Sunday Night Jam Session

 Making jam is a fantastic way to preserve your summer harvest for the bleak winter months. I've been picking strawberries and blackberries from the garden and decided to turn them into jam. Sunday night at 9 pm- perfect time for a berry jam session. Obviously. Here's how.

YOU NEED:
- 5 Cups of mashed berries- so about 7 or 8 cups of whole berries
- 8 Canning jars (with two part lids)
- Canning pot
- 7 cups of Sugar
- 1 box of Pectin
- Metal tongs or canning tongs.
- Jam music!


1) Gather your berries. You'll need 5 cups of mashed berries to make jam, so thats about 7 or 8 cups of whole berries. In my case, I used a combination of garden-grown strawberries and blackberries- and since I was short about a cup I ran out and bought a pint of local, organic strawberries to make up the difference.

2) Put your Pandora station on Grateful Dead radio, or another appropriate jam session station. Hopefully your first song is a live version of Shakedown Street by Phil Lesh, because that song kicks ass and has a great berry mashing beat. Seriously.

3) Fill a canning pot about half -way with water and bring it to a simmer. You'll need this hot water bath for the very end of the jam session.



4) Wash out the jam jars. Unscrew the lids and wash the jars and lid rings with soap and hot water. Place on a clean surface to dry. Take the lid caps, put in a saucepan and pour boiling water over them. Let them hang out in the hot water until you need them.

                                                     

5) Mash you berries. A potato masher will suffice. I used some strange ladle-like device because I couldn't find my potato masher. You can also use a food processor but DON'T puree. There should be plenty of berry pieces in your berry mash.

6) Measure out 7 cups of sugar and put aside. I know, 7 cups of sugar is kind of gross, but you need this exact sugar - fruit - pectin ratio to ensure that the jam sets safely.

7) Put 5 cups of mashed berries into a saucepot. Make sure the measurement is exact. Start heating on medium heat.

8) Add one box of pectin and start stirring. Stir until the mixture reaches a rolling boil. A rolling boil is a boil that can't be stirred down.

                          

9) Quickly add the sugar. Keep stirring continuously until the mixture again reaches a rolling boil. Once it does, stir for one more minute and then remove from heat.

(Things start to get a little hectic at this point. The background jam music is crucial here to keep you moving.)

10) Ladle the jam into the jars, filling until about 1/8 inch below the top. Wipe off any jam that might have dripped onto the top of the jar and then put on the lids, turning tightly.

11) Using your tongs, lower the jars into the canning pot full of simmering water. All the jars need to be covered by at least 1 - 2 inches of water, so if there isn't enough, add boiling water to the pot.

12) Bring to a gentle boil and keep the jars in the pot for ten minutes.

13) Remove the jars from the pot and place upright on a towel to cool.

14) After the jars have cooled, check each lid by pushing on the center. If the lids pop back at your touch, the jar has to be refridgerated- it hasn't set correctly. Otherwise, you are safe to keep your homemade jam on a shelf until you are ready to eat it. The National Center For Home Food Preservation recommends using the jams within a year.

15) Scrap the bottom of the saucepot for the jam remanents and put on a piece of toast. Rouse your roommate who is resting nicely in her bed and make her try your AMAZING BERRY JAM!!!!

                                    

It Takes a Village to Start an Urban Farm.

    The to-do list for opening Vella Gardens seem endless- starting a nursery/urban farm/retail space/center of creativity and wellness and all things Mother Earth is no small task. But for now, even though it's late in the farming season, I've been focusing on cleaning up the outdoor space and turning it into the urban farm I've been dreaming of for years.

I'm trying to grow on land that used to host a greenhouse- its a long rectangle plot enclosed by an old foundation on one side, a chain-linked fence on the other and a wooden gate at its entranceway. After the greenhouse roof was dismantled about 50 years ago, the lot remained empty until quite recently, when the last business owner at 1 Alfred Stone Rd. turned it into an outdoor retail space for her perennials and annuals. She cleaned up the lot and erected a beautiful, wooden pergola.

                                         The space when I first saw it, abandoned for several years.

                                          I, however, want to take things one step further.

 When I first saw the space, I immediately envisioned reclaiming the land and using it to GROW. I envisioned rows of perennial flowers blossoming a rainbow of colors. I saw pumpkin vines and oregano leaves and hardy kiwi fruit vines growing up the peregola. I saw rows of lavender, mint, thyme and chives. I envisioned a space in the center of the lot, underneath the pergola, for sitting in meditation, for listening to live music or for guest speakers to come and share their wisdom.

And so, I got to work. Weeding. Before I could even begin to map out my vision, I needed to weed. But as I started digging in the dirt I began finding shards of glass everywhere. I mean, e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e. Reminents of the old greenhouse roof.

               I realized 1) Urban farming is not for sissies. 2) I needed raised beds. 3) I needed help.

                                                   Buckets full of glass I've picked up from the land. 


 I quickly enlisted the help of my family and friends and scheduled a family work day. My brother and Dad came to use their technical brains to engineer several raised beds for planting my vegetables and greens.

