This morning the kids and I headed out to a local organic blueberry farm with some friends. The place is really a little gem! They don’t have a website or anything so you would only know about it through word-of-mouth or by driving by. We lucked out!
Only $2 per pound for organic blueberries! INSANE!
My baby had so much fun! It was the cutest thing in the world to see him walking around with his bucket singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and the Itsy, Bitsy Spider songs as he picked blueberries. It was really a relaxing and zen-like moment for him. We will be returning very soon!
The berries were EVERYWHERE! I let my son walk around picking wherever he wanted and in about 30 minutes the two of us (the baby was on my back) picked 9 lbs of berries! WOWZERS! I was excited to turn them into something we could use the rest of the year and decided this was the perfect time to try our hand at canning! Blueberry jam to be exact.
Earlier this year I purchased this book to get a head start and read up on canning and all the reviews rave about the recipes. I’m glad I read through that before I started because there are little things in canning that need to be done exactly right to ensure a good seal and that it be canned correctly for safety reasons. I also picked up this little kit because everyone online said it made things easier. I think it did so I’m glad I had it.
The recipe I tried today was included in the pectin packet I used. This pectin is sugar and preservative free and allows you to use WAY less sugar than some more traditional recipes. For an entire batch requiring 4 cups of mashed berries I only used 1/2 cup of this sugar. But you could use a variety of sweeteners, including honey with this pectin.
I had all my supplies and half-pint jars ready so we went home and mashed berries!
You know he’s gotta be involved every step of the way…
We started with one batch which yielded a little more than five 8 ounce jars. The processing time was only 10 minutes in the boiling water after all jars were filled and the lids/bands secured.
After the first batch came out and I started to hear the popping sound of the lids I was happy to see I did it correctly…. or so I hope! HA!
We had so much fun we decided to make a second batch… and I still have about 3-4 lbs of blueberries that I popped in the freezer for now. In the end we made eleven half pints and one 4 ounce jar of delicious homemade blueberry goodness! Not bad for a regular ‘ol day at home with the kiddies!
Do you can? Have a favorite recipe? Let me know… I think I found a new hobby!
I love pins!
Connie
LOVE this post and the pictures are precious! I just made my first blueberry jam recently, i love the sound of the lids popping! Great prices on the blueberries! Wish my boys were that young again…their going on 24 and 18!
Melissa @Lilac Lane
This looks like us lately, except instead of blueberries it’s cherries and I’ve been making and giving away pies. So fun! We should trade.
Cathy
Warning with homemade jam–your family will love it so much they will want to eat it on everything! double what you think you would eat in a year–i made what would have been enough based on our comsumption of store bought jam, it lasted 4 months 🙂
Craftyhomemade
Wow, I think my kiddos will love too. I`m glad you`re having so much fun with you`re kid. I have never try to make some jam. I think I should try. TFS.
Indira
~Cassie~
My hubby and I are moving down to SC at the end of this month. The great thing about that is we are moving like 1/4 a mile from his Great Aunt Francis (his grandmother’s sister). And I can NOT wait to be able to spend some time with her and pick her brain about canning and stuff.
My mother-in-law and I went down to SC a couple of weekends ago to finalize the purchase of the house and we stopped by her house and she sent us back with all kinds of goodies including two jars of canned jelly (white grape and grape), some canned veggies, and the one I’m the most excited to break into a jar of canned apples to use in turnovers!!!!!
Anonymous
I just spent most of this evening catching up with your blog, since the beginning. I am a 52 year old mom of three…two in college and one in high school. I first found you when searching the internet for a tutorial on paper foundation piecing. Figured it out just before I found your video, and it just reinforced what I had a brain freeze over.
Now, I am hooked.
I am so impressed with ALL that you have done….with two little ADORABLE little ones!!
Loved wearing my kids in the sling that I had for them. And yes, I nursed all three for just over two years each.
Lots of miles on my body as I go to the universities that my girls are at. 250 miles away for each of them…one out of state, the other just about as far south as one could go.
My DH and I have been married for 27 years at the end of the month. Still wonder where the time goes!!
Love all that you have posted. Have plans to make a couple of things as my friends kids are now beginning to have babies and will need shower gifts….you are a wealth of information and I look forward to gleaning so much from you!!
A mom of three in the northwest suburbs of Chicago
Kim @ The Educators Spin On It
We had so much fun blueberry picking this year on Mother’s Day weekend. We shared our experience and a few recipes that your readers might enjoy. Plus a few books and songs for the kids! http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2012/05/30-ways-to-eat-blueberries.html