We have a bumper crop of chokecherries this year and no bears—what’s up with that?? So my dear cowboy says to me as we are out walking this morning, “you know, maybe we have a grizzly around, they will run off the black bears.” He could have gone all morning or even all year without saying that! We have always had black bears in our area but a couple years ago when the USFS was doing a prescribed burn they saw three large grizzly bears about 3-4 miles from our house—just a walk in the park for a grizzly!
Michael picked two ice cream buckets of chokecherries last week and I juiced the berries—chokecherries are all seed and it takes a bunch to make any juice—when made into jelly or syrup they have a wonderful, distinct flavor and the jelly is a beautiful, deep burgundy color. Michael and I made 4 pints and 11 half pints of jelly today—yes, he even helped me!! All the jars have sealed and it looks as if the jelly is going to gel—that’s a good thing!
Poor Emmi got a bath and a haircut today—she really needed the haircut, now watch it turn cold!! Michael worked on his invention for the 1995 diesel—a bed extension so we can carry both ATV’s on the flatbed of the truck. I even got in a little quilting this afternoon.
Posts
Love homemade jelly! Yum!
ReplyDeleteI was telling a friend about you the other day. They are here to visit with us for a few days on their way north. She is a quilter also and loves one of the many quilt shops in the Amish country. A little town called Intercourse...yes, you read correctly. Boy do they have some beautiful quilts!
Sometimes I miss all the canning, freezing, and making jams and jellies that I used to do, but only sometimes! Hope you don't run into any grizzlies...
ReplyDeleteThat choke cherry jelly sounds wonderful! Most of the jams and jellies I made were from the "wild".... berries, flowers, etc. They seemed to have a more distinct flavor than the domestic fruits. That hayfield is lovely.... I hope you take another photo once it's baled. There's something about seeing those hay bales in the fields that feels like autumn.
ReplyDeleteWe JUST finished baling our first cut at 7:30 tonight, so I guess for the 32nd year in a row the second cut is not going to make it. There was a trail over Banff way closed just recently because a griz was on a kill, turned out he had a black bear for lunch.
ReplyDeleteoh yes we have to stop in and steal some of that jelly on our way South lol.
ReplyDeleteJeanette uses a juice for her jelly projects; especially blackberries.
ReplyDeleteA grizzly encounter would be no fun.....!
Thankfully, we don't have any Grizzlies on Vancouver Island - just black bears which are bad enough.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear your Jelly is Jellin'.
Well, as I sit here in the Washington rain reading your post I am getting very hungry and feeling lazy. The jelly looks delicious although I don't think I have ever had it. We are surrounded by wild blueberries so I guess I better get off the couch and start picking. Good thing you did not have to rename the jelly to grizzle jam.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what chokecherries are. What do they taste like?
ReplyDeleteI think jelly is one of the pretties foods in a jar.