Fresh Jam in February

I made jam one afternoon last week.  It smelled SO delicious in this house - like a bit of summer right here.  In the middle of February. 

Triple Berry Jam boiling on the stovetop

I prepared a few batches of jam in July, then made the appropriate preparations so that I could make more in the middle of winter.  This is the first year that I actually did this.  It worked out so well, I will definitely do it again.

Strawberry Jam

I just measured out my crushed fruit, and instead of placing it into my saucepan, I placed it into a freezer zip-type bag, labeled it and popped it into the freezer.  There it sat, patiently waiting for me for the past 7 months.

The masses were complaining rather loudly that we had no jam left in the pantry The mood struck the other day, so I just placed a few bags of frozen fruit into a large plastic container and set it all into the refrigerator to thaw. 

From that point on, I just followed the regular instructions on the box of Sure-Jell, as I do in the summer while making fresh jam.

It makes perfect sense to do this in the winter, you know.  The summer here tends to be rather warm and humid in July, the central air is humming, and here I'd stand, making more heat and steam while cranking out a few cases of jam before the berries rot over-ripen.   

It was a nice, cool winter day, and I was at my stove top creating some steamy, deliciously summery-smelling aromas to waft throughout the house.  It was fabulous.

 

Didn't even feel like a chore, as it sometimes does in the summer.

I made a total of 18 jars of Triple Berry Jam (that's a combination of fresh strawberries, raspberries and blackberries) and 17 jars of Strawberry Jam.

I have a few more bags of freshly frozen berries out in the freezer - waiting to be turned into summer in-a-jar jam.

I do enjoy giving away a jar or two of jam.  All I ask is that you return the empty jar after you lick every last speck out of it thoroughly wash the sticky jar.  

What Did You Have This Morning?

"So, what 'dge you have this morning?"  is the customary greeting on cold days, like today.

I am talking COLD.   Frigidly cold.  We read minus 38 degrees just after 7 am today on our thermometer.

Duluth, MN's official reading was -24 degrees, while International Falls, MN (and Babbitt, MN , where our Grandmas and Grandpa live) dipped as low as -46.   Brrr.  Now that's cold!

Dear hubby left for work as usual this morning at about 5:20am.  No problems, thankfully.  He started his car and let it run for several minutes before leaving today.  That's to warm the engine up to help prevent any problems, you know.

Anyway, we carried on, 'business as usual' around here.  Mimi went outside at -30 to feed the barn cat, dogs and the chickens.  She bundled up, of course, and made her way through the routine.  I believe her step was a bit quicker than normal today.  

The local public schools went on a '2-hour delay' this morning.  Smart.  It'd be rough to be out there at the coldest part of the day.  It had 'warmed' to -25 at 10:00 am, so it was still pretty darn cold, but I'm sure those kids were happy to get the morning off.

Our two dogs were brought inside overnight last night.  They were happy to stay in the entryway.  But not terribly eager to venture outside this morning!  The kids asked me if the dogs could stay in all day, but my reply was, "When it reaches 10 below, out they go."  Well, it is -7 now and they are both napping contentedly in the entryway...   so sometimes I am a pushover.

A light cloud cover made it's way over us within the past hour or so, which is supposed to bring a few snow flurries our way.  Sure makes me long for the sun now.  We've had gorgeous, blinding sunshine the last three days.  It's been lovely!  Heavenly, almost.  It is so delicious and incredibly bright in here when the sun shines, that we pulled the blinds, in winter.  In fact, it is so amazing, its my favorite place to be.  All warm and cozy, cheery and bright,  no matter how cold it gets outside!