Does anything say summer more than Wild Blackberries? I don’t think so. We are lucky to have many wild vines here on The Butterfly Hill. This is the reciepe that I have used the most, after much trial and error. It’s very simple and easy to do with what ever amount of fresh summer fruit you have. It only has two ingredients, yea it takes… Read More »Wild Blackberry Jam
As your favorite flowers and vegetables bloom, don’t forget to harvest some of those seeds! I put several jars on the table in the garden and as the flowers wilt, the seeds are collected. (Don’t forget to label the jars so you know whats, what!) The easiest way to collect those seeds is to DeadHead the flowers. You simply cut off the flowers when they… Read More »Seed Preservation
Join me on October 3rd at 10 am for a live event on Fall! We will go over the fall plant, seed collection, and harvest preservation. facebook.com/thebutterflyhill or learn more at The Butterfly Hill.com Learn more about our community
So we’ve grown all this food, how do we preserve it? What do you do with all the zucchini, or tomatoes? I have found that you can only make so much zucchini bread, so what to do with all of the rest? I prefer canning over freezing. I find that my stores last longer when can. I resisted canning for the longest time. I remember… Read More »Preserving the harvest
I prefer canning over freezing for preserving food. I find that the veggies taste better and last longer. Not to mention, you know exactly what’s in the jar! First, get a giant pot of water on the stove to boil. Then wash all the jars and lids and rings. I wash more than I need, nothing is worse than having everything ready to go and… Read More »Canning
Umeboshi are Japanese salted plums. We have three plum trees here on The butterfly Hill that had not been pruned in many years. Since I was learning what we have here on The Butterfly Hill first, I wanted to know how to take care of the trees and cure its fruit. After much research, it was decided, the trees needed to severely cut back to… Read More »Making Umeboshi
I try hard to maintain a waste free kitchen. I save all scraps from veggies. You can use the butts of celery, carrots, potatoes, beets, onions and garlic, ( as well as the skins) broccoil, squash anything really. I have a tub in the freezer that I use to store until I get enough to make a stock. I cut the pieces so they will… Read More »Making veggie stock from kitchen scraps
St John’s Wort or the greek Hypericum Perforayum which means “Over a spirit”. Other common names are Goatweed, Klamath Weed, Tipton’s Weed and Rosin Rose. It is named after John the Baptist as it is harvested at midsummer on his Birthday. There are many mentions of the sun and the Solstic to St John’s Wort. As I look at and live with and learn to… Read More »Saint John’s Wort plant
We have a cherry tree here on Butterfly Hill. It was gangly and had not been pruned in many years. So there were not many cherries at all. This year I decided to try and save some of the cherries for us. The birds get most of them. Flash tape was put on the lower branches we could reach. I knew that I would not… Read More »The 1st Cherry Harvest