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

How to Make Violet Jelly

The first thing you need to do is find some violets from a spot that you know hasn’t been exposed to chemicals. A few years ago I transplanted a few violets around my little pond.

It is okay to mix in some of the white violets if you have those also. Next I fill mason jars with violets and then pour boiling water over them, seal and let steep 24 hours. If you want to be more precise than me use about 1 cup boiling water for each packed cup of violets.

assemble your canning tools. Make sure all your jars, lids and rings are sterilized.

You will need to then use a jelly bag and strain off your violet infusions. These are the proportions I use for my jelly

4 cups violet infusion

1/2 cup lemon juice or the juice of 2 lemons

8 cups sugar (less if you are using reduced sugar pectin)

1 package of dry pectin or use the liquid type if you prefer that

Pour 4 cups of violet infusion into a pan and then add the lemon juice. Enjoy the color change!

Stir 1 box of pectin into the infusion and bring to a boil. I put in 1/2 teaspoon of butter to reduce foaming.

After this comes to a full rolling boil, quickly add the sugar and return to a full boil for exactly 1 minute. Skim off any foam and then ladle into your jars, cap and process in the canner for 5 minutes. The yield is about 8 jelly jars

I have used the reduced sugar pectins and those work well also. This jelly keeps well. I just gave away for a birthday present my last jar of last years violet jelly in March, and it was still beautiful! Enjoy!

 

New Bees and More Violet Jelly

saturday, my brother eric and granddaughter taylor and i went to my friend ron's house to pick up our new nucs. eric and i both got one. ron goes down to florida and works at a bee farm there for a few weeks each spring, and then brings back in his truck nucs for all of us who have ordered them. these bees are carniolans and i just love them. very hard workers and gentle too! within an hour of being hived these girls were busily bringing in pollen. it was so much fun as it was taylors first time getting to help and she had a blast! she also spotted the queen for me. this year the queen is marked with a green dot. each year is a different color. after we got the bees hived we made some more violet jelly! seems everyone wants a jar to try and i gotta get cracking and get some more made to keep up with the demand! lol love and hugs to everyone who visits here at comfrey cottages!!

Violets and Dandelions

Our weather is still erratic! Cold again, with rains and even hail yesterday! But, the violets and dandelions are still up and don't you think violet and yellow together are so pretty? The children and i managed to take advantage of the decent weather on saturday and harvested many of both. we also dug some of each for transplanting to other spots. my brother wanted some of the white with violet edged violets and i am going to start a dandelion bed in my gardens! yup you heard me right, a dandelion bed! not only does their color please me, bees love it, i use the dandelion root dried for teas,eat their leaves and fry their heads!lol going to make some dandelion jelly soon also. so thanks to help of my little helpers we harvested enough for both some violet jelly and some fried dandelion heads saturday nite. yum! the boy in the pictures is my 8 year old grandson evan, my daughter michelle's boy. hugs all around!:)