jammin'

Today, I made 13 beautiful jars of strawberry jam. t's strawberry season down here in Mobile and Nathanael and I went to a U-pck farm and got five gallons of beautiful strawberries for me to make jam. To make this beautiful jam I had to use pretty much a whole bag of white sugar, two boxes of fruit pectin, and about two gallons of strawberries. One of the jars just popped! I can hear them in the kitchen. It was actually really easy. After you mush up the fruit, you mix in the pectin, cook it for a bit and then mix in tons and tons of sugar. Then, you put the mess into jars, close them, and boil them to seal the jars. Then, while they're sitting on the counter cooling, they pop as they become sealed. I like the noise. Nathanael has been making a batch of strawberry mango sorbet which I believe will be very good. I'm not allowed to eat t yet because it isn't all the way frozen. Nathanael also made meatloaf tonight on a whim and it's really pretty good despite being a shoebox-shaped hamburger.

I'm getting excited about filling up my shelves with beautiful colors in glass jars. This is my first full season since I learned how to can and I plan to can as many of my favorite things as possible, when they're cheap and in season. After strawberries, it will be time for blackberries and then peaches and then tomatoes and pickles. I'll make mostly grean bean pickles I think, but if we get some nice peppers in the garden, I'll pickle some of those too, and maybe some squash for the hell of it. I will never, ever pickle beets because I think they're nasty. Last year at the farm, Kyle, my fellow worker, was known from time to time, to drink beet pickle brine. Upon seeing this, I remember Mike saying "That's GOT to be good for you," as if trying to convince himself. Good for you? maybe; nasty? definately.

Late in the summer there will be figs, but I don't really know what to do with figs. I'm especially excited about the blackberries because they're 100% free. A few weeks ago they were blooming and the vines grow wild everywhere. Literally. Blackberry jam is my favorite so I'd be a fool not to try to save some of this bounty. It's weird to think that people used to spend 90 percent of their time doing work related to feeding themselves. I imagine it wouldn't seem so fun if there was no other choice. What is fun, is letting the seasons guide my appetite, spending a month or a couple of weeks gorging on a particular vegetable, and getting really tired of it so I won't want it again till next year. The only thing I can't wait for is fresh tomatoes. That, and come August, I will really want some lettuce, which is hopeless in the 100 degree heat of that time of year. After reading this, I'm sure everyone can guess what their christmas presents will be this year.

comments

Dear all (Will),
I changed the settings so you should be able to comment now without being registed with Blogger. yay!!

busy bee

I've gotten alot done over the past couple of weeks. Some of my vast accomplishments include:
-learning to like peas
-totally getting over my job
-warming up to my job again
-deciding I don't like my job anymore
-remembering why I like my job
-finding out Daddy reads the blog (Hi daddy!)
-finding a place to have my wedding
-having a nervous breakdown about my job and crying alot, to which Nathanael responded "I don't understand." before gently rolling over to face the other direction
-doing my taxes on the interwebs in about 10 minutes (bee-atch) and getting a pleasant return
-having a good day at work today and being genuinely impressed by one of my girls' ideas about "having a fundraiser where we make a play and sell tickets so we can raise money to buy our trampoline" and touched by a couple of other girls' weird desire to play with my hair
-picking out flowers for my wedding and being disappointed that a farm I found to grow my flowers organically didn't know the difference between corn and blue corn flowers *sigh*
-eating alot of easter candy
-proudly setting up a clothesline that goes from fig tree to mating lawnmowers to sprinkler stand to fence gate, hanging up a load of laundry, and promptly watching it get rained on by what was, incidentally, the only rain shower we got for a month
-eating some of nathanael's easter candy
-seeing my precious niece and nephew who, along with my sister and the mother she is becoming, make me so proud
-eating two ripe strawberries right out of the garden
-discovering that there are 8th grade girls in Mobile County who honestly don't know how babies get made, either because the school system doesn't bother to teach sex ed (which they obviously should) or a bunch of lazy parents are leaving the actual parenting up to an impoverished school system.
-feeling like a big fat cliche looking through book after book of wedding cake designs
-remembering that I love Nathanael and I'll love him when he's old and even skinnier than he is now and it really doesn't matter what our damn wedding cake looks like (except that I want it to be different, and really express who I am as a person)
-almost curing a certain fungus among us with tea tree and aloe gel. Take that tough actin' tinactin!
-making the best white gravy of my life

