Thursday, May 16, 2013

Chaos is wearing thin, Pectin info, Frozen fruit Co-op, and .......... Homesteadbloggers.

I have come to the determination that the building of a pantry in the middle of my chaotic life has it's limits.  I am really good at chaos, as I have said, but there comes a limit even to my patience in this.  The progress is so slow compounded by the fact that, due to new FDA rules, Poppie is being weaned off of his long term pain meds, which is causing him a lot of pain and he simply tires out sooner than normal, the pantry is moving along at a snails pace.  It has given us time to tweak it as we go because every advancement has time to be accepted before we get a new advancement.  We do get to decide if we like something and if not have the time to change it as it goes along.  I do have a limit to how long I can take living in a room full of boxes when I haven't even moved anywhere, well I have if you get to count from on room to the next over and over.  I am done whining now, I do love the changes, I just want to be able to paint and tile which will be the beginning of the end of that room, more to go though.

I got a chance to use my orange citrus pectin yesterday.  I had about 6 lbs of sour cherries in the freezer from last year.  Cubbie, Boy and I took all the stems off of them and put them in the big pot.  I was tired last summer and just picked them and froze them so they were as they had been when they came off of the tree.  We added water, squished them and made them into juice by boiling them for 10 minutes.  I got about 6 cups of juice, mixed equal parts of the orange pectin and sugar.  We boiled it and it did take about 45 minutes but it finally thickened up to a good gel.  I am not sure how thick it will actually set up.  I sealed them in to jars.   I must say that the orange citrus pectin has a taste, it does taste like bitter oranges so if you use it with something compatible with the orange taste it is a very good option for free, or reclaimed pectin, but if it is a jelly you are making that isn't complimentary to orange probably not a good choice.  I can't wait to make the apple pectin so I will have a second option, and since it is more bland I will probably use it more than the orange citrus.  I am not sure cherry was a fair use of the orange citrus pectin for a first go, cherries like peppers is fairly hard to jell as it has no natural pectin.  The kids liked it though when asked the Ladies, who had been at school when I made it, what kind it was they thought it was cranberry relish jelly.  I think the cherries were sour enough and the orange flavor reminded them of my cranberry relish which I do often put orange and jalapeno in to cut the sour. They did like it but I think in the end I will probably use it as a sauce to make orange chicken or other Chinese style foods.  All in a all a successful pectin.

I have a friend the did a co-op for bringing in frozen fruits, purees and jams in to our local area last year.  She is not able to do it this year, so I am going to do it this year.  I am taking orders and have to get them all together and sent by June 30th.  I hope to have all the orders in by June 20th so I make sure to meet the deadline.  The fruit is of excellent quality, I saw some of it as Lady bought some last year.  The fruit is out of Bithell Farms of Oregon.  I hope I manage to get everything done, on the timeline I am hoping for, so all the people can get what they want and share in the bounty of the fruit.  I had never really thought much of co-op's before but it seems to have become something more normal in my life.  BBFC is the first co-op I was really ever a part of, well maybe the first that was actually called a co-op.  I have since been a part of another co-op that one of the BBFC VAC has offered.  This will be the first co-op where I have to do the work to bring it here (except for the info from the lady who did it last year), and not just the under work where someone else actually does the lions share of the work to bring it to our community.  If it works out I can see myself doing more co-op for other items we might need in this area.  I did just get accepted in to another co-op of sorts.  It is called the Homesteadbloggers, it is a group on Facebook that promotes each other blogs and homesteading endeavors.  I am excited to see how it goes with them.  They seem to be all like minded peoples to my concepts in life, oh, I am sure we all will have differences but it is a new experience and I am excited to see how it goes. 

Off to do my chores before the grands arrive.  Maybe I will get to paint of tile later.... well one can hope can't we?  I hope your day is filled with the Lords love and warmth, you know when I pray and praise him I can actually feel his warmth in my soul and it is so comforting, I hope that for you.... tomorrow.  

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