Messy Messy - it's OK!

Summer is the perfect time for messy crafts and play! I confess to trying to save this stuff until at least late spring when it is warm enough to be out for an extended period of time without freezing. Glitter and I have a love/hate relationship, but in the summer I dole it out with reckless abandon. Paint in the yard while I work in the garden? Why not, it washes off...what do you let your kids do when the weather is nice and the mess easier to corral?

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Raspberry {jam} delight

Our raspberry bushes are about five years old now, and this is the first year they have really produced. We were delighted with several quarts of berries from our six bushes, and are planning to add more bushes in the fall. I will say we have been spoiled by our thornless blackberries though, as my scratched up arms can attest! 

At the start of raspberry season we were still getting strawberries, and I made several mixed berry pies. I would like to experiment with an alternative thickener,.do any of you fabulous readers have experience with arrowroot or something similar?

Now that the fresh raspberries are winding down, the blackberries are nearly ready and I'm making jam. It is a big hit, can you tell? :)

Here is my recipe, adapted from the ball canning site:

3 cups (organic) raspberries, mashed with my potato masher

1.5 cups dehydrated organic cane sugar

3 tsp natural pectin

Boil berries, stirring in pectin slowly. Add sugar once berries and pectin are at a rolling boil, then allow mixture to boil for one minute longer. Pour into jars and allow to cool...enjoy!

How does your garden grow?

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