Yep, it's not easy living with the burden of so much abundance, but I'm doing my best.

more news on things that are growing

So todayI can report a most victorious accidental discovery. I was on my way to place an order for some seeds when I came across an entry in Johhny's herb catelogue: chickweed. I had heard of chickweed and looked at the picture. I gasped, looked again, looked up another picture, ran out into my yard, looked up another picture and I can say with confidence that Chickweed is growing all over my yard. It's just this soft-spoken weed, very unobtrusive, that I have been foolishly pulling up and putting in the compost whenever I'm out in the yard looking for something to do. Turns out, this stuff is basically magic. I looked it up and it is reportedly great for insect bites and skin irritation, as well as good internally for circulation and kidney support. You can also eat it on salad like spinach. Yay! One more excuse not to repare the lawnmower! Why on earth would I want to mow down the free medicine growing in my yard? I am also happy to report that I finally spotted a bonafide honey bee in the back yard yesterday. This was in addition to about seven wasps, two bumblebees, one stink bug, a shiny looking beetle tht may or may not be eating the mustard greens, possibly one cabbage moth, possibly one robber fly, definately one squash bug, and I think three hover flies, in addition to the standard army of roly polys and fire ants, and a couple of spectacular butterflys that have been visiting the wisteria. There are also dozens of some bug or other that I still cannot identify. All I know about this bug is that I saw one eating an aphid on my sweet potatoes last August so I know these bugs have my best interest at heart. I am still waiting patiently for a lady bug, just one lady bug, to join the backyard party, but am nonetheless heartened by the diversity of beneficial insects in the garden. The plan of course, is to go all summer with no need for pesticides, even organic ones. We'll see what happens when the squash get bigger, with their requisite vine borer woes, but I am still faithful that mother nature is perfect and will help a sister out if I don't go spraying poison everywhere. Nathanael and I have eaten at least one home-grown, organic vegetable every day for about two weeks now. I must say, I'm getting a little tired of the mustard greens, but soon we'll have our english peas, and some strawberries. We will have chard, about one and a half carrots, and the collard greens and lettuce are still going strong. Then it's on to the squash and tomatoes and the humidity and 112 degree days and maybe by then I won't be so happy about all this gardening.

Speaking of growing things, I watched a blurb about peak oil the other day that actually made it to CNBC. I was shocked to see a mainstream media source actually giving air time to a problem, that just last week I heard flat-out denied on NPR. I won't spend time talking about it here as there are plenty of better-informed sources on the web concerning this issue. I was reminded however, that we have very little time indeed to prepare for what will, I believe, be a world-changing event, a process that will change all of our lives permanently. Nathanael and I talk about it sometimes and I still have no idea what would be worse in the event of an oil-supply collapse: stay intown with all the crazed, scary people, or be out on a piece of land somewhere isolated from help. I think there's no way to predict which scenario will be the best, so I console myself with the idea that as long as I am continually building important survival skills, I am doing the best I can to prepare for whatever is coming. Skills are something that noone can take from you. So, no matter where I end up, I will be ok if I know how to take care of myself. I've decided that the next project will be learning how to make cottage cheese. They say it's among the easiest to make, and it doesn't require anything I don't already have, except rennet. I've read of some plants that produce rennet alternatives, and that might be a possibility. There are also cheeses, like the Indian paneer, that require nothing to curdle the milk but vinegar, so that is worth trying out as well. After that it's yogurt which is supposed to be easy to make as well. Maybe I'll have some made in time to eat with all the free blackberries that are currently growing along every single street in Mobile. The south ain't so bad after all.

Surviving

So it's been a while since I posted and I know my masses of readers must think I've died or finally caught illiteracy from the Alabamians with which I've surrounded myself. Neither is true. I've just been..... adjusting. Something about that last stretch of winter always finds me hanging on for dear life. Of course, it feels much less dramatic than that. I find myself surviving, and just that. It's always the same set of symptoms this time of year, a reluctance to bathe, clean the house, cook, get out of bed, do anything really, much less write about how uninspired I feel on my blog. I accidentally wear the same thing to work two days in a row and subsist on sliced cheese. It so happens, actually, that Nathanael has helped me through this particular aspect of winter doldrums by not being too lazy to cook. We've taken to celebrating "Mainstream Mondays" with a piping hot blate of Tuna Helper and an episode of Starwars (we're watching them all in series.) Speaking of the bandwagon, my remedies du jour also include finally reading those damned Harry Potter books which are not bad thankyouverymuch. I started last week and I'm already on book 4. They're just so easy to read. (This does NOT mean however, that they don't include some decent vocabulary words and historical references. They do.)

