We did it. Twenty-two jars of low sugar, honey-sweetened, local, organic strawberry jam! (Insert me dancing around my very messy kitchen here.) Sure, yesterday's dinner dishes are still all of the counters, but there is jam in the pantry!

When I say "we did it" I cheer the kids on for their limited – yet focused – moments of strawberry stemming yesterday. However brief, they did both help. Sage got distracted by the concept of homemade strawberry Jello (something he hand never tasted nor made) so his work was on a project of his own. He did it – from stemming to juicing to cooking to washing up. Impressive that one. As for me, I sat at the table with a grapefruit spoon in one hand and a steady progression of strawberries in the other for hours. Intermissions of making tea, the three of us running outside through the hose and several quick distratcions in the craft room broke up the work and kept the day free and flowing and fun for us all.

That being said, please don't come over and peek into my fridge today. You will find that there are three quarts of berries still sitting there, staring at me, wondering why they are neither in can nor freezer. I had to sleep at some point, so I gave up. I think smoothies are on the menu this morning. Again. Dinner last night was a simple grain-free bread we enjoy with homemade sunflower seed butter, homemade jam, and smooties made from our abundant strawberries. Sage marveled at how "everything but the bananans" were homemade or homegrown or from farms of friends. The yogurt, the seed butter, the jam, the berries, the bread. I like days like that. 

A few people have emailed asking how the Tattler lids worked. Here was my experience: I had only enough tattlers for 1/2 of my jam. I politely decided not to steal the box I have set aside for the giveaway this weekend (there was a weak moment of staring at that box thought, I must tell you). So I used the Tattlers that I had plus some conventional BPA containing lids. (How strange that felt.)

Every time I can I have a few failures. A few jars that do not seal, even when using "ordinary" lids. The way I do things this is an ordinary experience, a jar or two finding its way into the fridge or freezer instead of the pantry. This batch was no exception. Worth noting, however, is that all three failures I had were Tattlers. I am suspecting human error since the rubber band is very narrow and if I was sloppy in my technique it might have shifted when I put the tops on. But I wanted you to know that yes, there were some failures, but yes, I'm still investing in more Tattler lids for the rest of my canning season. It just felt too weird canning organic berries with metal lids. "Worth the trouble" is my official word on the Tattler lids.

Today we're off to the lake to swim and play with friends. The dishes can wait. Again.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Welcome July sponsors:

Didymos – exceptional baby carriers

Life Without Plastic – glass and stainless products for your home

Rebourne – recycled and green handmade gear for mother and baby

Continuum Family – natural parenting essentials

Aurora Shoes – handmade leather shoes

WaldorfMama – Knitting and Waldorf inspiration from a mama of my own heart

Sparkle Stories – Audio stories for children and families

Dental Essentials – supplements for a cavity free childhood

Finns and Flowers – Handmade toys from Maine

If you are interested in sponsorship of Clean, do drop me an email and I'll send you the details.

Have a wonderful weekend, friends,
Rachel

Yesterday was a kitchen day of epic proportions. The berries and vegetables are rushing in and won't stop until the snow flies. Yesterday's work began with a huge bag of garlic scapes from a friend, (the flowering top of garlic plants, removed to encourage formation of a nice head of garlic), beet tops from our CSA share, a trip to two local farms for strawberries and milk, and some time with my girl in the garden harvesting chard. Then we headed the the kitchen and heaped the counters with so much goodness. Oh, yes. It's June.

I let the kids play outside till way past bedtime (so much for our rhythm!) while I cleaned and processed and put by the harvest of the day. Lupine just woke up and the first question she asked was: "Can we make jam?" Yes, there is more food putting by for today.

Yesterday's productive work included:

• three jars of live-fermented garlic scapes (made like these dilly beans)
• one quart of garlic scape and basil pesto (made like this recipe but with scapes and pesto)
• one large batch of beet greens, blanched and frozen
• our first harvest of chard, blanched and frozen
• twelve quarts of strawberries, stemmed and frozen
• two gallons of yogurt
• and four quarts of kombucha in the works

Not bad for a day's work!

I freeze my pesto by by scooping onto an oiled cookie sheet with a small ice cream scoop, then transferring to a large glass jar. This way I can pick out one or two scoops for each meal without thawing a large jar or bag of pesto.

My freezer is filling faster than I expected (already!), so it's time to brush up on my canning skills and put food into the pantry with some serious determination. It is time to channel my grandmothers. The thought of our kitchen and our pantry slowly filling with jars in the coming weeks is so exciting.

I'd love your help: what books do you recommend for modern canning recipes? I'd love your suggestions. Something with basic formulas and processing times for various foods. Soups, fruits, veggies, sauces, etc.

There were several questions yesterday regarding my process on freezing greens. I find that greens are one vegetable that I buy all winter long that I can easily grow and put by. When I planted my garden this spring greens to freeze was one important component.

Here's my (simple) process:

• Rinse and stem veggies if needed.
• Drop into simmering salted water.
• Push under water until they wilt.
• Remove with tongs to a colander.
• Rinse with cold water.
• Squeeze out excess moisture.
• Chop.
• Spread on cookie sheet.
• Freeze.
• Once frozen jar or bag and return to freezer.

