It's gonna be a wonderful and busy weekend. 

I'm participating in a Photography Challenge ... 20 weeks, 20 different subject challenges to photograph.  I'm hoping it will help me improve my photography skills and force me to learn how to use my camera more.  I used this last photo for this weeks submission (week 2, smile).  

St. George, Utah ... part 1

The kids and I flew out for a family reunion of sorts in Southern Utah, the afternoon of the fourth.  We met up with my parents and brothers family who arrived the day before, and a day later Barb and Stuart arrived.  We had a grand week seeing the sights of Southern Utah, seeing some of my extended family.  One of the highlights was getting to see my grandfather and his wife Ruth.  Oh how we love them and miss them!!  

I would not recommend visiting St. George in July ... dry heat or not, it was blazing hot -- it's no wonder we got a steal of a deal on the condos we rented.  But we stayed at a great resort with lots of good accommodations for the group we had. 

Here are a few highlights from our trip::

Because we were with my Dad and brother in country that screams, "hike me," "explore me," we did lots and lots of both. 

We geocached as often as we could.  We are still looking for a good accurate geocache Android app.  If you know of any, let me know. 

We really enjoyed hiking in Snow Canyon.  On Tuesday we explored the Pioneer Names trail.  It is possible that the Samuel Wittwer listed is my father's great grandfather.  But we have no record or proof of it and consequently are skeptical of it's authenticity.  None the less, it was a lot of fun and I'm really proud of how well the little ones did climbing up the very steep slope.  

Facing the Pioneer Names slope, is large rock/boulder everyone scrambled up for pictures.  

Thursday morning we went to Jenny's Canyon, also in Snow Canyon and another very kid friendly hike.  These pockets in the rock were all throughout the canyon. 

Shower

My youngest sister is getting married in a few weeks to this guy in mid July.  He is awesome and we adore him ... almost as much as my sister.  

We threw a shower for her at my mom's house.  Suzanne did most of the work, planning the decorations, and really fun games.  She did a great job of helping everyone in the room get to know Stuart and Barb.  She had Stu come near the end of the shower ... he brought her flowers ... so people could get to know him a little bit too.  They told how he proposed, a story I hadn't heard before.  It really was a lovely shower.  To explain the props below, I'll have to explain the games.  The mingler was the game where you have a famous couple on your back and you have to talk with people around you to figure out who it is.  Everyone had fun with this.  The next game was a bit of a quiz for Barb.  Suz sent Stuart a dozen or more questions and the test was to see if Barb could answer them the same way Stu would.  All the guests were given thumbs up cards and thumbs down cards to show if they thought Barb would get it right or wrong.  Very fun. 

Here's a quick picture of almost everyone who came. All the W's are on the front row, including my sweet SIL seated to my left.  

Barb and Stu are really into supporting local growers and farmers, so where ever possible they are going with small local companies for their wedding plans.  We tried to do the same with the shower.  Where possible we used family recipes and farmers market produce.  Mary Ann brought beautiful bars of handmade olive oil soap from Lebanon that we gave as favors to all the attendees.  And I crocheted a dozen or more wash cloths that we paired with handmade brown sugar body scrub and a small wooden soap dish as game prizes.  The food was light and refreshing.  Don't you love how my SIL served the breakfast casserole ... jumbo cupcake liners worked perfectly and helped to stretch a single casserole enough to feed the entire group. 

We (my mom, sisters and I) went in together to purchase a spice collection from Penzey's Spices and cooking classes from a local culinary shop.  Stu's family, mainly his dad, is really into cooking - their family cook book is one of their prized family treasures ... something I didn't really know before I decided to put together a version of  this idea for them.  I included a combination of plastic sheet protectors, magnetic photo sheets, and 4x6 photo pockets to hold everything from printouts, and recipe cards to magazine tear sheets.  Then I printed a couple dozen recipes onto different digital recipes cards I collected from sources online (thank you Pinterest) and filled a good portion of the notebook with family favorites from our family and Stu's.  Hopefully it will be something she will use and morph over the years to suit her families needs.   

My Dad and brother were super troopers and took all eight grand children geo caching and to lunch while we entertained our guests and cleaned up.  The kids had a blast and discovered a new restaurant they want to take the dad's back to when we come for the wedding next month. 