Yes, escapism abounds these days as life has, with a dull "thud", become boring. I know it will pass, it always does. But it's still hard. One thing does, however, bring me great joy. I could spend hours watching things happen in my garden which has only just recently found itself free of all eyesores except for the mating lawnmowers, one of which belongs to a certain ex-roommate who also left a certain broken down car blocking the view to my english peas. Nevertheless, the mustard greens and lettuce are reaching upwards, alive with deep red and electric green. Spring comes early in Mobile, a pleasure for which we will pay dearly in the muggy heat of August. The peas and sugar snaps are doing their thing in a jolly sort of way, wrapping little tendrils around everything they can reach, including eachother. The crocuses have been this months most exciting surprise, blooming despite the prediction to the contrary by Mobile's newspaper columnist/garden expert guy. I meant to send him a picture to directly contradict what he wrote a couple of weeks ago about them not blooming "down here" but forgot to. They've been so cute, popping out just above the surface of the soil and opening up a violet or creamy white blossom. Above them, the fig branches are pushing forth crinkled, baby-green leaves and tiny, immature fruit. I didn't realize they don't blossom first. Does that mean the fruit is actually a juicy flower bud? If anyone can tell me the answer, they can come pick figs from our three trees this July. If you are really lucky, you can also have some watermelon from the seeds I planted over the weekend. If all goes as planned, their vines will set off across the yard and we won't be able to mow the grass for a couple of months. Should be hilarious.

How's the job going you ask? Ehh. I still sometimes stop and think, "I really have a pretty cool job." but what can I say? I just don't like HAVING a job. I'm over it. No matter how cool the job is, it's more time away from my life than I want to spend. These days I'm rethinking a desire I once had to be a teacher. My current job is teaching me a few things: teaching itself is very hard work, I'm not that bad at it, and I can get into the idea of a summer vacation. Maybe it's all those years as a student, but some part of me keeps expecting Spring Break. For now though, I guess I'll just keep gettin' er done and spending as much time as possible surrounded by vegetables.

The bandwagon

So, after about two weeks of Internet Explorer not allowing me to access my blog (for absolutely no obvious reason) I've switched back to Firefox. Firefox still doesn't allow me to use the scroll function on my mouse, the original reason I stopped using it. What can I say, I'm kind of lazy. But, after the blogger issue and learning more about how Firefox is safer, I'm sold. I will learn to live without scrolling.

Speaking of bandwagons, today is Fat Tuesday here in Mobile. What that means is, "you partied all weekend, now party some more. You've got all of Lent to get your body to forgive you." Yes, please. I'm not really a big "partier" in the sense of injesting lots of intoxicating substances. I am, however, a big fan of excuses to eat funnel cakes and candy and catch chinese junk being thrown at me from passing parade floats. Every time I go to a parade I can't get over what a fun idea it is. It's a wonderfully over-stimulating experience complete with garish costumes, semi-robotic parade floats and high school bands that dance in sink while playing their instruments. Most of this is entertaining; some of it is shocking. (My high school's band never humped their sousaphones while marching, and the majorettes never wore hot pants.) In addition to all this fun, you get the added sport of trying to catch as much stuff as possible from the maskers. In New Orleans, I hear the standard throw is beads, although I hear the Zulus also throw coconuts. Ouch. Here in Mobile, one is always surprised and has a chance of catching all manner or ridiculous items including Moon Pies, peanuts, stuffed animals, any cheap plastic toy you can think of (my favorite is my new pink plastic whistle), ice cream sandwiches, Dublunes, streamers, beef jerky, entire boxes of oatmeal creme pies, and the list goes on. This weekend, friends came down from all over and, as a team, we faired quite well, subsequently filling my dining room table with a massive mound of junk food and beads.

