I’m Not Getting Voted Off This Homestead
The last attempt I made to live off the land didn’t go very well. Half pint and pa never bagged a bear, and what with all the churning and mending to be done I utterly failed at the task of putting up enough food to feed my family. It was barely November and I had to hitch the old (station) wagon up to the grocery store trading post.
No amount of chopping wood would have saved me from being voted out of the Frontier House.
I don’t know how those pioneer ladies did it. They were a tough breed.
Kind of like my own pioneer babe–
Don’t let the Holly Hobby dress and sweet smile fool you. This nine year old is brimming with teenage ‘tude that would serve her nicely should I follow through with my decision to free-range her out on the open frontier. And since you were wondering, yes I did wear this dress to school as a suburban child of the seventies. There is simply no denying it, when it comes to fashion I’ve always been ahead of my time.
But never mind that, food failure was so last year. My family is on target to make it through this year, this entire year, completely independent from grocery stores. That’s us, totally self-sufficient…at least as far as jam is concerned.
Oh shush. Don’t tell me I can’t keep a family on jam alone. I can do whatever I want.
I made jam, didn’t I? See–
When we polished off the last of the jars I made back in June, I simply defrosted what was left of our strawberry puree from the picking last fall. Then I added just a pinch of sugar.
Or perhaps it was a wagon-load of sugar. I’m not exactly sure. Then a dollop of magic–
And Voila! Jam!
2009/2010 will be known far and wide as the year we made it on jam alone. Impressive, yes, but for 2010/11 I’ve set my sights a little higher.
Welcome to my lofty goal of the year: tomatoes. These guys may not look like much but just you wait. These little guys have been tapped to nourish my family throughout the year to come.
I’ll let you know how it goes.