Farmhands

We did it!  My friends who joined me for a class with Shelly Andrade at Shizzle Design this summer also joined me at the Country Living Magazine Art, Craft, and Antique Fair. Out in a field, wide open, green space wherever we looked.  And we were like farmhands tending our wares!  Buying vintage fabrics; negotiating the price of a rocking chair; meeting and greeting artisans from all over the U.S.  We loved it and we will go again next year.

Here we are post event.  You can see we are very happy about the experience.  There was a good mix of art, antiques, repurposed and upcycled items. 




Held at historic Ohio Village, a re-creation of a mid-1800s county seat, lies just outside downtown Columbus.

In the midst of an apple orchard.

 

Pumpkins, gourds, squash creatively displayed and lurking around corners..

  Happy Chairs by Shawna Robinson 

  Met Cari Cucksey from Cash and Cari and the RePurpose Shop.  The queen of turning old into sold.  

And most importantly fun, creativity, laughter and bonding with girlfriends!

There's no speculating, we're going back next year!

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Sleep Aid

The summer temperatures are reaching 107 degrees with 76% humidity.  If I'm going to sleep, the air conditioning will be set at 76 degrees and I'll be wearing a t shirt to bed.  Still even that's been a little uncomfortable so I thought I would check the closet where I keep my fabrics and patterns and whip up some pajamas.

I ended up making two sets of pajamas; a night gown; and two pair of shorty pajamas.

 

I'm only speculating but I think the shorty pajamas are dreamy.  I'll sleep on it!

No Sugar Jam Making

You can see by the posts I've published that I've been making jam.  The amount of refined sugar in each batch makes me wince.  I want fresh fruit spread.  I want berries and only berries in my jam.  So I set out on a quest to find different recipes.  I kept wondering what did jam-makers do before refined sugar, packaged pectin, and freezers.  I wanted to can jam that was healthy and tasty!  I kept toying with one recipe after another.  I then saw an episode of The Barefoot Contessa where Ina Garten explained that Granny Smith apples were high in pectin and could be used to make jam.  Now that's a piece of information I could use!

I searched all over the internet looking for no-sugar recipes only to find sugar substitutes.  I didn't want that either.

Last week I was laying in bed thinking about jam making and just knowing there was a way to make what I wanted.  *SNAP* Hey, I have several very old cookbooks.  I knew I had books from the 30s and 40s.  Surely they would have a recipe.  And they did.  More importantly these cookbooks explained how to make jam.  Three keys to making sugarless jam are:
1.  cook the berries until they thicken, today we call that reducing the mixture
2.  add one peeled, cored, shredded green apple per 3 cups of berries; and
3.  boil in a water bath for 60 minutes.

This differs from today's canning recipe in that
1.  we add liquid or powder pectin instead of granny smith apples;
2.  we boil the berries with 7 to 8 cups of refined sugar for about 10 minutes...the sugar reacting with the liquid pectin results in thickened jam; and
3.  we can the jam in a water bath for about 10 minutes.

You can see the old fashioned way takes a lot more time.  That's all...just time.

So here's my Raspberry Jam recipe (I double the batch):

In a large pot combine:
8 cups fresh, clean raspberries
1 large or 2 small granny smith apples--peeled, cored finely shredded)
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups organic honey or agave syrup
1 T. butter

Bring all ingredients to a rolling boil for at least 20 minutes.  From this point watch closely and boil until mixture reduces and thickens and coats the back of a spoon.  Should be about 230 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Once you've reached this point you can the berries in sterile jars as you would any other jam except that you boil in a water bath for 60 minutes instead of the 10 minutes most of today's recipes instruct.

Only speculating but I think those ladies from the 30s and 40s preserved the best recipes for jam making.  And I think I'll be sleeping soundly tonight knowing the jam in my pantry has no refined sugar!