OF HORSES AND JELLY

I was awake in the wee hours of the morning (Saturday, Aug. 17), and I thought I heard something – ka-lump, ka-lump, ka-lump, kalump, ka-lump – you know, like a horse taking a few steps. (Not that I know much about horses.) Looking out the window, I didn’t see anything, but at 5:30, when I approached the kitchen for my hot chocolate, once again I spied the horse through the dining room window. I grabbed the camera and took his picture, then quietly alerted Mike to his presence. He crept downstairs and out the kitchen door, but the horse bolted in the same manner as before, running behind the woodshed and through the grove to the field above.

I’ve been busy in my farmhouse kitchen. On Thursday I thawed some serviceberry juice and made jelly. On Friday, Mike and Bess made an early hike out west to the canyon edge to survey the elderberry bushes. He found plenty of berries, some bushes better than others. Then the three of us walked down the lane to the black hawthorn trees and picked “haws.” However, when Bess saw that we weren’t moving along, she returned to the house. Nellie would have enjoyed just being with us and exploring the area, but not Bess.

Returning to the house, I resolved to be methodical about this jelly-making process. I got out my kitchen scales and weighed our berries – 3 pounds. It said to cook one pound of berries in one cup of water, so I added 3 cups of water to 3 pounds of crushed haws, but I had to keep adding water in order to make the mixture thin enough to drain. In the end I had five cups of juice, and it was still rather thick.

I’m not really very patient when it comes to making juice. My mother now, she would hang that fruit in her jelly bag and let it drip overnight. I suppose the old-time rationale was that those last drips are best, but I figure if I have enough juice, why not get on with it?

The recipe called for 3 ½ cups of haw juice and ½ cup lemon juice. As luck would have it, I had these huge lemons on hand. I easily squeezed ½ cup juice from 1 ½ lemons. And to that, I added 4 ½ cups sugar. That was the basic recipe. It turned out great. At least, we liked it. The haws are quite mild, but the lemon is a nice touch. I still have 1 ½ cups juice, so I think I’ll pick more haws this next week and make another batch of jelly.

Saturday, Mike met several other cyclists in Kooskia, and they rode a circuitous 60-mile route through Grangeville and back to Kooskia. While he was gone, I invited Bess to walk with me to the mailbox. She reluctantly agreed and accompanied me to the bottom of the lane, but at the black hawthorn trees, she approached me, nestled her head against my knee as if to make apologies, and then she ran – RAN! – back to the farmhouse. Nellie would have accompanied me to the mailbox. KW


[Please forgive the odd formatting. I'm trying to find a new word processor.]