Lavender Hill Hippie

It is definitely feeling and looking like fall more and more these past few days. Cool mornings have necessitated the inaugural lighting of the first woodstove fire of the season yesterday morning; early this year.

I’ve blogged a bit about the woodstove previously and posted photos of my supply of hardwood. That supply was depleted months ago. During the very long cold winter of 2013-14, I had to conserve and limit early spring fires fearing that another blast of winter would deplete my last log.

Wood is a very big deal when you’re building a new life in the country. And having a reliable and constant supplier of wood is also a very big deal.

The first fall @ Lavender Hill the woodshed was already stocked by the previous owner and the wood had come as part of the sale. By that first spring I began to enquire about suppliers and quality of hardwood etc., and settled on a woodsman beginning his new venture. Wanting to support local and wanting to support a new venture, values very much in sync with my own, I entered into an agreement with him. The wood arrived shortly thereafter, well seasoned, perfectly split, 6-cord.

With what was left over from the first winter, the 6-cord should last throughout a normal winter. But then last winter was not a normal winter. It was the worst winter people around here had seen in over 20 years and I nearly depleted my entire winter supply.

In early spring this year I contacted my woodsman to ensure that my fall supply of wood would arrive later in the spring and before summer. I would stack it in the woodshed and allow it to season over the summer months for perfectly hot crackling fall fires.

However, the long winter pressed into spring and many wood suppliers could not get into the bush to cut; the snow was deep and lingered delaying felling time.

Today, mid-September 2014, and very, very late, I am so very hopeful that my winter supply of wood will begin to arrive. This lateness will necessitate air-drying it as quickly as possible. To accommodate this I’ve decided to repurpose the covered lean-to on the north side of the garage from scrap pile to firewood storage.

Of course some extra work is now before me. I will have to first remove and repurpose items that are dropped there; I will have to cobble together some sort of base to keep the wood stacked off the ground. The steel roof will keep the woodpile protected from the rain and snow and the distance from the woodpile to the house will be greatly shortened! But of course none of this will happen until delivery of this year’s supply.

In the meantime, I’m keeping myself busy with my contract work, Lavender Hill Hippie creations, my roadside lavender stand, chores, chores and more chores, canning and jam and jelly making.

Earlier this week I made my Lavender Hill Wild Grape Jelly.

While the wild grapes were not as plentiful this year@Lavender Hill compared to last, I did manage to pick enough for a batch of wild grape jelly. Delicious if you’re wondering. And if you’re thinking of making some yourself this is a link to a recipe for Wild Grape Jelly  that I’ve adapted slightly to my own.

When I make my wild grape jelly I’ve never used the recipe’s required 3 pounds of wild grapes. Wild grapes are so tiny and I’ve yet to pick 3 pounds! I pick what I have. This year I had about 3 cups and to that I added the recipe’s 3 cups of water and followed the recipe by crushing the mixture.

However I don’t have a jelly bag. Last year, I used a fine sieve and allowed it to drip overnight. This year I acquired a hand-held stainless steel fruit juicer/vegetable press, so I used it to extract the juice from simmered berries and went straight to jelly making (no overnight drip required).

I also put dry pectin (rather than the recipe’s liquid) into the measured juice first and then after it comes to a boil, I boil for 1 minute and then I add the sugar all at once and return the mixture to a boil;  boil, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes or until I like the consistency of the jelly. Even with the smaller quantity of fruit, the jelly is a beautiful dark crimson red and the taste is fresh, wild and wonderful. The recipe makes about 11-12 125ml sized jelly jars.

Do your research before picking your wild grapes. Know what you are picking! There is a vine with grape-like berries that looks very similar to wild grape that is poisonous. I only pick off my property and I have already walked around and tested the vines to ensure that they are wild grapes. One thing to look for in a true wild grape is the seed. If you squeeze open a wild grape the seeds inside should look very similar to grape seeds you might find in a commercial grape.

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