Violet Jelly Time, Fishing and other Spring Harvests

Seems there is not enough hours in the day to enjoy all spring has to offer! We did get the first batch of violet jelly done though:)

 

There is no problem using the white as well as the purple violets, folks!

Usual way is one cup of flowers to one cup boiling water. I just fill the jars with violets and pour boiling water over them, cap and allow to infuse about 12 to 24 hours.

  

But that gorgeous color you get for the final result, comes from the add of lemon juice:) Here is the link for my post on how to make violet jelly. I used a less sugar recipe for this batch and it still turned out great!

The children and I have been pressing so many flowers this spring too, for future projects..

We have been eating fresh greens like crazy, but also preserving them. Cleavers, chickweed, dandelion and nettles. All put in vinegars, oils, alcohol and quite a bit juiced and frozen in ice cubes in the deep freeze.

We’ve spent one a lot of time fishing in the Illinois River.

 That’s brother Eric, with a Gar. We turned this one loose. Have you ever seen their wicked looking teeth?

We were fishing by the drop line method. Usually with this method you stand on the bank and throw the line out in the water and the weight you have at the end, sinks and keeps the line from going anywhere. We did it different and put a pole, (we chopped big sticks from growth on the riverbank), in the river bed, hung a bottle with our name on it, drove the boat out away from the pole, (the length of the line), and dropped the weight. This is similar to trotline fishing, only using one pole, and a short line with less hooks.

Gerald shoving a pole in the riverbed

  We use old window weights for our weights for our lines. See the little loops in the line. Those are spaced 24 inches apart. From each of those we hang what is called a leader. A leader is a piece of line, that have a snap swivel on the end that goes into those loops, the other end has the hook.

 That’s a leader in Gerald’s hand. There are others on that newspaper. We keep them all folded up in between uses in the newspaper to keep them from getting all tangled together

 We set out the lines for a couple of hours, to overnight and when we pull back up to them, we use a long broom stick with a big eye hook screwed in the end of it, to reach down and scoop up the line.

 We took a walk on the bank that runs between the river and the lake my husband duck hunts at, Clear Lake. During the winter where he is standing, is many times under water. We found one of his duck decoys that had floated off. This is where I come to harvest cottonwood buds in February/March. The fallen buds were all over the ground. They smell so darn good they just almost intoxicate me! lol!

This is also where I get my spicebush sticks for using as skewers for cooking food on the grill, and I  harvest the berries for spice, later in the year.

 The river bank supplies my willow for medicine also.

I forgot to take a picture of our catch. We got a mess of catfish and perch. Enough for about 5 meals for the three of us, so a good haul! Hoping we can go do it again this weekend. Nothing so fulfilling as stocking the freezer with good, wholesome food! We didn’t make it through the winter with last years catch, so been riding the guys we got to do better this year!

                        Clear Lake

                                       Raccoon tracks

  It sure is a bountiful, beautiful world!

Herbal and Honey Hugs to all who visit Comfrey Cottages xx