Blackberries, Blackberries, and More Blackberries!

I love berries! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, boysenberries, and blackberries. This seems to be the summer of blackberries for our family. It all started about a month ago with my desire to make jam. It was my first time to can, and I was afraid of traditional canning methods, but I heard that freezer jam was pretty much fool-proof. I thought I'd give it a try.
We went to the Edmond Farmer's Market, and looked for berries to fulfill my jam-making desires. We found strawberries and blackberries. Once we had the berries at home, I commenced with the jam-making. It really is super simple. It's called "freezer jam" because it's stored in the freezer--NOT on the pantry shelf. It tastes more like fresh fruit because you don't cook the fruit!

I used about 4 cups of blackberries (I made a separate batch the same way with the strawberries), a lemon, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and a box of this:
1) Stir sugar and contents of package in a bowl into well blended.
2) Add berries and lemon zest. Stir 3 minutes.
3) Ladle jam into jars. I used ziplock twist lid containers, and they worked perfectly.

Both the blackberry and strawberry jams are delicious! One month later, and this is all of the jam I have left:

Yummy!

Last Thursday, John and I took Cohen to a blackberry farm to pick more blackberries. I don't think I've picked berries since I was 10, when I picked blueberries with my cousins in Canada.

I really want Cohen to grow up being connected to the food he eats. I figured picking berries is a good start.

We ended up with 4 pounds of blackberries. As we left the farm, the farmer gave us a pamphlet with recipes and general blackberry information. Like the fact that blackberries will remain good up to 2 days in your refrigerator.

Wait a minute - 2 DAYS?!?!?! We can't eat 4 pounds of blackberries in TWO DAYS!

So, it was off to the internet to try to find suitable ways to use up my blackberries. I ended up with four uses.

1) Eat them straight out of the carton (washed thoroughly, of course - do you know my husband?)

2) Freeze them

3) Blackberry Popsicles (recipe)

4) Blackberry Fruit Leather (recipe)


I think that I have fulfilled my blackberry needs for the summer. However, I have read about a pick your own peach orchard in the area...

Homemade Laundry Detergent

When I first started thinking about trying to make my own homemade products, I scoured the internet looking for cleaning products that I could make at home. It seemed to me like laundry detergent would be the easiest place to start, so I found a bunch of "recipes" from various sites, read about what worked for people, and what didn't for others. I compiled this research into my own recipe.

Ingredients:

Castille Soap - I buy this at a local grocery store called Crest for 99 cents a bar. I've also seen it at Akins for much more.


Borax - I have also found this at Crest. I don't remember how much is costs, but I think it's under $3.00 a box.



Washing Soda - I had never heard of this before I started looking for laundry detergent recipes. This is not baking soda, although I think they are chemically similar.

To make the soap, grate 1 bar of soap into a container. Some sites recommended using a food processor, but since I didn't feel like dirtying mine, I just used a handheld grater. It only took a minute or so. Mix in 2 cups of borax and 2 cups of washing soda. Put cover on container and shake until well incorporated.



I use 1/8 of a cup per load of laundry, and love that I know exactly what is in my detergent. I taped a label right on the container, so I never had to worry about forgetting or losing the recipe.