Homemade Blackberry Jam

The other day I was at my mother's house when I noticed she had many delicious-looking, ripe blackberries in her yard. I had a fabulous idea to make jam out of them. I took it upon myself to call my dad and make sure that it was safe to pick them. I went into the house and found the largest bowl I could and proceeded to fill it entirely with the plump morsels of juicy goodness. I wrapped it in a plastic bag for the journey home.

I had never made jam before and had only just talked to a friend's parent about the process a few days earlier. I didn't have any of the materials so on my way home I stopped in at our local Safeway and picked up a flat of 12 8oz. kerr jam jars, as well as some pectin.

Upon returning home, I washed the jars and lids in warm soapy water and boiled the jars in a very large pot of water. I looked online for a good (easy to follow) recipe for blackberry jam and began the process. I found a good recipe at http://www.recipezaar.com/40235 The recipe was submitted by MizzNezz on September 15, 2002 and said:

Homemade Blackberry Jam

Ingredients

5 cups crushed blackberries (do not puree, crush with a potato masher) 7 cups sugar 1 (1 3/4 ounce) package fruit jell pectin (I use Ball but Sure Jell will work too)

Directions

1. Carefully measure out the berries, put them into a very large pot (8qt).
2. Carefully measure sugar in a lg bowl.
3. Add the pectin to the berries a little at a time, stirring constantly.
4. Heat on hi, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a FULL boil.
5. Add sugar ALL at once, stirring.
6. Bring mixture back to a full hard boil, stirring constantly.
7. Boil for 1 minute.
8. Remove from heat and ladle into clean, hot 8oz jars, leaving 1/4 inch space at the top.
9. Wipe the rim of the jar and put canning lids and rings on firmly tight.
10. Place in canner with very hot water, make sure water is 1 inch above jars.
11. Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
12. Remove and set them upright on a towel to set for 12 hours.

To me, the jam turned out delicious and great! To a jam queen, it was probably a little runny...but it wasn't REALLY runny...just a bit. It is SO good and the seeds in it are yummy! It tastes so good over toast!! I am really happy with how it turned out...especially for my first batch!

The New Apron

This is the wonderful apron that goes along with the antiques in Snohomish and button posts below. I purchased it at the Star Center Antique Mall in Snohomish, Washington just the other day. It is SUPER cute and vintage! It has four front pockets in the lovely blue material and the roses are hand embroidered! I love it so much and have been wearing it frequently!

The Buttons

These are some of the many buttons I picked up while browsing through antique stores a few days ago. Keep scrolling down to see more beauties.

More of the Buttons

A close up of some of the buttons I purchased at various antique stores in Snohomish, WA the other day. So pretty!

Buttons From Antiquing

These are more of the buttons I took home from my day in Snohomish. I love the natural ones...the wood, carved nut, shell, etc... The red one is pretty!

Buttons, Buttons, and More Buttons

A few days ago I decided to go the the "Antique Capital of the Northwest" A.K.A. Snohomish, Washington. It is very near where I live and has MANY antique stores lining the streets. I had a short while to browse (2 hours...a short time for me).

In my first store I found many great treasures! I purchased an old Kerr canning jar filled with buttons, a ziplock baggie full of buttons, and a nice set of vintage arm and hammer "Useful Birds of America" cards. The vendor who's area I found all of these items in was having a half-off sale so my total was under $6!

The second shop was equally as exciting! I found a great bag of buttons for 20% off. I also met with a wonderful woman with a rented area in the store. She was cleaning her space and moving things around and I noticed she had aprons. I browsed through them and she talked to me. I didn't find any that I liked very much and she asked me what I was looking for. I told her that I really like vintage gingham aprons with embroidery and such. She told me that she has tons of gingham aprons at her home a block from the store and gave me her phone number to set up a day to look at them. She was very pleasant and kind, and gave me 10% off of each of the bags of buttons I purhased from her space!