Our favorite spot to watch the parades is in an area where the crowd is mostly lower to middle income families with children. I was struck by what fun all these free toys and candy must be when you are young and not already spoiled. Amazingly, however, a childlike greed for what are essentially useless items seems to extend to every age group. We were shocked by one old lady who continually demanded of passing band members that they grab "those beads over there" which she was unable to reach because of the parade barricades. I couldn't imagine what she was going to do with all of them. Despite this, I much prefer this crowd to the mostly well-to-do adult crowd one seems to find further downtown. They made me feel sort of ashamed of myself. Also they were more drunk and tacky.

Anyway, if any of my friends are reading this, thanks for a great weekend. I laughed almost the whole time, from the moment the girls team pulled ahead in pictionary, to the moment Amanda asked, "Is there something in my teeth?" to which Karen responded, "If there is, it's tooth-colored." Hilarious.

The other dream was about a man trapped in a space ball. If you really want to know, I can tell you what a space ball is.

Last night I had no less than three distinct disturbing dreams. I guess this is what happens when you go to bed early. One of them involved me listening guiltily to an old teacher of mine rant about how I didn't care about the class. This is related to an event that actually happened and, at the time, the teacher and I were friends. You know, we hung out. We don't hang out any more. We don't even talk. He can have these totalizing views about people and events, and I guess that event led him to believe I was totally not worthy of respect... My dream makes me think that I must still feel guilty about it. I do I guess. Cookie, if you're reading this; sorry. But why has this memory decided to bother me now? Maybe it has to do with my new job and how it involves a lot more responsibility that anything I've ever done before. I'm nervous about it, but I really want to do a good job.

I think that various things throughout my life in which I flaked out have lead me to fear that flakitude is inevitable for me. This fear has caused me to avoid things that are challenging. UNTIL NOW! (say with megaphone). Here in Mobile, the job market is slim. If I want to make money here, it's either bite the bullet and take some responsibility, or I don't know, wait tables and waste away growing big, nasty varicose veins and smoking a lot of cigarettes. There is nothing in between. Yesterday this fact was expressed vividly to me when I went to Walmart to buy supplies for my program. I hate Walmart. Oh, how I hate it. I never shop there for a number of reasons, not least of which is that, on a very visceral level; that shit is creepy. For the program though, it's really the only option if I want to do all the things I have to do in a reasonably short amount of time and stay within the budget. (I will have to explore this web of conflicting ethical concerns another time, but today, it's all about me). Anyway, because I did not have my tax-exemption code to buy the many pairs of scissors and clothespins I needed; a veritable fiasco ensued during which I had the opportunity to talk to some assistant manager type who was very helpful by the way. He explained that he had applied for a position at the girl scouts about the time I did. He had been a couple of days late and just missed the job. He paused for a second, fluorescent lights ablaze, a cacophony of "doots" from the registers in the background and I got the tragic sense that this man desperately hates his job. Fifty years ago, this man would have been some jolly fellow running a somethin or other store of his own on a city block. Now, he's in middle management at Walmart. It's really heartbreaking when you stop and think about it.

Anyway, I'm having to step up so as not to end up doing meaningless work. I also want to prove to myself that I can push myself and not be a perpetual flake. So far, I'm really happy with how things are going. Tomorrow I have a whole day of programming at a school and I'll be by myself. I think that everyday will be a little challenging, but I also have found that if I don't think about it too much, I don't have time to be scared. That has been the method by which I did every ballsy thing I've ever done in my life, from asking out boys to jumping off a bridge this one time to eating a plate of octopus parts at a Peruvian restaurant. That plate was too big for this particular method to really work. It just took so long to eat that I had lots of time to think about tentacles, and suckers, and baby octopi and mommy octopi and ink squirting out of their butts and oh god I have to stop. But for this job, it's pure gold.

So I guess the dream I had last night is reminding me of a time when I was a major flake. Now that I know I can get things done if i just make an effort, those times have been brought into sharp relief and I sort of mourn them more. Lots of lost opportunities.... But like so many evolutionary moments in my life, I don't think this one could have been rushed or happened a second sooner. I guess I should be thankful for the mercy life has afforded me in teaching me this lesson without me having to work at Walmart (or eat more tentacles) to figure it out.