Trees & Legacies

Devin spent the last couple of days planting trees.  Mahan Pecan, Pawnee Pecan, 3 Georgia Native Chinquapin, Methley Plum, Santa Rosa Plum, White Pomegranate, and a Saijo Persimmon.  Oh and berry bushes too: blackberries, raspberries, and tayberries.  So much fun.

Biggest bummer is that the trees came about ten days early so we're not sure if any of them are going to make it or not.  Willis Orchards screwed up and sent them early... of course.  And while most people would be totally excited to get something early, we ordered these on December 2nd and asked for them specifically to not be delivered before January 16th.  So that Devin would actually be home when they came. D. Rama. I tell you.

He also started working on cutting down the mulberry in the front yard.  He really needs a chainsaw.  Like bad.  But our friend Greg is going to come this week and help finish the job.

Tree Inventory:
2 Dwarf Bonanza Peaches

2 Babcock Peaches
2 Garden Prince Almonds
1 Blackjack Fig
1 Italian Everbearing Fig
1 Saijo Persimmon
2 Georgia Native Chinquapins
1 Methley Plum
1 Santa Rosa Plum
1 Mahan Pecan
1 Pawnee Pecan
1 Katy Apricot
1 Tango Tangerine
1 Bearss Lime
1 Dwarf Meyer Lemon
1 White Pomegranate

And on the docket:  2 Apples, 4 Mango, Kiwi, Dragonfruit, Passionfruit, More Berries and possibly grapes.

My project this week was focused on organizing the office.  I'm probably about half-way done.  I might even share the befores and afters with you if I'm brave enough.  The before was pretty atrocious though.  It was super scary.  All that stuff dumped in there from the move and waiting to be organized and gone through.  No fun.

But then...  *insert dun dun dun noise here*  We took a jaunt out to my grandma's house to pick some citrus.  And pick we did do.  Six bags of tangerines, two bags of lemons, and a bag of grapefruit.  Luckily Devin is planning on taking some of the tangerines with him to work.  But, that'll still leave me with 4+ bags to do something with, and I'm NOT making marmalade out of all of them.  {Learned a lesson about that marmalade down there on the last post - I should have cut the rinds up finer.  It was my first attempt at marmalade, so I'll give myself a little bit of a pass, but next time, it'll be a lot finer and not strippy at all.  The flavor turned out well though, so definitely going to keep adding juice to the water.}

My new job at church is all about planning activities for the grown-up women in our church now.  This week was the first one for the year and it was all about legacy.  {not my best work ever, but I did all I could with what I knew I had}

Anyway, some stuff hit home for me at this event.  I didn't come away with a plan on how to establish my own legacy, but on how to pass along a legacy that was given to me.

My paternal grandmother, Faye Robie, died when I was like, eight or something.  It wasn't like I didn't know her.  She lived about a half mile from us, and my brother and I spent a lot of time with her.  A LOT of time with her.  Which was awesome.  And I knew her well.  One of my favorite memories of her was sitting on the back porch shucking corn (for canning) and I was helping and she found a worm... in her bra.  I promptly had a similar experience (but I didn't have a bra, duh, I was too little).  I remember never wanting to touch an ear of corn again.

I remember her canning green beans and pinto beans in quart jars together and how incredibly yummy I thought that concoction was.  I remember her drying grapes on a wooden table to make raisins.  Some of my most fond memories of her - my only real memories of her - revolve around canning and preserving.  Something she apparently did a lot of.  Because I got this comment from my Aunt Shirley on Facebook this week on my tree post.

If that's not an excellent, amazing, and wonderful legacy to pick up and run with and pass along to others, I don't know what is.  I told Devin that after that comment, and after thinking about it for a few hours, it was the first and only time I've ever really missed my grandmother.  I tend to roll with the punches and move forward through loss focusing ahead rather than behind, but in this instance, I had the opportunity to reflect and to see that I am indeed carrying on her legacy.  And that I do miss her.  Gosh darn it, I'm doing something right.  Passing along a legacy that I inherited and was well-established before it came to me.  And I plan to rock the passing along hard core, yo.

But then, when we were out with my so-totally-not-dead maternal grandmother picking citrus, she happened upon some drawers of vintage bakeware/serveware that she doesn't need/want anymore.  So, guess who came home with that booty?  Me.  Inheriting some awesome pieces from the other side of my family.  It's a different kind of legacy... more tangible than the other, but the same level of awesome.


So no matter which way you shake it, I'm legacied-out this week.  But in a good way.


I've been busy this week:

Promised my gma I'd make her a sour orange pie and deliver?  Of course I did.  And yes, that's yummy meringue on top.  Booya.

And I preserved some lemons using salt:

Made Lemon Vanilla Bean Marmalade:

Made Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate thereby creating the Strawberry Lemonade Incident of 2012 wherein the concentrate boiled over during the 20 seconds I stepped away and gave Devin and I about 90 minutes of clean-up.  Lesson?  Learned.:

Made Honey Lavender Lemon Jelly:

With the Honey Lemon Lavender Jelly I made a few changes.  I swapped out 1 cup of the honey for 1 1/4 extra sugar and 1/4 cup water for the mere fact that sugar is free for us and honey is pricey.  I also used 3 tbsp. of powdered pectin in 1 cup of boiling water instead of a liquid pectin pouch - same reason.  Liquid pectin is pricey.  But this turned out totally delicious and I'll definitely DEFINITELY make it again.  My recipe is this:

Economized Honey Lemon Lavender Jelly
1 cup honey
2 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3/4 cup water, 1/4 cup water, 1 cup boiling water
1/8 cup dried lavender flowers
3 Tbsp powdered pectin

1. Using a non-reactive pot, bring the 3/4 cup water to a boil, add the lavender, and cover with a lid. Lower heat and let simmer for 5 min, then remove from heat. Steep for at least four hours. (I did 18 hours)
2. Strain and mesure 1/2 cup of the lavender tea and place in your preserving pot.
3. Add honey, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest to your preserving pot.
4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
5. Boil 2 cups of water.
6. Add pectin to one cup of boiling water (water reduces when it boils, so that's why you boil 2 cups for 1 cup)
7. Stir in liquidized pectin and continue to stir frequently until it reaches a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down.
8. Boil hard for exactly one minute (boiling longer risks breaking the gel).
9. Remove from heat, stir. Don't worry about the foam.
10. Pour the jelly into your hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.
11. Wipe the rims and seal the jar.
12. Process in a boiling water bath for five minutes
The End.

I'm 33 jars through my 156 jar goal and January isn't even over yet.  At this rate, I'll hit my goal by June, but it's more likely that I'll just lax off for a while.  I always start strong on these things.

And... that's a wrap.  I'm exhausted.


What We're Reading:
Shesten - Crossed by Ally Condie {listening}
Devin - The Rise of the Black Wolf by J. S. Lewis & Derek Benz
Website of the Week: Storybird  Basically, it's a way to make an online story book using art collections.  Then when you're done with the story, you can publish it (aka print it) for a fee.  But I think it's fun to just go through and play with it and pick out pictures and make up stories.  You can collaborate as well which makes it awesome.