I be Jam'n....

I should begin by prefacing this entry.. this blog is about my small house build and my attempts at living a simpler life.  I wait impatiently for my house to sell but am kept busy with my new property none the less.  I will also add that many people grew up learning about fruits, jams, canning and stuff, I did not.  For the argument I don't really cook that much and I am very excited to own fruit trees.
Please join with me in my excitement of jam'n....
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So back to the house that hasn't sold with my load of yellow plums, few figs and some apples.  I wondered what type of apples they were?  There are so many different types.  As I stated before, my apples are actually more like ping pong balls.  But some taste great and some a little tart.  I rationed out the figs and they lasted a few days.

Time to start jam'n with the plums....
A peek in the back of the cupboard and I found a box of jars from the last - and first time that I made jam.  It was strawberry jam and it was 1999.  I read it on one of the labels still on the empty jar.

The neighbour was set to lend me her 'jam'n kit' but she also pointed out that this week's Canadian Tire flyer showed canning kits on sale.  Now I know the plan is to down size and buy less, but I decided I needed my own jam'n kit with all my fruit trees.  I proceeded to buy the biggest pot I have ever owned!

I had a vague memory of my first attempt at jam'n, and I remember A LOT of sugar was involved.  And I had A LOT of plums, so I bought more jars, more lids and more sugar.

I remember reading about people who have given up sugar altogether.  It's like a drug, an adiction that many have come to generally accept, or at least to ignore their dependence upon.  I had decided to give up large quantities of refined sugar as well.  I had even given away sugar in my house to friends that actually bake as opposed to me who just thinks about it.  But come on, who was I kidding .. I was never going to give up sugar, or chocolate. There is no chocolate involved here, I just felt the need to express my love of chocolate.

Okay.. Jam.. Plum jam.... Time to start jam'n.....
My jam kit- canning kit came with a DVD showing me how to make jam.  I watched it so I could not go wrong.  There was even a booklet with recipes for all kinds of different fruits- not for plums though. ... Off to the Internet and I found a recipe with no sugar added!

- So batch number one was with a recipe that is just plums and honey and a bit of lemon juice and orange juice. It did not really thicken as I had hoped and only made three jars.
- Then I made a batch with pre measured pectin and sugar in a litre carton. It turned out well and made five jars.
- I tried another honey batch, it made only two jars this time!

Somewhere in here I returned the neighbour's jam kit and offered to switch pots.  I was one person and they were a family... surely they would need a HUGE pot more than I?  I was reminded I will make lots of jam, I will be the queen of jam making... Or something like that.  I kept my pot.

My jam factory took a little break as I cut up some plums for the freezer.. For smoothies and stuff.  Two bags full.

- For the next batch I went back to the Internet and found the Benardin recipe for plum jam.  Oh my god 8 cups of sugar is a lot of sugar!!  Have you seen how much 8 cups really is?  But the recipe did made 10 jars...  I sneaked some extra spice in to make the jam my secret recipe.  And you what, that big pot was great for all the jars at once.

Then I found the recipe for plum jam with port... Now someone was thinking!
I had to acquire a few more ingredients before this one could be attempted.  Smaller jars, something called Chinese 5 spice and low sugar pectin - now see, this batch was even going to be good for me!  I think it turned out well.

Labels on everything and a few jars to friends, some even in the mail for Mom, and I still have some in my 'cold room'.  I will admit I have been eating lots of toast and jam this last week, trying the honey batch and the secret recipe.  They taste just like homemade jam should taste. Yea!

- One last batch of honey jam... actually 1/2 a batch.  I was too lazy to get the huge pot out again to boil up the jars.. so both jars hit the fridge.

There are no more plums.  It was a frenzy of jam'n for a week and a bit, I kinda miss it.
Now, what to do with the apples.... I wonder how you make apple butter, or that sauce that tastes like apple pie...

Fig Newtons

So this blog is not really just about plum trees.  I have a fig tree too.  Let me say that again.  I have a fig tree.  I think that is so cool, fresh figs!  I could make my own fig newtons!  I, however will eat them fresh because I love fresh figs.  I have only eaten a fresh fig once before and it was so good that I still talk about it 16 years later.  But that's all I know about figs, fresh ones taste fabulous and they make fig newtons from them.  Okay I did buy fig jam once, or was that date jam?

Anyhow it was time to head back to my property to check on my figs, to see if they were ready to eat.  I came for the figs and I found plums... lots of plums!  The bear (or maybe even bears) had left me some though.  Well actually, it's a pretty big tree so there were lots.

I did not need the neighbours to tell me about the bears, they left their own marks behind.  The grasses were flattened where bears had walked to get to the plum tree.  The grass was flat where the bear sat while eating the plums.  There were a few broken branches on the ground, which made sense because the neighbours did tell me that the bear even likes to sleep in my plum tree.
.... And if that was not enough, there was bear shit everywhere!

I decided not to pitch my tent on my property and headed for a campsite near the beach.

After camp was set up, (before any rain arrived).  I headed back over to pick my plums before the bear (or bears) ate them all.  I left some way up high that I could not reach.  I am hoping the bear does not kill my tree trying to get them.... I did leave a few over ripe ones on the tree, and there are many on the ground.  Young Ben showed up to help.

