Wordless Wednesday

Coltsfoot

As I drove over the mountain today, I noticed that the coltsfoot was blooming amidst all the pea gravel that had been deposited over the winter. Thrusting up through leaves and road debris they cast a cheery smile and shoot their feathery fist at old man winter.

Wordless Wednesday

Queen Anne's Lace Jelly

I opened the envelope from my aunt to find a yellowed newspaper clipping with a recipe for Queen Anne's Lace Jelly. I love old-timey recipes, so I had to make it. It is has a very light lemony flavor and is the palest of pink. Everytime I see these flowers I think of her and this recipe.

2C. very firmly packed flower heads cut from the stems.
4 3/4 C boiling water
3 1/2 C sugar divided
1 Pkg powdered pectin (SureJell)
4 1/2 T strained lemon juice

Slosh the flowers through cold water to remove all of the bugs. (There will be lots. I ended up letting the flower heads soak in cold water.) Drain and cover with boiling water. Cover the container and let steep for 15-30 minutes. Strain. (You are basically making a tea.)

Measure 4 1/2 C of the strained infusion into a large kettle. Mix 1/4 C sugar with pectin and stir in remaining sugar. Boil 1 minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice. skim the foam from the top of the jelly with a metal spoon. Immediately pour into hot, clean jars and cover with lids. Cool, then refrigerate.

To make the jelly shelf-stable process the jars for 5 minutes in a boiling water bath.

The jelly is very soft, so the last time I made it I used 2 pkgs of SureJell instead of one.

Indian Pipe Flowers

The rain came down in a steady drizzle drazzle. I went up to the wooded part of my property to look for the Timber Rattler that my neighbors swear they saw; I saw no snakes but I did see lots of these. Pretty cool, huh.

Walk in the Woods

I spent some time in the woods this weekend in 2 different state parks. I saw some great birds, came home loaded with ticks, took some nice photos, chatted with several out-of-state visitors, gave directions twice, saw some sort of water snake, petted a few dogs, and generally had a great time. This is one of the photos I took. This wild columbine was growing out of a crevice of a rock. Pretty cool, huh?