Springtime!

I believe it’s safe to say springtime has finally arrived! Watch, I’ll say that and the temperatures will plummet in a few days. J As I type this, it is a balmy 77 degrees out! It feels glorious: I think I was meant to live with eternal summer. My body and mood always improve with warmer weather.

We have been enjoying the warm weather in many ways, especially this past weekend. Here are some pictures of our spring projects:



Roma picking violets to make violet jelly (recipe below.)



And Ruby picking dandelions to make dandelion jelly (recipe below.)



Ben, hard at work mowing the lawn for the first time this year.



Meanwhile, I worked on thinning my quickly-growing seedlings. Since this picture was taken, all of my peppers have sprouted, several of the plants have grown a third leaf, and I have started setting them outside in a shady spot during the day.



Ok, so this wasn’t quite a “springtime” project, but I had to do a biology dissection Saturday while everyone else had fun outside. I’m not sure how long it will be before I eat fish again. J



Mikey has been learning some serious lessons in manners. We will be having an invisible fence installed this week and we’re VERY EXCITED NOT TO HAVE TO CHASE HIM ALL OVER THE NEIGHBORHOOD ANYMORE!!!

(P.S. Mikey is the dog, not the boy. J)



Ok, this isn’t about spring either. J But I haven’t talked about it here yet. A few days before Mother’s day, (Cinco de Mayo to be exact) we decided to go out for a Mexican dinner at our favorite local restaurant. It was a nice break from our routine!



I’m sorry, I’m always forgetting to take pictures before I eat the food. Several of us enjoyed fajitas for dinner. They were delicioso!



Back to spring. J Our 2 cats have ADORED being able to go outside again. Here Zinnia gives her “I’m sniffing something because I’m curious” look. She’s turned out quite pretty for a runt, if you ask me.



I saw what appear to be some type of insect eggs in our crabapple tree. They are so tiny!



Can you find the cat in this picture?



There he is!



Sometimes Zack just likes to lie around.

Photo by Roma.

 And now for the long-awaited recipes. Every spring we love to make violet and dandelion jelly since we have such an abundance of these wild flowers and weeds. The violet jelly is very sweet and a bright pink color, while the dandelion jelly has a golden color and tastes like orange marmalade and honey. They are both delicious and I would highly recommend trying them before the flowers die off.

Violet Jelly

2 cups of violet blossoms

2 cups boiling water

Juice of one lemon

1 package powdered pectin

4 cups sugar

Place 2 cups of violet blossoms in a quart jar. Cover with 2 cups of boiling water. Cool and refrigerate for 3-4 days.

Strain off 2 cups of the infusion (discard the petals.) Add the juice of 1 lemon and 1 package of powdered pectin. Bring mixture to a boil. Add 4 cups of sugar and bring back to a boil. Boil 1 minute. Pour into sterilized jars and seal. Process in hot water bath for 5 minutes. Makes 5-6 jelly jars.

Dandelion Jelly

*Use your LARGEST soup pot to make this jelly. It WILL bubble up!*

1 quart of dandelion blossoms

2 quarts of water

1 package of pectin

5 ½ cups of sugar

2 tablespoons of orange extract

Pour blossoms into a large soup kettle with the water. Bring to a boil and continue boiling approximately 4 minutes. Strain through cheese cloth or strainer, pressing out 3 cups of dandelion liquid.* Return 3 cups of the liquid to the kettle. Add pectin and let boil, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in sugar and boil 5 minutes more. Add orange extract. Boil 1 minute. Cool slightly; skim foam from jelly. Pour into sterilized jelly glasses. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

* At this point, you can refrigerate the liquid for 3-4 days, and make the jelly another day. Also, this mixture easily strains out 6 cups of liquid—enough for two batches of jelly. One batch makes 5-6 jelly jars.