Jam

From where I'm sitting at my computer I can spot the outrageously fat groundhog that has been climbing over the fence and mowing down my peas. I can't see him or her right now, but I'm waiting. At the moment the HAVAHART trap is set (though I've never actually heard of anyone getting a groundhog to enter one) and I'm trying to confuse the thing to death by covering up the peas with floating row covers and by sticking a blue rain barrel over the fence post where it usually enters. Brilliant, right? Nothing will keep a groundhog from eating all of my vegetables, except one thing. (And maybe I'll post some fancy pants artistic blog photos after the fact.) 

But in the meantime...

I've heard about violet jam. Eating flowers is definitely on my to do list every chance I get, but I just wasn't so into this idea. Then I tried it. This is WORTH DOING. I followed this violet jam recipe. I had no idea it would be so good. It's a delicate flavor. It makes me think of childhood, specifically the shade of my Montessori preschool playground. It's special stuff. 

*One note: make sure you check the flowers for creatures: I disturbed three caterpillars, a spider, and one click beetle from their petalled hideouts.

The violet jam revved up my jam-making engines and I decided to turn the rest of last summer's raspberries into jam as well. I would also HIGHLY RECOMMEND leaving your frozen berries in the the freezer while procrastinating for months, saving this chore until May, when there's really only green things to eat fresh from the yard, and make that jam now. The cooking berries smell like hope. So, even though the thought of the berries in the freezer nagged me several times over the past months, the timing turned out to be excellent.

As Victoria Williams would sing, have "peace of mind that you're always on time!"