Making Jelly is HARD!

For the 3rd straight year I have tyred to make Mayhaw Jelly. Before I moved to Louisiana I had never even tried to make jelly or jam, so I was learning from scratch. The previous 2 year I have had trouble with it jelling. Then this year birds came and ate my first batch of berries. So I ended up collecting a small second batch from my trees, berries from my neighbors trees, and some from some family members trees. So I'm thinking I will have plenty to make several batches....WRONG! One of the bunches of berries got kind of squished and somehow roted. Then the rest boiled up only enough to make juice for one batch. Then when I went to squish the berries to get out a little more juice I got some Mayhaw pulp in the juice. The juice was only enough to make 2 big jars and 4 little ones, then in the sealing process one little jar broke! Talk about frustrating! Since I only had a few jars for Mayhaw I also went ahead and made some mint jelly; I have a ton of mint in my yard right now. I don't know how the mint will taste since I have never made it before. Maybe I need to retire from jelly and stick to jams!

My Favorite Place to Shop

My favorit place to shop for local food between May and November is right here where I live.... in Dixie Garden. Half a mile down from me on Dixie Garden Dr. is Ray Day's Mini Farm. All of the produce only comes from as far as Mr. Ray can drive and get it (he is in his 70's) and they feature only seasonal produce. Along with produce they also have local honey (from right here in Dixie Garden) and some jelly and preserves. Right now they have tomatoes, onions, corn, potatos, sweet potatos, and some beans.

Life at it's best!

As a mother of a family I want my family to live their lives to the fullest. For our family that means live simple and going back to the basics. I grew up in the 6th largest city (at the time I was growing up) in the USA, so things like farming, canning, living off the land, making my own clothes, handmaking gifts, etc; were all kind of foerign things to me. However my mom had grown up in rural Vermont, so I knew these things were in my blood. In the last couple years I have been devoted to teaching myself how to be..... ummm I guess...ME! I hope who ever follows my blog gets some inspiration and good tips on how to live a simpler better life.