Home Sweet Homemade Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

Last week, I got one of my crazy ideas again!  I decided I should learn to make my own jellies and jams.  It seems as if I need a new challenge every so often and decide to take on something fairly random.  Now, I know a person can purchase a reasonably priced jar of the mass produced stuff at the local grocery store.  However, if you have ever tasted really good quality homemade jam or jelly, you'd know why a person would go to the trouble of making at home for themselves. 

Last week's adventure was grape jelly.  Since it was my first time making jelly as well as canning, I choose the simplest recipe I could find.  How did it go... let's just say I had a molten grape jelly lava explosion on my stovetop that took DAYS to remove!  UGH!  Add to this mess of an experience, I didn't boil it long enough with the pectin in it, so it has a less than perfect texture.  But it is still pretty good.  I plan to find lots of uses for grape jelly/syrup asap! 

This week, I tried making Strawberry Rhubarb jam.  At our current home, we have 4 rhubarb plants that have always been generous with us.  So, I decided "hey, I better use that rhubarb before we don't have it anymore!"  I found a recipe that mimics my DH's recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie--which is freaking awesome!  And made this...

I used the following recipe:

3 c chopped rhubarb

3 c chopped strawberries

2 c white sugar

1 T ground cinnamon

1/2 c water

1 (2 oz) pkg dry pectin

1. In a large saucepan mix together the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, water and cinnamon. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat for 20 minutes or until the fruit is soft.  (I cooked mine longer since I wanted a more condensed flavor) Stir in the pectin and boil for 5 minutes.
2. Ladle into sterile jars, wipe rims with a clean cloth or paper towel, and seal with new lids. Process in a bath of simmering water for at least 10 minutes, or as recommended by your local extension if you are at a high altitude. Store unopened jars in a cool dark place. Refrigerate jam after opening.

I taste-tested the jam this morning (on a couple of slices of bread, ya gotta make sure, ya know, lol!)  Delicious!  Very impressed with this recipe and a little impressed with myself too.  Not too bad for someone who had no idea what she was doing, right?  :) 

New House Details

Well, here she is.... DH and my new house... well at least the "front" anyway.  I planned to take lots of pictures but plans got changed.  I'll take more and post 'em as soon as I can.

Don't ya just love our pretty landscaping?  Nothing looks better than random dirt piles surrounding a house, right?  Ugh!  The to-do list at our house is enormous!  The dirt WILL find a new home in the near future.  We plan to use it to help level out some of our less than great areas in our yard.

Currently, DH is working on re-routing the gutter/drainage system.  What we have is simply not working out, so DH has been digging trenches and installing PVC pipes to relocate the water AWAY from the house.  DH is just awesome!  He's ALWAYS working on the new house as his short supply of time allows.  Honestly, I don't know how he works 50-60 hours a week, does a 1-hour 1-way commute each day, then works on our new house over 20 hours a week too.  I hope to give him one heck of a good Father's Day celebration...tips, ideas, and suggestions are welcome!  He deserves something awesome...I just hope I can do something special for him on his day.     

Ok, details about the house as promised!  It's an Amish built 30 by 60 foot structure with a 9/12 pitched roof.  This gives us around 700 square feet upstairs to use as we wish with a total square footage of approx 2500 feet which is HUGE compared to our current home.  It has a 8 by 60 foot porch on the east and west sides of the house.  I long to sit on my favorite lawn chair and sip lemonade on those porches this summer.  The house has 5 bedrooms (2 of those will be used as playrooms--one upstairs and one downstairs), 2 full bathrooms, 1 half bath upstairs, laundry/mud room, open kitchen and dining room with gas fireplace and living room with open office space which will be upstairs as well.  I designed the floor plan myself using a program DH purchased for me.  It's pretty basic square and rectangular shapes for all the rooms but I prefer simple lines for home design.  To decrease costs, I tried to keep all of the rooms that require water (ie bathrooms, laundry room and kitchen) in a centralized location.  The upstairs bath is "stacked" on top of the laundry room.  All of the main floor bedrooms are clustered together at the south end of the house. We also have a 1200 square foot 3 car detached garage on property and a few random crummy sheds that we plan to spruce up as time and money allows.  We will have radiant floor heat (fueled by one of our 2 propane tankless water heaters) for the coldest months but we will use our 2 air pumps for heating during the times when heat is only needed for nights.  The air pumps will also provide the AC too.  DH is super techy, so we will have lots of WIFI stuff like duel WIFI thermostats.        

It's been a crazy couple of weeks here at the House of Gregorys.  (Note to self:  Never have a huge garage sale and open house on the same day again unless you officially lose your mind or become masochistic.)  I hope to have more news about progress on the house soon.  It seems like there is always another delay.  Ugh!  At this point, I truly wonder when we'll ever get moved in, but I know it WILL happen!  Can't wait to share pictures of our foam insulation with ya when it gets installed!       

Good news for our Landscaping!

Ok, so I know I promised more details about the house and some actual house pictures, however, I am too stinking excited about DH's news, so I just gotta share this instead with ya!  Guess what?!  He's trading some graphic design work for a local nursery for 3 trees for our new house's landscaping!  Trust me, when you see how the land is "landscaped" currently, you'll totally get why I am so excited!  :)  Trust me, it's...well, let's just say, less than lovely.  Wink, wink!  

(I have no idea who I borrowed these photos from!  I'll repost later when we have the real thing to photograph.)