The third (and unfortunately last) shop I ventured into that day had a specific purpose for me...an apron. I always find the BEST aprons there and picked out a fabulous red checked gingham apron with four blue pockets lining the front. It had embroidered roses on the pockets and looks oh-so-cute!

I had a great time finding my new treasures! I can't wait to do it again!

Oh, and by-the-way, I now have well over 1,000 buttons!!!! And I received my MaryJanes Farm Farmgirl Sisterhood merit badge certificate and badge today for the beginner level "Buttoned-Up"!

My New Button Collection and the Farmgirl Sisterhood

As many of you may know, I am a fan of MaryJane Butters and her books and magazines (haven't tried her food yet but I have heard wonders). For those of you who don't know, she is a farmgirl living in Idaho on her organic farm. She basically coined the term "farmgirl" and I love to use it. You can read a more in-depth definition of "farmgirl" in my very first blog entry "Allow Me to Introduce Myself." A farmgirl not not necessarily live in the country on a farm...she can live anywhere as long as she enjoys creating things with her own two hands...whether it be cooking, baking, or sewing, knitting, crocheting or quilting, raising children, growing crops or gardening, or whatever.

On her website: maryjanesfarm.org you can learn more about her and her farm as well as her publications. I am in love with her magazines! They are a breath of fresh air that I eat up immediately upon purchase. On her website there is a forum for farmgirls across the globe to post topics and answers and have conversations with one another to share tips/swap goods/and everything in-between. I am a member on the forum with my username as lacisne88.

Through the website you can also sign up to be a part of the Farmgirl Sisterhood. This requires an annual membership fee to be a member but is well worth it. As a member of the sisterhood you receive the membership badge that you are allowed (and encouraged) to decorate and wear with pride on a jean jacket of choice! I am still learning to embroider for my badge decoration, but as soon as I finish, I will post a picture.

Anyways, as a member of the sisterhood, you are able to earn merit badges as well. I just applied for my first...the beginner level Buttoned up badge! For this badge I was required to begin a button collection of a variety of buttons. The minimum requirement was 50 buttons...I collected 270! I keep my buttons in a Kerr Mason jar so they look nice to display. I have many different varieties such as plastic, metal, leather, bone, shell, antique, vintage, and new! It was so much fun collecting the buttons and I plan to continue collecting! Buttons are so pretty and it is great that there is so much variety!!!

I will be earning my beginner knitting badge next as I have been knitting for a few years now and want to work on that.

If you are an aspiring farmgirl at heart or feel you might be, I reccomend taking a look at the MaryJanes Farm website and especially checking out her books and Magazines. They are wonderful and make me feel HAPPY!

Vintage Aprons

I just made a great find on Ebay! I purchased two beautiful vintage aprons for under $10 including shipping! I was so excited! I posted the pictures here so you all can see them. I can't wait until I find them waiting for me in my mail. So exciting!! That makes 7 in my vintage apron collection! I will post pictures of my other aprons later.

The First Harvest

Hello every one! I just wanted to share my first harvest from my garden with you. I actually harvested a few weeks ago but I just now uploaded the pictures onto my computer.

I planted a very large garden in the spring. It was beautiful and I spent many hours working alone planting types of squash and pumpkin, broccoli, bell peppers, onions, corn, lettuce, even sunflowers. I had to take a long trip to Mexico to study abroad for 6 weeks and my dad said he would tend to the garden in my absense.

I guess his version of "tend to the garden" just meant watering. I came home a few weeks ago to a thriving garden...a garden thriving with weeds. There were weeds everywhere!! I could not tell most of the good plants from the bad plants because they were hidden amongst the horrible knee-high weeds and grasses!

I harvested right then and there what I could. The broccoli was left a bit too long and a few of them had already started blooming the yellow flowers. I took what I could from these. A few of the broccoli plants don't quite look normal because of this but they tasted good. I also was able to harvest some nice lettuce.

We made salads for a week afterwards and they were all very delicious and fresh tasting! The corn plants have a few ears growing and I look forward to harvesting those!