                                              
                                              
  My mother wasted no time, putting her amazing cleaning abilities to work weeding the gardens and giving the store a good scrub down (my mother is able to see dirt particles not visible to the human eye). She even got her hands on a wheel barrow.

                                         
My best bud Charlene and my roommate Katie arrived to help haul and spread a dump truck full of soil/manure delivered by Al. Because it's late June, this was my last chance to put in a pumpkin patch. Katie was especcially skilled with shaping the dirt into even beds for the pumpkins.

                                               

And my boyfriend, the talented Chef Jason Armitage, came over for a few hours on his day off to show us all up with his wheel barrow/dirt moving skills.

                                                    

By the end of a very long day, we were exhuasted, filthy and smiling. Our bodies ached but we were filled with the great satisfaction that comes from a day of good, solid, productive, hardwork. We had succesfully created beds for a beautiful pumpkin patch, wooden frames were erected for vegetables and herbs, and we cleaned out a dump truck full of weeds and debris from the plot. Things were shaping up.

                            The back of the space was cleaned up and turned into rows of beds for a pumpkin patch.

I'm realizing how much community is linked with farming. From the farmer who delivers compost made by local cows, to the friends and family who pitch in their man/woman power, to the neighbors and passerbys who stop by to offer support and advice. And of course the local people and restaurants who recognize the importance of eating locally grown food and whose support makes the whole thing possible. Yes, it definitely takes a village. And It's suprising, but people jump at the opportunity to volunteer their time to garden or farm, probably because getting to spend a day outside with a group of happy people and using our bodies in a productive way is a treat in this modern world. And that's a good thing for me- because growing food is not something that I could easily do alone.

                                              

    My goal is to run Vella Gardens as a small CSA next season, offering vegetables, herbs and perennial flowers. If you are interested in learning more about buying a share next season please contact me at: rvellladesign@gmail.com

Local Herb of the Week

"Local herbs are not ten times stronger, not a hundred times stronger. Local herbs are a thousand times stronger than exotic ones!!" - J.R. Worlsey, the great English Acupuncturist

         I just typed the title of this article and had flashbacks. When I was in college, a fellow classmate would post a short excerpt every week on his AIM away message (this was pre-facebook posting) entitled "Herb of the Week". This excerpt, seen by the majority of Stonehill College's class of 2005,  included several prolific sentences publicly announcing the individual responsible for the most moronic (and usually drunken) behavior of the weekend. In case any of you are confused, I'll now reference the urban dictionary: ( Herb: Insult synonomous with loser but can have multiple negative connotations. Pronounced "HURB" with no silent 'h.) Go college. So classy.

  Luckily my college days are behind me and my weekly herb encounters are now solely isolated to plant cultivation. I totally love herbs- growing them, harvesting them, cooking with them, using them medicinally. Herbs are totally badass. Here is one of my most favorite herbs that grows easily and abundant, locally.

                        LEMON BALM: Melissa Officinalis

Although Native to Southern Europe, Lemon balm is very easy to grow and proliferates easily in our New England climate. Evidence of its medicinal use goes back to ancient Greek where it was used against scorpion bites and insect stings. It was also revered by ancient bee-keepers who would rub crushed lemon balm leaves on their hives to encourage the bees to return back home. In fact, it's name Melissa, comes from the Greek word for honey bee.

I find Melissa to be extremely soothing, cooling and cleansing. When I am feeling nervous or anxious, I will boil water and steep lemon balm leaves to make a calming, hot tea. On a hot summer day, I find iced lemon balm tea totally cooling and refreshing. Seriously, I love this stuff.

                      The Rodale Herb Book gives a quick and easy recipe for balm-honey tea, which is used for longevity and to cool patients with fevers:

                                                     1) Pour one Pint of boiling water over one ounce of lemon balm
                                                     2) Let the herb infuse in the hot water for 15 min
                                                     3) Strain the infusion to remove the herbs
                                                     4) Add honey or lemon peel to taste
                                                     5) Drink the tea and live foreverrrrrrr

               I would suspect that lemon balm liqueur (!!!!) is even better than lemon balm water, no? And I would also suspect that it's benefits include not only longevitiy, but other super human powers such as the ability to feel zero pain when walking into a glass sliding door or to magically morph the below-average man sitting at the bar into a ten +. I'll have to give it a try and get back to you.  But in the meantime, here's that recipe, too.

                                                   1) Crush a handful of lemon balm leaves
                                                   2) Add one pint of Brandy
                                                   3) Let the mixture steep for 24 hours and then strain
                                                   4) Add 1/2 cup of honey syrup (see below)
 (to make honey syrup- use equal amounts of  water and honey. Boil the water for a few minutes, remove from the heat, and then add honey.)
                                                   5) Drink and be super merry

   Yes, lemon balm is a total keeper- in addition to teas and cocktails, you can also add it to your favorite salad or fruit salad for some subtle, extra flavor. Give it a whirl AND stayed tuned for next week's local herb of the week.

The greenhouses at Vella Gardens will be growing and selling organically cultivated herbs (potted and cut) starting in fall 2011. Please contact me at rvelladesign@gmail.com for more information!!!!