This morning we’re wet & slushy snow/ice - we had snow until the wee hours, then some sleet/freezing rains. Temps are now above freezing so it’s all rain ... might return to snow again this afternoon. At least with this storm, we did not need to get out the big tractor to clear the driveway.
Friday, I made two batches of Blackberry Merlot Jelly from some blackberries that were bought & frozen a good while back. In mid-November, when I harvested the pepper bushes for the last time, I had enough red jalapenos for only one batch of Jalapeno Pepper Jelly & enough green ones for one batch of “Cowboy Candy” (first time I’ve made this recipe - still waiting for feedback to determine if I’ll make it again).
The extremely wet conditions last summer resulted in a very low tomato crop - some relatives, living about a 100 miles away, had almost total garden failures - most gardens in that area were just plowed under. No salsa was made last summer - very disappointing.
It’s been so wet the last couple of months that I cannot do any of the projects around here that I want to do this winter - fields are so soggy that pulling any sort of a cart results in bogging down. Last week, my dad got his golf cart stuck in a field & we had to pull him out with the garden tractor. It took several tie-down straps to do it because we had to keep the garden tractor fairly far away and on high enough ground that it didn’t get stuck, too. Even so, the tractor’s back wheels were doing some spinning at times & I had to change position twice to the wheels from spinning/making ruts.
We’ve had some mild days in December & early January that have had me longing to be able to get started & plant the garden, but of course it’s months too early (& I don’t have a green house). The Polar Vortex has split & long range weather for us looks “arctic” so we’ll just have to hunker down & ride out what looks like some true, cold winter weather on the way & maybe more snow storms in the near future .... while we stay warm & enjoy our Blackberry Merlot jelly! :-)
Recipe if anyone wants it - this stuff gets rave reviews & people I’ve given it to are all but begging for a jelly jar refill:
Thanks for the recipe. We are pretty slushy today too. I got out and shoveled a path to the compost and trash can. We are not going to get any sun till Thursday or Friday this week.
I’m hoping that we get rid of the current stuff before the next wave hits. St. Louis got a foot on Friday, I heard on the news, and there was more after that.
It’s been a while since they’ve had that much at once. We got about 6” here altogether. Would have been more, if not for the rain.