All in a Day's Work....

Yesterday I finally got around to the peaches that we got through a local coop - woot! Gorgeous fresh picked peaches - yeah! We are, of course, eating peach everything at the moment. Peaches on yogurt, peach cobbler, peaches just for the heck of it, you know - just peachy all the way around. So, to say we've 'stolen' some peaches from the boxes is a mild understatement (who would tell the truth, really?) But, from the 1.5 bushels I've processed so far, I made 15 jars of peach jam. Yuuuuuum! I just follow the recipe on the sure jell/ball pectin packet. Too many times, I've tried no sugar, low sugar jam approaches and wound up with syrup so I just suck it up and pour the sugar in, moderation being my approach of the moment. I mean, there is alot of sugar in a batch of jam but - how much do you actually eat at a time?

I still have another 1/2 bushel of peaches to go so I'm guessing I'll get another dozen jams made today which will total 27 jars. That may sound like alot but, when spread over the year and accounting for the jars I will 'gift' whenever the mood strikes me - not so much. Since the berries on the old homestead (feels so weird to say that) are sparse at best this year - we likely won't have any blackberry jam so peach will be the jam of our year. If I gift 5-7 jars, that leaves us 1.5 jars a month. That would be fine except the huscreature is a biscuit eating machine and he still weighs 5 lbs. less than when he graduated high school so his logic tells him it's perfectly okay to have lots of butter and jam dripping off of the biscuit. I sear, I smell his breakfast and I gain five pounds. It just isn't fair, I tell you.

The chutney is my favorite. It goes well on anything you want to roast in the oven like potatoes, fish, chicken, etc. It tastes divine on a good steak with some fresh baked bread or, you can marinated some tofu in it and then saute it with the chutney for a sort of blackened, spicy tofu addition to your meal. Very versatile, lots of flavor - that's my way of cooking so we get along just fine. This recipe will make about 5 quart jars of chutney. My canner can hold 6 but I find they are easier to manage when I only put 5 jars in there:

* As note of interest - and because I am a total freak and like to figure this stuff out - 3-4 moderately sized peaches, when skinned and pitted and chopped, equal about 2 cups of peaches. Yes, I counted. Over and over, and the average was consistent within a 1/4 cup margin. I told you, FREAK!



16 cups of peeled, cubed and slightly smashed peaches
1 tbsp of the following: garam masala, cardamon pods, pickling spices
1 teaspoon of the following: pepper flakes, cumin, vanilla extract,cinnamon
Pinch of: ground clove, nutmeg
4.5 cups of sugar
4 cups of apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp fresh minced ginger and garlic
1 onion, chopped fine
fresh cilantro to taste
1 fresh Serrano pepper, diced fine

Cook together on med to high heat, stirring regularly until some of the liquid has evaporated (about 1/2 hour). No need to evaporate ALL of the liquid as the canning process will 'gel' the sugar and peaches somewhat. If you really only like a chutney that is thick and well evaporated, by all means, do so but you will likely only get 3-4 jars from this recipe. Once reduced, pour into sterilized canning jars and water bath them for 35 minutes. They taste great right from the start but, after a few weeks, their flavor really blends together in the jar and it is awesome! Throw your meat/tofu/edamame beans or protein of choice into some and spread it on some rice and you have a one dish meal that is out of this world.

* Second note of interest - I am a glutton for tongue punishment so I always triple the garlic and ginger in mine. Of course, that would make a dinner date with this stuff problematic if your desired attendee is sensitive to garlic breath. Try chewing on some fennel seeds after your meal if this is the case - it will abolish the garlic smell and still allow you to revel in garlic heaven:)

To peel peaches without cursing:

This is a super easy process. Boil some water in a large sauce pot. Drop peaches in until the pot is nearly full but all the peaches can roll around comfortably. Boil for a few minutes - remove them and dramatically (or not but I like to have fun so I make a show of it) plunge them into some cold water in your sink. When you pull them out, the skins slip right off easy peasey. Then, cut them up and remove the pits and they are ready for the canning process:)

Spoonfuls of greasy, healing love!

