Muscadine Jelly

So I tarried through the heat and we picked about 3-4 gallons of muscadines. It was hot, but it was late in the evening so we at least didn't have the direct sunlight. The girls helped me make some jelly ( well they ate muscadines and watched) and at the end of the evening we had 6 pints of muscadine jelly. I had a little left over so I made biscuits and we ate it right then. Here are pictures of 5 of them. Such a pretty color I think.

So......... For my August Quest my goal was to make 20 pints of goodies for the winter. My tally is:

Blackberry jam: 3.5 pints
Muscadine jelly: 6 pints
so I still need to preserve more 1o.5 pints before months end..... wish me luck!

HOT!

I've lived in Arkansas all my life, and I'm sure it's been this hot before, but I honestly do not remember it ever being so hot!

I haven't done too much cooking the last few days simply because it is so unbearably hot. I have been making cold sandwiches, salads and things like that.

Unfortunately I haven't fulfiilled anymore towards my goal for August but I am still optimistic. I would like to make some jalepeno bread and freeze that, it will be great this winter with soups and stews.

We are just getting muscadines that are ready to come off also, and a big portion of my August quest may very well be muscadine jelly. It's delicious.

One of our hens just hatched out 5 new baby chicks. The girls are thrilled and they are so cute. Right now there are 3 black ones, a bright yellow one and a very pretty red colored one.
I'll keep you updated, and one day I will learn how to easily add pictures.....

Update on my August Quest

Well I have been busy and have even been out of town for a few days this month, but today when I got home from work the girls and I started on my August Quest.

A few months back we picked some blackberries but I got busy and just froze them instead. So today, we got out the blackberries and made 3 and a half pints of blackberry jam. It's actually pretty delicious. So...... I have 3 and half pints canned for my August Quest. I'm not sure what I'll do next. I do have pictures of my blackberry jam, I'll have to post it later as it is getting late, and I need to get the kiddos to bed.

August Quest!

Well , it is the first day of August and it's time for a new Homesteading Quest. This month is going to be relatively easy and generic ( it's my first one!).

For August my goal is to preserve 20+ pints of " stuff".
An obvious choice is jelly and jam as we have grapes and muscadines coming off right now and we don't know what to do with them all. I would also like to do another batch of jalepeno jelly, maybe some pepper relish, and perhaps some more tomato based stuff like pasta sauce, stewed tomatoes or salsa.

Preserving food is such a great way to be come more self suffecient. It's wonderful to look into your pantry mid January and see a wonderful array of items that you preserved at it's peak back in the summer.

So , I'll keep you updated and we'll see what happens!