Oh, and kombucha. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Kombucha is hailed as a healing, detoxifying beverage. And ancient fermented food, kombucha has a fairly widespread history in the east. Each new batch is made by fermenting water, sugar, and organic black tea with a "mother" or "SCOBY" (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast). Each batch generates a new mother, so it is a beverage that encourages community and giving of what we have. This batch will be fermenting away on my counter for the next couple of weeks. Once the sugar has all been consumed by the SCOBY (but before it becomes vinegar) I will remove the mother, add fresh fruit juice (strawberry perhaps?), and bottle.

What is happening in your kitchen this week?

Welcome! If you are new here do take a look around. I post daily on food, parenting, and tips for a natural lifestyle. I know you'll love what you see. ~ Rachel

Oh, summer. Strawberries are officially in season. All year long the children beg for berries when we're at the co-op. And every time I give them the same answer: "We'll have berries when they are in season." And so we wait. And wait. And use up last year's frozen berries in smoothies week after week.

Last night it was finally time. Sage biked to a friend's house with the bike trailer hooked up and came home with more than a dozen quarts of local, organic strawberries. A Burley-full! We had berries for dessert, right out of the baskets, and then an Amish buggy came down our road selling more berries door-to-door. Strawberry season is on.

Today we're off to the farm for more berries, and after a final round on Thursday we should be set for the year. I am reading the book Independence Days right now and I love the concept of planting or putting food by every day (or week in my case) for greater food independence. Feeding ourselves locally, one jar of strawberry jam at a time. While we don't even come close to the level of self-sufficiency that growing all of our food would provide, we are doing what we can week by week. This summer I am filling our freezer with my own garden kale, chard, and beet greens, and there will be green beans, peppers, tomatoes, and broccoli, and also local chickens, berries, and cider. Every bag or jar of food I put by lifts my soul.

Last year I discovered that "normal" canning jar lids are lined with the estrogen-mimicking chemical BPA. Such a shock and disappointment. This year I committed to canning from now on only with BPA free canning jar lids. So far I have found two options: all glass jars and lids (a beautiful but more costly option), or my ordinary canning jars with BPA-free Tattler lids.

The Tattler lids are made in the USA of BPA free plastic. While I normally go plastic-free every way I can, Tattler lids feel like a much healthier choice for my family. Tattler was kind enough to send me a few boxed of lids – for me to try out and to share with you! I'm giving away a box of wide mouth and a box of narrow mouth Tattler lids with rubber rings for canning to one winner.

To enter your name in the giveaway just leave a comment below of one thing you want to put by this season and what motivates you to can and freeze local food. I'll choose one winner this weekend. Earn an extra entriy for each of the following: emailing a link to this post to a friend, sharing this post via Facebook, sharing this post via Twitter, liking Clean on Facebook, and liking Tattler on Facebook. Just be sure to enter separate comments for each bonus entry!

Comments are now closed! I'll announce the winner on Monday.

Also, make a purchase before July 4 through Tattler's website and get 10% off with coupon code "LIBERTY".

Happy healthy canning, friends.

Rachel

Update! I rewrote my yogurt tutorial in 2016 with tips and tricks to make your yogurt even thicker. You can find it here.

One final repost before I roll back into town from our week away. Yogurt! There are so many ways to make it. This is our method. These days we insulate it for 24 hours (because we are on the GAPS diet) but we still use the same method I describe below.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Yogurt is one of the easiest and most common fermented foods. And the cost is about half that of store-bought yogurt.

This recipe is nearly foolproof yogurt every time. No special equipment needed. Making yogurt is ridiculously easy. We make it three times a week.

 Homemade Yogurt Tutorial

1 Quart milk (raw is awesome but store-bought works great, too)

1 Tb yogurt culture (details on lively yogurt cultures are below)

Cooler, oven, heating pad or yogurt maker

Kitchen thermometer (optional)

Step 1: Heat

Warm 1 Qt of milk over medium-low heat until it is about to simmer. A skin will form on the top. Stir it in (my method) or lift it off (Pete's choice). If you are using a thermometer heat to 180 F/82 C.

Why heat? Heating the milk to nearly boiling kills anything living in your milk and gives the yogurt an unpopulated place to grow and thrive.

Remove from heat.

Step 2: Cool

Transfer your still hot (but not jar-breakingly hot) milk to a clean wide mouth quart jar. I do this little by little to ensure I don't crack my jar. Pour, swirl, wait. Pour, swirl, wait. Then pour the rest in.

Allow to cool until it feels warm but not hot to the touch (if you are using a thermometer it will be between 108 F – 110 F (42 – 43 C).) Cool adequately so that you don't kill your culture.

The recipe below is a repost from last summer. Berries are beginning to ripen around here, thought later than usual this year. Modify this recipe with whatever berries you have on hand!

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

We make our jam with honey, and not much of it. We don't eat a ton of sweets around here so no one seems to mind if our jam is more fruity than dessert-y.

While apples, pears, and citrus are in a different jamming category, feel free to improvise the recipe below with whatever berries you have on hand. The batch below included some rhubarb mixed in with the strawberries.