Heh - I thought I'd be here a couple of days ago. BRRR! It's been, uh, TOO cold here for the last few days - even for Maine! So, things (including me) move a little slower. I blame it on the lack of mobility caused by excessive layering. If you don't have a 9 year old in your house, then you may not be privileged with the goofy but hysterical things that 8-10 yr. olds say. Thing 3 is in all his glory of being the CUTEST LITTLE KID EVER! Lately, he's been saying the funniest things.

Thing 3 hates to be forced to stay indoors, no matter how bitter and nasty the weather. He finds excuse upon excuse to head down to the barn and feed the horse a carrot, take the chickens a piece of bread, or just sneak off to play for a while and claim he's doing a chore (smiles cuz we moms always really know what they're up to but play along with the foolery anyway because it's so fun for them). So, the other day, when the wind was howling and the cold was biting and I had convinced him that outside play for any length of time was simply out of the question, we had a talk about sensible dress for cold weather. I reminded him to layer and layer some more and he promised to only stay out for wee bits at a time and come in to warm up by the stove and have a cuppa hot chocolate. He kind of took the layering thing to an extreme and, later, whilst in for a 'warm up', was sporting a grand sweat and red face. I mentioned that the layering may have been a bit much and he replied, "yeah, must have been because I think I'm having a hot flash or something!" After I got up off the floor and stopped laughing hysterically I asked him if he knew what a hot flash was. Of course, he did not but realized after I explained it that he indeed was not experiencing a symptom of menopause and was, in fact, over dressed. I love this kid!

So, I was supposed to come here and talk about salves, and I will. First, I must introduce to you the object of my affections. You know, things have been a little rough so I did what any sensible woman would do. I baked alot, knit and spun alot, and catered to my desire for something to sit in my lap and purr (my big kitty thinks he's too old for that, now) and got myself a kitten. Well, I'm sharing her with everyone but Thing 3 and I are pinky wrestling over her nearly every day. Meet Tatiana - our little Maine Coon Cat. She's a terror, I tell ya - but you gotta love something this small that can have the entire house bent over laughing with her antics while confusing the dog and exhausting our older cat, Boulder, who has taken to mothering her and seems completely worn out by that awesome responsibility! He's all like, 'dang, I need a nap on my favorite stair and you bring me this crazy kid to train?' It's so funny. When she gets too out of hand he tackles her, gives her a thorough bath, and tricks her into falling asleep.

Now, onto the salve!

I've been making this salve for about as long as I've been using herbal remedies - around 13 years, now. Comfrey is a magical plant, if you didn't know. Culpepper raved about the bone healing virtues of this plant and, indeed, it's been called 'bone knit' in folk remedies because of it's ability to mend bones so quickly, it is as if they are knitted back together (you like it already, don't you?). I love it because it is so easy to grow. In fact, it is hard NOT to grow so, if you plant some, put it where you don't mind it stretching out it's legs a while. It does make an excellent soil conditioner but, should you get the bright idea to plant it right in your herb garden because you've read this, and two years later you are spending your whole summer pulling up baby comfrey plants 10 feet away until, exasperated, you give up and fence the pig into the garden to root out all the seedlings that are taking over, you will think twice before doing it, again. Just sayin'.

In my opinion, the knitting of bones is pretty spectacular. But, even more impressive is how this spiky leaf can knit skin. Seriously! My salve comes with a warning to NEVER, EVER put it on a deep cut. The reason is that comfrey proliferates the skin cells, which is a good thing mostly. Only, it is so devoted to making new skin cells and knitting them together that, for a really deep cut, the outer layer of skin can heal so quickly that the deeper wound is still underneath - causing infection and ouchy sorts of pain. We love the magic salve, here. I can't tell you how many times I've slathered it on a scraped knee that was the result of a bike mishap or a fall from the swing set, covered it with a cool band-aid and, by the next morning, just a faint piece of pink skin is where the boo boo was just the day before. For burns and chapped skin, ditto. Cold sores? Gone! If you're going to grow one herb and try to get the most practical used out of it - comfrey is a serious contender. I use the crushed, dried leaves for the ewes, too, if they are slow to heal from lambing.