 

First, let's talk about DH's favorite.  The Sycamore.  Yes, she'll be a messy gal, but I guess that's just how he likes 'em.  Note to self:  must clean house more often to avoid being compared to the tree.  We plan to plant her in the area that most people will consider our backyard.  (I faced the front of the house to the east which is the side with the river bridge, also known as the "back side" of the property.  Honestly, I don't care if no one sees the "front" of the house as the front.  It's our house, not theirs.  HA!)  This gal should provide lots of shade and grow to be a pretty big tree during my lifetime and beyond.   Random thought: It's strange to think about a plant actually outliving me.  Hmmm...

Next up is the Clumping White Birch.  She'll reside on the north side of the house which is the side with the gravel road.  She'll add interest and beauty to the view outside of my kitchen and dining room area.  I hope the other trees that current live in this area don't get too jealous of her beauty, but then again Cinderella's sisters couldn't really help themselves when the evil envy monster took hold of them either.   It's ok, Birchy, we'll keep you safe!

Last, but certainly not least, well not to me anyway... the Weeping Willow tree.  This one is my favorites.  I have always loved these trees.  She'll be placed, not in the most beautiful place, but in the place that most needs her... nearest our lagoon.  Poor gal!  She'll really weep when she gets the news!  Ugh!  Honestly, I have no idea if he planned this, but I consider my willow as my Mother's Day gift.  I asked for one last year.  However, DH gave me a truly wonderful, unexpected gift.  A lovely locket with Evan's referral pictures inside and his Korean name engraved on the back.  Yes folks, I cried.  However, we would have been abandoning the tree when we moved if DH would have bought her last year.  Good thing, he waited, huh?  I think so.  

The good news just keeps rolling in! Lilies!  Yes!  I absolutely adore lilies.  Tulips and lilies are my absolute favorite flowers!  My mom ordered a dozen lilies bulbs for me to plant at our new house.  I can't wait to plant them.  I haven't completely decided where I want them though.  She says they are varied in their color, so it'll be a surprise when they come up and show off their faces. 

I am feeling so fortunate today!  I can't wait to make this little piece of land feel like home!  I hope those who drive by our new place, think to themselves, "Good for the Gregorys" or "Sure glad they bought that crummy trailer and turned the place around!"  Most of all, I hope our neighbors feel a sense of pride in knowing how much we treasure this area.  

The New View

This beauty is one of our closest neighbors at the new house.  It's us, the bean fields, the bridge, and about 6 other people for MILES!  Simply heavenly! DH and I have always wanted to live in the country outside of his small hometown.  We longed to have a little piece of land where you can hear the crickets and the bullfrogs, where a person can raise chickens in the back yard if they choose to (which I may or may not--who knows!), where we can simply live life as on our on terms.  And we found the perfect spot!  (Funny fact, we didn't even need a building permit for the construction of our house!  When we asked about it, people laughed and thought we were crazy for thinking we'd even need it!  Go figure!)

After nearly a decade of dreaming and talking about it, we purchased a couple of acres (and a horrid dump of a trailer, I mean manufactured home, no wait, let's called it what it was... a trailer, a tiny, crummy trailer!) in September.  After getting someone to buy and remove (yep, someone actually bought it! yay!), we began the process to level out the ground for our new home to be built.  Now, you must understand before we go any further... this is a rustic, country style home in a rural setting.  It's not your typical cookie cutter house that you'd find in suburbia (don't get me wrong, those homes are lovely!) However, when you are going to be surrounded by crop fields and located near what has to be the oldest metal bridge in our area, one of those suburban beauties will look just too weird.  So, we built a machine shed/pole building in a low country style.  (I'll post pictures of the house soon, I promise!)

Now back to the bridge... One of our favorite things about living in this area is the old bridge.  Honestly, I think she's special, like a rare antique in a world where everything has to be shiny new and if it's loses it's shine, well it's gotta go!  This bridge may not last forever, or even my lifetime for that matter, simply because our county has no plan to replace it if it is destroyed due to the huge replacement cost.  Even if they did, it just wouldn't be the same, ya kwim?  I know we wouldn't be the only ones who'd miss this gem.  One of the local photographers, who is a friend of mine, loves using this bridge as one of her favorite scenes for family and senior photos.  I hope to have family pictures taken here someday too.  For now, I hope have you enjoyed the "view" as much as we do.

Date Set for Open House!

DH and I will be not only having our very first garage sale May 7th, but we will also have our first open house for our current home.  To be completely honest, I am a little anxious.  In my neck of the woods, an "open house" is a true rarity...weird, huh?  I am excited though!  I am looking forward to selling our "treasures" at our garage sale especially my home decor.  I plan to completely change my "style" with our new house.  Fresh new style!  Friday, our foam insulation installer will be starting to foam the ceiling.  I can't wait!  I am really getting excited about living our new house.  A few weekends ago, while we worked the bullfrogs were croaking up a storm!  I just love that sound!  Well, see ya later!

Here I am World!

Welcome to my very first blog post!  After many years of enjoying reading and "borrowing" cute, crafty ideas from other blogs, I have finally decided to start my very own!  I plan to showcase the new house my DH and I are building as well as hopefully take you on the journey through our 2nd adoption.  A good friend told me recently to "pray expectantly" which is included now as part of my motto.  I hope you enjoy reading my blog and joining me on my journey.