A day to celebrate

Today is my mother's birthday and all of her grandchildren and almost all of her children were home to celebrate with her. I love my mothers joyful smile in this picture.  It's tradition to light all the candles, turn off the lights and see the reflection of the candles in the window.  Mom's been having us do this at every birthday since we were very small.  The bay window in the kitchen really is perfect for this.  

This is one of many trips we'll be making to St. Louis this summer.  If only I could get frequent driver miles on I-70 and earn gas discounts.  

Suz will arrive tomorrow night just in time for all us girls to put on a bridal shower for our youngest sister who will get married in a few short weeks. 

Mary Ann and her girls arrived from overseas yesterday for their summer visit.  We hope the airlines will allow her luggage to quickly follow.  If they don't it will be a huge inconvenience.  

And today the kids and I managed to leave town on time, something that I honestly don't think has ever happened.  We packed up the car this morning, got to swimming lessons on time at 9:30, got everyone changed into their street clothing (except Alex who managed to only pack pjs, a church shirt and some socks), made a quick stop at the library to return a stack of books, pick-up books on hold and get a handful of things for the kids to read while I was at the dentist (yes all of us went) to have my teeth cleaned.  After the dentist we went through a drive thru for lunch and then made two Relief Society drop offs ... binders for Sunday and two quilts I'd spent most of Wednesday prepping and sewing binding on for an activity Friday evening.  We were on the highway by 1pm, just like I'd hoped.  I cannot tell you what a miracle it is that we left on time.

Spring Break 2011

We opted to spend the last half of our Spring Break with my parents in St. Louis.  We arrived Wednesday night.  Thursday the weather dropped 30 degrees ... going from warm and sunny to cold and drizzly.  So all of our outdoor plans ... the Zoo, Turtle Park, Elephant Rocks and geo-caching all got scrapped for indoor activities.  

We ended up spending two afternoons at the Science Center.  Day one was in the new portion ... Canstruction, Climate Change, Grossology.  Day two, was in the old portion ... exploring the Planetarium and taking in a show.  We love the science center.  The kids love all the cool hands on stuff, and I love that we always walk away with something we've learned.  BTW, lots of locals headed East to St. Louis for the later half of Spring Break this year.  Saw two families I recognized and know of three others who were also visiting.  Small world.  Also when visiting the Science Center, save yourself a hefty parking fee and park on the Forest Park side, the original side, it's free. 


The Climate Change exhibit again, really hit home how irresponsible our population is being when it comes to taking care of our resources.  And how frustrating it is to know that there are more energy and resource efficient ways to do things.  How do we collectively make a mind shift globally that makes energy efficiency attainable for everyone?  But also how do we get big business to care more about their social, global and environmental responsibilities rather than their profitability.  I guess I share the frustration of this writer "Many in the West and other industrialized parts of the world are struggling to confront global warming through means large and small. At the recent environmental conference in Bali, we saw how difficult it is for the world’s nations to come to any agreement to take concrete steps to combat global warming. Meanwhile, individuals in the United States and elsewhere try to affect change through the purchase of compact fluorescent light bulbs, for example, or by driving hybrid vehicles. The sad truth is that as laudable as these efforts [solar energy use in Africa] are, no number of compact fluorescent light bulbs, no number of hybrid vehicles, will begin to make a dent in the damage wrought by the enormous industrializing economies of countries such as China and India, which are using coal and emitting greenhouse gases at alarming rates."

That being said, I am forging on in our efforts to be more mindful of our environmental footprint and I've set some personal goals: 

• Be more strategic about my use of the car - especially with gasoline prices at $3.50/gallon, and rising. 
• Recycle more paper.  We do a pretty good job or recycling chipboard, cans, plastics, corrugated cardboard, newspapers, magazines and catalogs, but we need to do a better job of recycling the little bits of paper that adds up over time. 
• We've gotten out of the habit of unplugging electronics not in use and turning off unnecessary lights. 
• Reduce our consumerism ... reduce the amount we purchase and make better use of what we have.  
  
• Look into solar panel rental programs.  

  [Steps off soap box to share pictures from day 1]

Since it was cold and wet and we were inside a lot and hung out with family, we watched Mega Mind for the first time - excellent!; purchased our favorite card game for 2011 and taught everyone how to play - Monopoly Deal; ate an amazing Corned Beef Brisket and potato dinner made by Mutti that was amazing!; and my brother taught us how to make homemade kettle corn - yum!