The salve is super easy and, over time, I've added some 'special' ingredients of my own but you can just experiment and find what works for you. If you don't have comfrey, or can't grow your own herbs or, for those supplies that help you make your herbal goodness, I can't recommend Mountain Rose Herbs enough. I've been buying organic herbal care ingredients and other nedessities for years and I've always been impressed with the quality of their herbs, oils, and specialties. Here's my recipe

5 parts olive oil infused with fresh comfrey*
1 part beeswax
20 drops tea tree essential oil (it's a great antibacterial for cold sore, scrapes, etc. and cools burns like a peppermint would)
1 tbsp goldenseal root powder (again, an antibacterial/antifungal)

* to infuse the oil - place 2 cups dried or 4 cups fresh chopped comfrey in a pot with 5 cups of olive oil, warm, slowly, at low temp. for about an hour. Set overnight, strain the next day and - voila! You've got some magic comfrey oil!

Then, melt the beeswax in the comfrey oil on LOW HEAT. Remove from heat when the beeswax is completely dissolved. Add the tea tree oil and goldenseal powder and stir thoroughly. Then, pour into your favorite jar (baby food jars are excellent as are small jam or honey jars) and label - it's amazing how easily you'll forget what's in the jar so labeling really is a good idea.

This also works great on chapped lips and, without the goldenseal and tea tree oil and with a few drops of rose oil added instead, you'd have a great under eye and wrinkle cream.....this stuff makes your skin look great. If you don't want to make it, but would love to use it, I'll have a few jars listed in the shop for the Black Friday weekend sale next weekend.

Have fun....play hard - that's our motto here at Chez Kneebumps Don't Scare Us! How about some spinning and soap making next time, hmmmm???

A sting like you've never known.....

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite 'wild' plants - nettle. I've loved nettle for many reasons over the years. Used as a medicinal herb, it is a great 'house cleaner' of the glands/bloodstream - sweeping out the plaques and cruddy glumps and providing a healthy and naturally absorbing form of calcium and iron which are both essential to building a healthy blood supply. Oh, and they make your hair and nails shine and grow as well as making your skin clearer. Used in tea form, obviously.

I mean, should you ever just be meandering along and stumble upon a nettle, you will surely know that THAT experience does no real benefit to the skin. Personally, I think that's why it boasts those pretty little sprays of baby's breath-like flowers - to sort of taunt you into walking over to it and, just before you grasp it, saying something in your native southern twang like, "oh gosh, look at these pretty little blosso-aaacckkk!(insert sounds of gurgling, cursing, and generally pretending to be on the last minute of your dying day as you squirm neath the fiery sensations and creeping, swelling welts popping up here and there)". It has added effect if there is someone (and I hope, for your sake, that it is NOT your smarty pants husband)watching you stroll across the yard to take a closer look. Trust me, you will only do it once before you will commit to memory that this little powerhouse plant, with it's seductive flower sprays, is only fit to admire with a GLOVED HAND.

To dye with nettles, the best time to pick them is also when they are at their 'peak' of potency - when those little flower sprays are all over it and dancing daintily in the breeze. See the stems on the right - all those little hairy thorns all down them? Gloves! Don't ever forget. Pick enough to fill your stockpot - packing them down as you go. Then, pour water to nearly full and boil for about 1/2 hour. Remove from heat and let set for a few hours or, even better, a whole day. The brew will get darker and stronger. If you want an 'olive' sort of green, add about 4-5 tablets of ferrous sulphate (iron). I just use the vitamin form that you can cheaply buy at a pharmacy. Put those in after you've boiled the tea and let them dissolve as the tea cools and strengthens its color.

