Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Red Bud Jelly

Imagine my surprise when one of my Facebook friends posted about making jelly from the flowers of the Eastern Red Bud tree! As you can see by the faint, yet prolific, fuchsia hue around my backyard, there are many flowers to harvest for such a project!


So I set about gathering six cups of the blooms. It was a little sad to strip the trees, but this tree is pretty invasive, and I gathered from the ones where I don't necessarily need more seeds to take root next year. 


You pour six cups of boiling water on top and steep the flowers for 24 hours. The infusion results in this incredible shade of pink!


Kind of fancy-looking in a wine glass, and I *may* have added some Malfey gin con limone after I sampled the taste of the pure juice. The juice was delicious both pure and enhanced! The juice does have a tiny bit of a bean after taste, which is not surprising as the tree belongs in the bean family.


The jelly was easy to make. I used this recipe. The jelly took a few days to really set, so have patience. I put it in the fridge a few days to speed the process.


Delicious product enjoyed on some home-made bread with butter! Yum! The taste of the jelly is not as distinctive as the juice, but sweet and light. You can't beat the fun pink color!


Enjoy the warming weather, and hope that you are safe and healthy!

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Quarantine Haircuts

Eight+ weeks into the quarantine has so many of us feeling a little bit too fluffy on top, so you can't help but feel a little bit jealous of the alpacas who have their barbers make a home visit on a Saturday morning!


They were highly grateful to be able to see again! It also happened to be 80* on that day, a weather pattern that quickly changed back to freezing a few days later.


It's nice to relax in the sunshine after a thorough grazing!


Our shearing team was adamant about social distancing, so we took the opportunity to rent a box truck and also replenish the hay supply that day. We took a picture of this road sign for our nephew, who is attending Purdue next Fall! We stop in Russiaville for the hay, but are looking forward to many trips to Purdue to visit and spoil him!


Our hay guy had a new "toy" to help load the hay into the truck with a few big lifts. What a relief it was to not need to move all the hay into the truck by hand. It saved so much time!


Finally, I joked with my colleagues that it wouldn't be ISSMA Qualifications day without me interacting with a UHaul! I really missed the students and the event, but it was good to be distracted by getting some work done.

Here's hoping you are enjoying a safe springtime. Till next time!

Friday, May 1, 2020

Knitting Lessons

Niece #3 learned how to knit last year and is quickly getting obsessed, like so many of us knitters. She gifted her younger sister a hand-knit headband and a SELF-DESIGNED knit shark for her 2nd birthday last Monday! 

 

The shark took three weeks to make, which is pretty quick considering she had to design, knit, sew together, duplicate stitch a mouth, and sew on felt eyes. I am so impressed!


Nice detail with the white belly! Marine biologist in the making, for certain! It turned out super cute!


She really wanted to knit a hat, so I shipped her some purple worsted-weight yarn, size 8 circular needles, and a pom-pom maker for her birthday (which I forgot about in August... ooops!). We set a FaceTime date, and yesterday we started a hat. I didn't know that she didn't know how to purl yet, so we skipped a ribbed brim in favor of one that will curl up. I am loosely using the Beanie pattern from Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel.


The hardest part of knitting in the round is getting the stitches arranged in the same direction before joining the stitches into a circle. Looks like she passed the test! Now she has to fight through 5 inches of knitting before she has to decrease. And it looks like Auntie E forgot that you need double pointed needles to finish the top of the hat. Time to send some more supplies. What should I add to spoil her? 

Happy Creating!