Tallgrass Wanderings: August 2013

I like mornings. I’m definitely a “morning person.” If I am going to get something accomplished, then I’d better get it done in the morning. By the afternoon I have fizzled and my “get up and go” has went. My workday mornings are pretty routine: Dan gets up and goes to “work out” around 5:30 a.m. Sometimes I hear him…most times I snooze on. He gets back & wakes me up at 6:30 a.m. Stumble into the kitchen and make coffee (hopefully on the walk from bedroom to the kitchen I will have become fully awake…otherwise we usually have some sort of catastrophe on our hands—coffee made without coffee filter, coffee pot never turned on…). Brush teeth, put on makeup. At 7 a.m. the “Today Show” comes on. That is my “alarm” and I’d better be blow drying my hair at that point. By 7:30 a.m. I am “out the door” and ready to start my workday. Every work day that’s my morning. Seriously. Every work day. Like, since always. Ahhhhhh, then there is the “week-end me.” The morning dawdler. A friend of mine, Jeana, introduced me to the phrase, “of a mornin’,” as in:

Of a mornin’ I like to have a large cup o’ coffee with vanilla cream.

I love that phrase. It gives off a conjecture of lazy Saturday mornings—doing what you want. So I think of my Saturday mornings as “of a mornins’.” I can piddle around and discover that it is 10 o’clock and I am still not dressed and ready for the day. Oh, but I have enjoyed my morning! I love a special blend of coffee that is sold at the Red Buffalo in Sedan, Kansas. That’s my “week-end brew.” Now don’t turn your nose up—it is chocolate orange flavor. I know, I know…it sounds so odd. But it is soooo good. And the aroma! I will start the coffee, maybe water the plants. Drink some coffee. Fill the bird feeder. Watch some HGTV. Drink some coffee. Make the bed. Drink some coffee. Do my nails. Drink some coffee. Mess up my nails. Drink some coffee. See what I mean? If you haven’t dawdled away a morning…come on over, I’ll show you how it’s done. The coffee’s ready!

August…hot summers in Kansas…at the Farm…one window air conditioner…and Grandma is making jelly. My Grandma Ruby made the best jellies and jams. My memory of her making them in the kitchen at the Farm is so clear. As I make my jelly and jams, I like to think she is smiling down at me, knowing when it looked like I was more interested in the book I was reading or getting out of doing my chores, I was actually learning from her and now continuing her legacy.

I love the term “putting up” used in connection with preserving/canning foods. It sounds domestic (and I don’t mean that in a “Susie Homemaker” way, but a “taking care of family” and “providing.” I always think of the pioneer housewife, after a morning of picking a bushel of tomatoes, “putting up” the jars of canned tomatoes, tomato preserves, etc.—and sitting down in the evening looking at her efforts cooling on the table).

I am struck by the similarities and the differences of Grandma “putting up” the jelly and me doing the same. Grandma’s bounty was either picked (by Grandpa and the grandkids, probably) or exchanged with a neighbor (her peaches for their cucumbers). I sent Dan to the store for a bushel of Porter peaches.

Grandma would take her bowl of fruit to the living room to cut it up as she watched her “shows” (soap operas). My cousins and I would be on the floor at her feet playing with paper dolls or reading one of the many volumes of “Reader’s Digest Condensed Books” that was always found on the bookshelf. I prepare my fruit after work at the kitchen sink, peering over the breakfast bar as I watch the latest episode of “Duck Dynasty.”

The first time I made jelly, Dan was in college in La Grande, Oregon. We were so broke we couldn’t afford much in the way of Christmas gifts for our family. Our landlord had planted a cherry tree in the yard of each of his duplexes. The tenants were allowed to pick all they wanted. They were the most beautiful cherries. Dan and I picked and picked and picked. We could not afford a good cherry pitter, so we bought this little one-at-a-time pitter. You would center one cherry into the center, press down and out came the pit. One.cherry.at.a.time. I still have that pitter—wouldn’t trade it for anything. Dan attended school during the day while I worked at the Juvenile Department at the County Courthouse and then he worked at night as a jailer at the Courthouse. Often our paths crossed at the on the Courthouse steps. During that week of “pitting cherries,” I remember we would give each other reports of how far we had progressed: “Ten Cups!” “Only two cups tonight!” That was the BEST cherry preserves ever made. After I “put up” jar after jar of the preserves, I would often go to the basement pantry to just stare at the beautiful glowing ruby jars. I don’t know if the recipients appreciated the gifts of jelly, but I don’t think I have since ever made a gift that had as much love and effort put into the making as those cherry preserves.

So fast forward 39 years and here I am “putting up” peaches. This time my jelly and jams have a twist that happened from a lucky experiment. Last year as I was making grape jelly, I did not have enough “juice”—BUT I did have some open sweet Texas red wine. Hmmm. Yep, I did it! Just poured that wine into the measuring cup. The result was very, very tasty. So, on a trip to Missouri (where you can find many wineries with “country” or “non-grape” fruit wines), I purchased some inexpensive peach wine.

The "Juice"

Here’s my “Peach Wine Jelly” recipe:

Peach pits…yes, peach pits. Save them as you cut up your peaches. Leave a little “meat” on the pits. Simmer them for about 30 minutes in several cups of water. (I was making two batches, so I used about 8 cups of water). Strain into a bowl.

2 cups “peach pit” juice

2 ½ cups peach wine

3 cups sugar

1 pkg. Sure Jel (I use the “for less or no sugar” kind) Pectin

Follow the directions on the box of pectin for making the jelly.

For my “Peach Wine Jelly-Jam” recipe (it is kinda jammy and kinda jelly):

In a large Pyrex measuring cup (4 cup), I place about 6 finely chopped, peeled peaches. (Actually, I prepare my fruit & freeze it. It is easier to chop the semi-thawed peaches that way, and I can make the jelly when I want and not feel as pressured to do it all at one time…but that’s another story). Pour the peach wine over the peaches to the 4 cup mark. Now add ½ cup more wine (the recipe calls for 4 ½ cups prepared fruit).

3 cups sugar

1 pkg. Sure Jel (again, I use the “for less or no sugar” kind) Pectin

Follow the directions on the box of pectin for making the jam.

Oh yes—you should have a little wine left over. Put it in the freezer to chill as you start the jelly making process. As soon as the jars of jelly are cooling, sit down, put your feet up and finish that bottle!