Making Muscadine Jam

Happy fall, everyone! I know, it has been here a few weeks, but I haven't posted since then! I hope all of you are having a good start to this beautiful season. It is still hot here, in the hills of Arkansas, but I'm hoping it will be cooling down some by next week. We are starting to have a little bit of color in the trees, but are still several weeks away from anything really pretty.

I have been making jam the past couple of weeks. I made two batches of muscadine, and one of plum. I had some of the plums leftover, so I'm planning on buying a few more pounds and making another recipe of them. The recipe I use, makes up 10-12 cups every time I make it. It is a real toss-up around our house as to which we like best--muscadine, or plum.

Not much else is going on around the cabin, right now. We have been getting in some firewood, which is a lot of work, but well worth it, come cold weather. 

The garden is about gone, except for one tomato plant. We have a few 'volunteer' pumpkins that are just about orange. They were a nice surprise, as we had no pumpkins from the plants we actually planted.

Have a nice day!

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday to all of you! Not much has gone on around the cabin this week. We have had mostly rainy weather. The cooler temperatures have been a nice break for us in this hot month of August.

I used to be disappointed when we had these long stretches of rain, but I'm liking them more and more. It is good for the plants and, I think, good for us to have a break in our usual routine. Of course, I'm not talking about the kind of rain they're having down in Louisiana. I've sure been keeping those folks in my prayers!

I would like to say that my garden is loving all of this rain, but I'm afraid that the hot temperatures in July pretty much burned up most of my garden. I do still have a few squash and a pumpkin or two coming on. 

What about your garden? Did it do well this year? Did you have enough produce to can? I haven't canned tomatoes in two years, now. I'm really hoping for a better gardening year next year!

Snow in the Forecast!

OK, no snow for us. At least, not yet. But, when I opened our kitchen curtains this morning, I could see that we had our first heavy fog in the month of August. The old-timers all say that for every fog in August, there will be a heavy snowfall in the winter to come. Well, I have to say that with all the heat and humidity we've had this summer, a heavy snowfall sounds good to me!

There are a few other old sayings about fog, as well. For instance, if a fog seems to disappear, by descending into the ground, you can expect several days of warm, sunny days. And if a fog comes up fast, it is a sure sign of rain.

I usually mark each day of August fog on my calendar and then go back and check it during the winter. I've found it's a pretty accurate way to forecast snow. They aren't always 'heavy' but it is usually accurate to how many snowfalls we have.

Keep counting those foggy mornings!