For thickening without much sugar, we use natural pectin from the coop called Pomona's. It is a two-part process with a calcium water component and a pectin component. When combined they thicken the jam. So cool.

Pamona's is the only way I have found to successfully make a thick, low-sugar jam. We tried making our own pectin last year out of apples but made more of a sauce than a jam. A worthwhile experiment that I may try again some day, but for now I'm happy with the store-bought version and crazy thick jam.

Honey Sweetened Strawberry Jam (or Any Berry Jam)

4 C berries (ripe, stemmed, and mashed)

1/3 – 1 C honey (we used 1/2 since we added rhubarb)

1/4 tsp stevia (optional)

1/4 package of Pamona's pectin

Wash, stem, and mash berries with a potato masher. Proceed according to the pectin instructions, adding the calcium water to the fruit mash and the pectin to the honey. Cook for two minutes. Fill sterilized jars, cap, and hot water bath can for 5 minutes.

Oh, the color and texture of the late spring garden. I find myself sitting outside in the evening as the kids wind down their day, pulling weeds and touching the surface of so many leaves. Rough. Smooth. Waxy. Fragrant. Sharp. Fuzzy. I get lost in the minutia of it and feel the day slip away and a centered calm come in.

sage

pea vines

green beans

beets, kale, and chard

brussle sprouts

 zucchini

red and yellow onions

chamomile and lemon balm

kohlrabi and a chinese cabbage who's name I forgot

so many brassicas

The lessons of the garden are many. Among them are these:

1. For all the planning that goes into the garden, you never know what you'll get.

2. Inviting the kids to plant along side me is more important than straight rows.

3. No matter the season there will be successes and failures.

4. I'd rather eat a few bugs (or bug nibbled leaves) than pesticides.

lamb's quarters

This season we hauled composted manure from two local farms (when I say "we" I mean "Pete". Thanks, babe.) In the compost have been plenty of surprise weed seeds of various species.

One that is especially prolific is lamb's quarters. Do you recognize it? The leaves are covered in a soft bloom and are thick and moist a bit like spinach. This is one weed that I won't be pulling! Lamb's quarters are a nutritious wild edible. And since my lettuce is bitter already, why not eat my weeds? As summer begins most of the tender wild spring greens are becoming tough and unpalatable. But Lamb's quarters are just beginning their delectable season. Use like spinach, raw or cooked. So delicious, and effort-free.

Enjoy!

When I go to farmer's market I try to steer clear of the computer for most of Sunday and Monday, our weekend. But I didn't want to leave you hanging, so I am re-posting a wonderful tutorial I wrote early last year. Homemade butter! You won't regret giving this a run, whether you are a raw-milk advocate or buy your dairy at the grocery. Really. It borders on magical.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

There is a mystical aura around many of the everyday foods we enjoy. Yogurt. Tortillas. Kraut. Bread. Butter. Ice cream. Jam. Crackers.

In our society we tend to buy these items more frequently than we create them ourselves, thus giving the magic of creation away to the producer instead of keeping it in our own kitchens. 

 

But we can make it ourselves. So much of it. And many items (like crackers) can be made for pennies. Add to that the packaging you are avoiding, and making your own (at least on occasion) is a no-brainer.

Today's tutorial is a simple one. I remember making butter in grade school in a baby food jar. It is as magical now as it was then. Butter making is a great way for kids (even young kids) to participate in the beauty of creating their own food.

Butter Making Tutorial

1/2 tsp salt

1 pint heavy cream

1/4 c milk

widemouth canning jar and lid

strainer

bowl

wooden spoon

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Begin by pouring your cream and milk into the canning jar.

Add 1/2 tsp salt. (If you want the skimmed milk you pour off to be sweet after making your butter do not add the salt now. Instead add it when you are pressing our the milk during the final steps. Add it now for the easiest process).

Close the jar tightly and get shaking! (You can also make butter in a food processor or stand mixer, but this method is much more fun by the standards of our house.)

Put on some rockin' music and shake, jump, dance, and swing until the butter begins to thicken. You will see it transform from heavy cream to whipped cream.

Keep shaking.

Suddenly it will happen. You'll feel something begin to knock around in the jar. Looking closely you'll see two components: butter and buttermilk.

(Edited: The buttermilk will not the thick, sour liquid that you expect unless you first cultured your cream before proceeding with the recipe. You can make this recipe with cream that was cultured with yogurt, live buttermilk, or pima culture, however this recipe is the simplest possible incarnation of butter using sweet cream.)

Keep shaking! Soon the butter will all be consolidated into one lump and you can separate the milk. Simply open the jar and pour through a mesh strainer. (Reserve the salty milk for baking to replace your liquid and salt in a biscuit or dumpling recipe.)

Transfer the butter to a clean bowl. Remove the milk that is trapped inside of the butter by firmly pressing with a spoon for several minutes. (If you skip this step your butter will spoil quickly.) The milk will weep out and puddle in the bottom of the bowl. Stop pressing when there is no more milk weeping out.

Rinse the butter with cold water and form into a ball or block and pat dry. Your butter is done! Look how self-sufficient you are.