In the meantime, you'll want to prepare your skeins to be dyed. I started with this magnificent yarn that Deb at the Stonehedge Fiber Mill spun up for us. It was primarily cotswold with some mixed breed (targhee, corriedale, etc) mixed in and a slight bit of pure tussah silk pindrafted along with it - ensuring the most lustrous, soft, gorgeous yarn. I can't say enough about this mill - they just did such a beautiful job. I took 5 of the dk wgt. skeins and simmered them for 1 hr in an alum/cream of tarter mordant bath. Then, I hung them up to wait for their lovely nettle tea.

After the tea darkened significantly, I strained all the plant matter out and put the yarn in the tea on low heat to simmer for another hour. This plant takes very little rinsing to remove any excess dye and the result is fairly washfast and lightfast. I love the cool, sagey, minty tone!


If you've been reading the blog for long, you probably already know how I feel about 'natural' dyes. I generally only like to dye with native plants that are in abundance. The following, a madder concentration, would be a good example as to why. Cost is a consideration for sure. Nettle grows rampant as opposed to the madder which cost me about 3.00 per skein in dye matter alone. You add that, plus the fact that the natural dyes consume 4-6 times more water to process, fuel for processing, and added amendments to get accurate color, and the base fiber (which, in this case was to house, feed, shear, and have spun the wool) and it is difficult to dye in this manner but for one's own pleasure and use.

Also, there is the whole 'natural' hang up that I have. See, to me, natural should mean honoring if not assuring no harm done to, well, nature. Chrome, copper, sulfates, and other additives are quite dangerous to use and can have lasting effects on the planet. So, I will only dye with the basic alum and cream of tarter. Anything that requires the heavy metals to bring color is not something I care to do. In that case, I prefer my acid dyes. Non-toxic pigment activated by household vinegar which, when neutralized with baking soda being added to the exhausted bath water, is fairly safe and leaves little lasting print on Nature.

Though madder is costly, as it is not native to our region, it is relatively harmless to use. I began with the roots - added to 2 gallons of water and boiled for one hour. Then, again, left to sit for 4-24 hrs. to 'strengthen' the tea. Strain the root matter out and add the mordanted skeins to the tea, simmering for one hour. Let the yarn cool in the tea. Rinse in hot water with some vinegar to 'set' the color, rinse again until clear, and you have a lovely golden peach. Some texts will say you can get red - and you can. Only, the $12.00 of madder root would have only dyed two skeins instead of 6. Uhm, that is a very expensive way to dye and the deeper the color, the more likely it is to bleed over time anyway. I've settled on using madder for this lovely melon color and will, again, use the acid dyes for a deep red. You can always try cochineal for red, and we will next time, but the red is very 'purpley' red. Cochineal is also a low-chemical natural dye method but you have to be cruel enough to grind up all those poor dead bugs (they are dead already and dried but still, if you're sentimental like me, it can be a burden) and it bleeds like crazy so you have to rinse it a billionty times to get the the 'final' color tone. It is so taxxing that it deserves a day of its own on the blog, doncha think?

Jelly

Such a vulgar sounding word for something so sweet and innocent, isn't it? The canning season is under way and the first to make its debut this year would be lemon balm and mint jellies. Prepared separately, of course. Actually, you could combine the two as well but since I made two batches, I kept them separate, not sure how the hubster would like jelly made from weeds and sometimes he's a downright freak about all things minty though I seem to have tweaked that with this little batch of sweet, slippery delight. There's not much bread around these days because when you cook with a wood stove and the dog days of summer are long and lingering with 80+% humidity, baking bread is really not a sound option. Still, some flat bread in a skillet (made on the grill outside) is an option, or some good whole grain store-bought bread when we have it. Last and most always over-looked and under-appreciated, the cracker makes a suitable substitute because, you know, when you've gone to the trouble to make some jelly, you're not willing to wait until the next trip into the grocery to taste it!

