The black elderberry planted in the parking strip is both beautiful and useful. The white flowers and dark foliage look wonderful in the springtime, and the cooked juice of the berries are known to be a good and tasty support for human immune systems.
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~ homegrown immune tonic ~
The five tubs of black elderberry cooked yesterday, then drained their juices into a pot overnight. Today they were cooked again with added sugar and lemon juice in a waterbath safe recipe. Since I want to make syrup, I left out the pectin which is only there to turn the juice into jelly and has no effect on the safety issues...~ homegrown immune tonic ~
and oops, I just now at midnight Wednesday finished putting up a dozen + small jars of elderberry syrup, all sealed for shelf storage, and only then realised I had miscalculated the amount of lemon juice added by almost half. Bah! I now need to open all the jars, dump the contents back into an open pan, add the additional lemon juice, and re-process all of them with fresh lids. Annoying to deal with, but food safety is not negotiable. As exhaustion has set in, my plan is to tackle this first thing in the morning, since two different extension service websites say that re-canning (with fresh lids) within 24 hours is okay.
11am on Thursday, and the re-canning is in process. Lesson learned: do not do projects that require calculation after 10pm. (not sewing, not cutting out fabric, and now, apparently, not preserving)
(elderflowers in the springtime)
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The additional rayon batik fabric to complete the summer popover dress has arrived and looks great. I am very impressed that the shop snipped and tore the yardage instead of just whacking away with shears, so I get the full amount I paid for and don't lose inches in straightening the grain! It will be a fairly quick task to make strips of the new fabric and extend the length of the dress to a better length, and if all goes well I will be able to have it finished in time for our Sewing Nomads meeting on Saturday morning...
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Rode my bike to the launderette early this morning to preshrink the rayon fabric in the electric dryer, and since I was halfway to the big grocery, continued on there to pick up some more of the small size canning jar lids. The kindly cashier gave me the "3 for the price of 2" discount even though I don't have a loyalty card for that shop!
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September SMART goals (x=extra)
| # | THINGS MADE | THINGS FIXED | THINGS GONE |
| 1 | 8 sm jars plum sauce | plums in freezer | greenwaste bin |
| 2 | 3D print Dala hrse | extension cords coiled | recycle bin |
| 3 | 3D print plant stands | wind chime suspension | recycle bin |
| 4 | 3 pr dolly boots | more plums frozen | greenwaste bin |
| 5 | 12+ jars elderberry syrup | - | - |
| 6 | x | x | x |
| 7 | x | x | x |
| 8 | x | x | x |
| 9 | x | x | x |
today's gratitudes -
- Past Me thoughtfully planted black elder
- fabric to finish batik dress arrived early, and looks suitable.
- was able to buy a few more boxes of small canning lids
- a dozen small jars of elderberry immune support syrup
Time of Isolation - Day 2253
proportions for elderberry syrup:
650 grams elderberry juice (about 3 cups)
130 grams bottled lemon juice
1,100 grams sugar
¼" headspace, process 10 minutes130 grams bottled lemon juice
1,100 grams sugar
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