Yum, just YUM!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

Ok, so I gathered and pitted and quartered more of the sour cherries today, enough to get me to the 3 cup mark. But I happened also to read that you really want to use them ASAP, preferably the same day you pick them, so rather than waiting until I had the four cups the Ball recipe calls for, I'd just make 3/4 of a recipe.

Boiled up the 3 cups of cherries with the 3.6875 cups of sugar and a teaspoon of margarine (to keep foaming down) and a teaspoon of almond extract. Added my 1.5 pouches of pectin, boiled the minute more, and started ladling the mix into my sterilized jars and sealing with wax. Got everything sealed up, then used my finger to scoop some off the ladle to taste.

Magnificent. I got 6 jars (8 oz), and every one a treasure. I think I have GOT to plant more bush cherries. I had bought two originally, but the one under the cherry trees died off, I think they really need full sun.

Also just placed an order for some saffron crocus, which I'm hoping I can keep alive as container flowers, to make them easier to propagate as they divide.

[fizzgig]

1. sour cherry jam/preserves/whatever is my favorite

i am so jelly (har har har)

[NJCher]

2. keep us posted

on the saffron crocus.


Cher

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

3. Will do.

It's one of the ones that you typically plant in the fall, so they might not ship it immediately, might make me wait a few months.

I've had so-so success with my onions I planted from the cores of onions I used to cook with this winter. Most of them ended up growing ok a few sort of stunted, but they're just in the ground like any other onion now. I suppose it's a way to avoid buying sets if you eat enough onions during the year, or have some old heritage variety you want to keep growing without having to rebuy seed every year, but seems like more of a party trick for generic globe yellow onions.

I'm trying to get my garage cleaned out a bit more now, I want to ditch a bunch of stuff that's simply sat in boxes for a decade and a half and use the space for overwintering container plants. I think I have an entire paper box full of brandy snifters, for instance, that I might use as starter pots for seedlings, since I'm not using them to drink from. It gets cold in there, but stays 20 or more degrees warmer than just outside.