Gardening

When growing a garden, I have learned I need to read and know what I'm getting into first.

Last year when we moved here, we bought some strawberry plants. They grew and spread as far as they could, or I would let them! They reproduced like there was no tomorrow.

This Spring I went out there and pulled all the weeds because I wanted those yummy home grown strawberries. The rains came and my plants bloomed! It was a beautiful sight. I went out there every day to watch their progress. A few blossoms died from the late frosts, but the plants kept sending out new blossoms. I started seeing strawberries grow. They were beautiful!

I did it, my own strawberries. I wouldn't have to go to the store to feed my kids these yummy fruits. Then it started. I saw a few dead leaves. I asked my fellow facebook friends what was wrong with my plant. One friend remembered that in Utah we can have a fungus problem. We started researching and learned I had black root rot.

In my reading frenzy I found this site. Here are a few very important things I have learned. "Site selection: Soil drainage should be good. Avoid low-lying areas that have a tendency to be poorly drained. Factors that favor black root rot include poorly drained soils, winter injury, nutrient imbalances and herbicide damage." I've also learned strawberries should be planted in a sandy soil and not clay. You should mulch your strawberry plants in late fall to prevent winter injury.

Hmm, I didn't mulch, I planted in clay, we had a wet winter, and spring. I also did nothing to prepare the soil because I was pregnant and thought planting strawberry plants wasn't rocket science.

After all my hard work and sweat last Summmer, I did get an awesome crop but I also lost probably all my plants. I'm not sure what I'm going to do now, but I figure when I do grow strawberries again I may have to do the square foot gardening technique.

(This is the biggest crop I got in one picking. Mmmmm, they were so good!)

Unique

I'd like to think My kids and I are unique. There are things we do that of course we're the only one's who do them.

I've started transferring peoples video's to DVD's and realized some of the things I thought were unique are in fact not. You know, those cute things that your 2 year old does, like sing "Jesus wants me for a sunbeep!" (the correct word being sunbeam) umm, yea a lot of 2 years olds sing it that way. And oh yea, that phenomenon where your kid is doing the cutest thing and you turn your camera on and they stop.

Then there's the 7 year old who you ask to do something with them looking directly into your eyes and they do nothing until you start counting backwards and all of a sudden they start running around like a chicken with its head cut off wondering why you're counting and what they're supposed to do.

Another unique thing about me is my nickname I have for my kids, Love. I thought I was being different. Nope, not different on that one either.

I'm sure we still have some uniqueness in us but it's actually comforting to see that even with our judgments of someone on the outside, we really are the same and going through a lot of the same things. I'll bet I have more in common with you than you think.

Playing outside

So when did it change from kids playing outside day and night to keeping our kids indoors or in our sight all the time? Can't we teach them proper manners and trust them?

I know people say it's harder now, there are more dangers than when we were kids but I just don't believe it. I mean yes it's different in different areas. In the neighborhood I grew up in a little girl was killed by a boy who lived in the neighborhood. There were always these kidnapping scares and yet we still played outside.

I am not really talking about younger kids, but school age kids. I remember having the run of the neighborhood and we were always outside with our friends.

Now it seems like some peoples attitudes are that if a kid is outside all the time, someone should call CPS on their parents. They must be doing a bad job. I don't get it.

The main reason my kids aren't outside much is because we lived in an apartment for so long. Out our front door was a parking lot and not much grass to play on. They are still getting used to being able to play outside.

But I ask you, why is it so bad for kids to play outside?

Strawberry jam

Just kidding, its strawberry syrup! Here is the recipe I started with

I was trying to make a no pectin added strawberry jam but it seems I can't. I've now tried it two times and still have not gotten it thick enough. I think I may just not have enough patience. The recipe also told me to use a candy thermometer and I don't have one, so I just guessed.

The first time I made it, I had 12 lbs of ripe (sat in the fridge a couple days) strawberries and didn't let the sugar sit in the strawberries. The second time I had 18 lbs that I cut up the same day I bought them and let the sugar sit overnight. I'm pretty sure I like the first way better. It was thicker the first time.

She had 1 C of mashed strawberries, 1 C of sugar and 1 T lemon juice. This all makes 1/2 pint. Because I don't own 1/2 pints, I used pints.

The first time I made it I did 1 C sugar to 2 C mashed strawberries and 1 T lemon juice. She also says to add the lemon juice to the strawberry juice after taking the strawberries out, but I just added it at the beginning.

I would not recommend doing 18 lbs in one pot. Try and do less. the 12 lbs weren't so bad.

First you cut all the strawberries up and put them in a pot, throw in the sugar and lemon juice. Bring to a boil, and boil it for 5 minutes, stirring constantly so you don't burn the sugar.

Get a big strainer over a big bowl and strain the juice from the strawberries. Put the juice back into the pot and let it boil until your candy thermometer reads 220 or 222, or you get impatient and want syrup.

Add the strawberries back into the pot. Mix together and let boil for another minute or so.

Pour the syrup/jam into a hot bottle and leave about 1/2 inch of headroom. Wipe the tops off with a damp cloth and put the top on, then screw the lid on, but not too tight because you just want it to hold it there.

I guess you're supposed to have a special bottling thing to let them process in but I've always just used my big pot with boiling water. Put the lid on and process for 10 minutes.

Take the jars out of the water with tongs and put them on a pretty pink towel so they can cool and dry off. Oh and here is the best part, wait and listen for the popping sound and you know you have done an awesome job!

This is my cute helper. He slobbered all the lids for me. Isn't he sweet?!