So cherries are done and plums are done.  There is another plum tree, the Italian one, (for this one is clearly the yellow plum tree), but it is still small with no fruit.  The apples probably could stay longer, but I think I will pick then tomorrow.  The bear and the deer will eat them too.  The hazelnut tree does not look ready, but I really don't know what a hazelnut looks like when it's ready.  The tree I thought was a walnut tree looks weird more like an apple or round pear??

I did pick some figs!  Some are still small and they are not all ripe. The tree looks very neglected hiding beneath its fig leaves. I picked about 20 or 25.

I brought the wipper snapper... But there is soooo much to cut!  I feel defeated even before the three batteries I brought wear out.

And back to my campsite by the beach the rains arrived at about 5am.  It was not too long after that point that I realized choosing the flat spot at the bottom of the slope was not a good idea after all.  Outside was about 1/2 inch of water.  I love my tent and I was dry inside, but it was time to move before truly testing the bathtub bottom.  Gear went into the car and then the free standing tent was moved to the top slope- yes I said slope.  Fly pegged out just a wee bit more and me and my gear back inside and back to sleep....

Remember the big box of plums ... Well I gave some to Klu and Geoff, some to the folks at the supply store (where I buy my coffee and got the box), and some to my camping neighbours Wendy and Don.  There were still too many sitting on top of each other.  Hmmm...

So the new day's task was to head off to the dollar store for some bins that stack.  The rains stopped long enough for some serious reorganization of the plums and the car.  I separated the good plums from the wounded plums and only stacked then two high. Then after a few errands it was time to consider the apples.

The bear was not there and there was no 'new' bear shit.  I might as well pick them, I thought.  They are quite small and a little tart, but there are so many of them and I am not sure when I will be back.

I have decided that I like picking plums better than apples.  Maybe because at that very moment the plums were perfect for picking.  The apples did not come off the tree so easily, without taking the whole end of the branch off.  I got a bit better at it as I went along. 

But like the tall grass I felt somewhat defeated .. there were so many of them!  Actually it was not just the numbers of apples to plums (to oranges....). The apple tree is just harder to pick with the layout of the branches and they are more brittle, you can't bend them down as easily.  I picked two bins and it was hardly a dent.  

I forgot to mention that it was pouring rain as I was trying to get excited about picking apples.  My rain coat was getting soaked so I did what any sane person would do.... I packed away the bins of apples and I drove to the Rec centre, had a sauna and a hot tub and then back to my tent to read ... 

This latest visit to my property was well timed, not just for the plums, but for blackberries! 
I don't think that I have any blackberry bushes on my property, but they are everywhere in the area.  I did not have to pick any, instead I went to the Blackberry Street Festival!   And I had a blackberry smoothie, some blackberry trifle, some blackberry shortcake, and a banana apple and blackberry muffin with praline topping made by Grandma Rose... who also makes pies. She said she made 40 blackberry pies the day before. And now Grandma Rose was plum out of blackberry pies.  Did I mention the pie eating contest?

Another rainy night in camp but I was dry inside again.  I figured out how not to slide out the front door in the middle of the night and I had a good night sleep.

So I think that one should only pick figs if one is prepared to eat them. 

Even with carefully spacing them out and placing them on paper towels, a few started to grow mould the next day.  Were they over ripe?  Did I pick them wrong?  

I had a dozen left and now it was time to head home with all my fruit.. my fruit loot.

Young Ben .....the cat

Okay, so I was just a bit excited to have actually bought my lot with all the fruit trees and a place for my small house.

I was so much excited that the first day that the property was actually mine I headed out with my tent and sleeping bag to claim my space!

Now if you look real close, just to the right of the two trees that stand together in the middle of the picture....you can see the ocean. This will look nice from a second story I think.
It will be a small house on top of a ground floor basement ...  making it big enough to keep the City happy.  It will be small and will have a view of the ocean ... which will make me happy.

The lot was quite overgrown with tall grasses. The figs, plums and hazel nuts were far from ripe. The apples had not been selectively pruned and had three or so on each branch which were the size of ping pong balls. My neighbours told me that the deer have been enjoying them. The cherries were ready for picking and I picked all I could reach from the top of the ladder.  The rest would have to be for the birds. 

I stayed for a few days and I met Young Ben.. the cat.

I named him Ben... the Young Ben from 'Who Has Seen The Wind', by W.O. Mitchell. 

He seemed very much at home in the tall grasses, leaping at all the bugs buzzing about.  

He allowed me to stay on my property, but he kept a close eye on me.

The Young Ben greeted me when I arrived back to my tent in the evening, and was glad to sit with me in the day.  Although I had to bring my own bench!

I think the Young Ben has a home somewhere as he sports an ear tattoo.  I wonder how Dora and Diego will get along with him.

I will have inside cats and I will have outside cats.
And I will have coffee while I think about it...

It was a short few days but enough time to meet some of my neighbours.  I had a great talk with a couple who had a huge garden and many solar panels on their house. They sell power back to the grid.  

I will have to learn how to take care of all my trees and I located a garden centre just two blocks away who will be of great help to me.  I learned that the tree pruning should be early next year.  

I already knew that my lot has some slope to it, but I discovered the area for the house is not really flat. This I discovered from my sleeping bag atop my foam thermie as I settled in to sleep.  It was a slippery sloped sleep.

Right now I read, I watch, I talk to people and I plan and design my small house.....

Timber frame with SIP walls, wood stove, radiant floor heating,  solar panels for energy, rainwater harvesting? How will I heat my water? How much will I actually build?.... another cup of coffee first.

And I wait, somewhat impatiently for my house to sell.. to begin the project.