Blackberry season is starting.
The girls and I burrowed through the workshop from front to back yesterday, and now, if it were not for the pile of timber in the middle of the floor, there is at least a path from end to end which is large enough to wheel a bike down.
We uncovered another deposit of books (fortunately dry and well preserved) so today has become a box unpacking/reading day rather than another workshop sorting day. Which is fine. It has to be done, and a hot day at the end of the school holidays seems like a fair enough time to do it.
I think that the next sortie into the workshop will see more mystery boxes relocated, which will make space for the timber to be stacked on the other timber on the shelving to one side. Then I will sort the workbench and make myself an actual workspace. *nod*
I need to get to the hardware store today to buy replacement bolts so that I can assemble the bed in the study. We excavated it from the workshop only to find that while it had two bolts, it needs four. It will be handy in a number of ways; spare bed (obviously) under which I can store things (excellent) and on top of which I can stack things when the bed is not in use (uh... okay?). The room is also the coolest spot in the house, so anyone who is baking in their regular bed can bid to sleep there to get a decent night's sleep for a change. The only problem with that is that there are four candidates and only one bed, but we will work something out.
Last night, on our way home from swimming in Lake St George, we stopped and picked a bag of yellow plums from a roadside tree I know out there. We also ate a few handfuls of blackberries which grew hidden beneath the laden branches of the plum tree. It should be a great season for blackberries this year. They like damp soil.
The plums are small and perhaps a tad on the under-ripe side on average, but I expect they will make a great tart jam. I don't remember if they stay yellow when cooked, but I will soon find out. I will buy sugar while I am out getting bolts. Um. I probably should inventory my jar/container collection before I start, in case I need to beg or borrow some.
The small fruit size means that there will be lower flesh to scraps ratio if I just make jam from whatever passes through the colander, but it also means a lot higher work-to-jam ratio if I decide to pick out the seeds individually. *sigh*
It might be that the colour of the jam will make all the difference, as the pips should be easy to tell from the yellow fruit/skins (if yellow it remains) reducing the risk that there might be stones remaining in the jam if I do pick out the pips and re-incorporate the skins to add bulk. Hrm.
There are so many plums coming on right now that I am tempted to get extra honey and make melomels featuring stewed plums of different shades. Hrm.
This entry crossposted from http://tangent-woman.dreamwidth.org/544711.html with
comments. Please comment there if you feel inclined. You too can have a Dreamwidth blog. Ask me how!