This year's batch came out delightful. I tripled the strength of the tea and the lemony flavor really packs a punch this time. Same with the mint - as I'm finding that if you follow the recipes that call for, say, 2-3 cups of chopped herbs, the full flavor of them gets so diluted that your jelly really ends up tasting like sweetened grass. Oh, and because I'm including the recipe below I just wanted to note that I don't make 'low sugar' jellies. Jams hold much more potential for 'tinkering' with the sugar content but jellies are a little more stubborn and runny jelly is not worth all of the work that goes into filling the jars. It's not like we eat it by the gallon and not everyday so I've chosen to ignore my inclination to lower the sugar and just make a well-set, delicious, organically home-grown jelly that will make people smile and try to get on my good side so they can find my hidden stash(wink). We settled for the only thing we had, toast and crackers to go with the delicious lunch we shared today. Peach slices and lemon balm jelly on crackers (toast for some who don't like crackers) with a mozzarella/pasta salad dressed with fresh basil/thyme/lemon juice/olive oil/crushed garlic salad. We were stuffed because, as we often do with our meals that are held around enjoying our own grown and preserved food stuffs, we ate like pigs! OInk, oink.

Here's the recipe I've created by merging some I've found in books and on-line, and then tweaking it to make a jelly we all love. You can use any herbs, a combo of herbs, or some hot peppers to make a minty jalapeno jelly (use vinegar in place of lemon juice then)
5 cups chopped and packed fresh herbs (I used lemon balm for batch 1 and mint for batch 2)
1 1/2 packages pectin powder (sure-jell or the ball brand both work fine for me)
5 cups sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice

Boil 6 cups of water and pour over the herbs, covering, and steep until water is cool. Strain liquid and squeeze the herbs to release all the flavor. Add lemon juice and pectin to herb tea and bring to a rolling boil, stirring regularly. Add sugar and return to boil, stirring, boil for a minute or two. Remove from heat, pour into jars and seal - water bath for 10 mns. at a boil.

As the Tour De Fleece is drawing to its end, I seem to have gained some spinning momentum yet again. The Esmaralda batts from last week practically FORCED themselves on me so I had to stay up late last night spinning them up. The peacock (last month's installment for the Happy Hooves Batt Club) was a dream to spin and I harvested near 400 yards of dk wgt yarn from the 5.6 ozs. of batts that I spun - that dazzling pile of beauty will be pooled with some of the other black batts I've been spinning (Black Magic Woman, Blue Jay, etc) and, someday, be made into this. The singles of 'Galadriel' and 'Gold Dust Woman' are so squishy and soft and I am grateful to have re-captured my ability to spin a solid, soft, and great single. I'd been warned that when you learn to spin sock and lace wgt. yarns, it is hard to go back to a smooth, lofty, healthy single. 'Pfft!,' I said to that. Only, it was true. It took much practice and a replenishing of my favorite singles fiber - Cotswold - in the stash to get me back on the singles wagon again.

I started a new pair of socks (I know, I hear the 'big deal' and loud sighs) but this one really is news- as I have wondered from my beloved dpn's to try the circular knitting method in Cat Bordhi's sock book. I fell in love with the Tibetan Long Socks. Funny thing is, I'd also fallen in love with the Chai yarn. I was all set to selfishly knit it for myself when SOMEONE with really big ole feet and a birthday the day after x-mas, mentioned ever so casually that he loves that colorway the best of all my hand-dyed sock yarns. Urgh (bangs head on cabinets) it is so hard to be good! But, good I will be. I look at it this way....the socks will be a gift....on loan. If I don't feel they are being properly loved, I will sneak them into my sock drawer and nary a word will be said about it, right? Bwah ha ha ha!