ELDERBERRY FEST, SECOND EVENT

Farmyard from south field

Mike and I were hiking behind the farmhouse (he called it bird-hunting) on Saturday (Nov. 10), when we were surprised to see lovely clumps of elderberries still clinging to the branches of the bushes, now mostly bare of leaves. I could tell that Mike wanted me to make more jelly. He suggested I return to the farmyard for the picking equipment, but I explained that I would be unable to accomplish the picking by myself. The accessibility of the berries is deceptive. Once you find solid footing under the bush, the berries are very high. And you know how it is – the best fruit is always at the very top of the tree.

I did go back to the house, though, and took the interior photos. As soon as Mike returned, we took a bucket and our hook and headed back to the elderberry bushes. I let him negotiate the bank while I stayed above on the edge of the field. The ground had thawed enough to be muddy and slick, and as it was, I slipped and nearly fell. Mike pulled the branches down with the hook and tugged at the berry clumps, catching many of them in the bucket.

We were back at the town house by early afternoon. Now, I consider just the trip to the farm and back enough for one day, but I dutifully set to work removing stems and cleaning the berries. We estimated we had about ten pounds of berries in the bucket, which translated to six quarts cleaned and ready to cook, and from that I got 8+ cups of juice – enough for two batches of straight elderberry jelly and a third of elder/apple.

I put off making the jelly until Sunday. I have to be especially organized when I make jelly by myself. I also lack the proper equipment here in town, but I made do with one stock pot and a Dutch oven. I only burned myself twice and broke one jar as I lowered it into the stock pot for processing. I suspect it was cracked. The process stopped as I cleaned the kettle, took care of the broken glass, and then re-heated the water.

In the end, I had 14 half-pint jars of elderberry jelly. The third batch I stretched with plain old Safeway apple juice and it turned out fine. With the October batches, I added apple juice concentrate, and the set was firmer than I like.

I’m always saying that I have no idea what I did the last time, and that's not a problem for me. I just muddle through again. But I guess it bothers Mike that I'm not more systematic, and he insisted that this time I make notes on my recipe sheet before filing it. 

As I wiped down the stove and kitchen cabinets the next day, I could hear my mother say, "You have to clean the kitchen after you make jelly. It splashes everywhere." KW

A TWO-RATTLER DAY

Beautiful syringa bush blooms beside healthy elderberry

Mike has been doing some heavy-duty cleaning – washing windows, cleaning the back porch, etc. The old Murray lawnmower we bought last year won’t start, so he was unable to mow this trip. We’ll trailer the mower back to town and ask “Carburetor Clint” (our son) to look at it. Clint recently fixed a carburetor problem on Mike’s 4-wheeler, and Mike hopes he can do the same for the lawnmower.

Syringa in bloom

Yesterday Mike found a rattlesnake in the woodshed. My dad warned of rattlers in there. I remember going to the woodshed to get tools, and he would say, “Let me go in first,” so that he could check the premises. Hence, I’m still leery of the woodshed. Mike has never found a snake there before, but just because we don’t see them doesn’t mean they don’t pass through, I suppose.

Elderberry

My dad also said that rattlers tend to travel in pairs. If he found one, he actively looked for another. He either found that second one or remained on alert. (Of course, in this environment, we are always on alert.)

Bess's favorite resting place

Anyway, when we returned from yesterday’s late afternoon walk, Bess found a rattler in the yard. No picture, though. I didn’t have the camera, and I was busy keeping the dogs out of the way while Mike disposed of the snake. You’ll just have to use your imagination.

 

This morning Mike walked the dogs “out west” behind the house, and I went along. I took these pictures of the syringa bushes (Idaho’s state flower) in bloom. I didn't know we had syringa back there -- have never seen it in bloom. Notice also the elderberries bushes in bloom. KW 

COMING UP: ELDERBERRY FEST 2010

This year we're holding our first ever Elderberry Fest on Saturday, October 16. We've had Elderberry Fest in past years, but it was just me with Mike's help and we didn't call it a fest. But this year Nick and Hallie are coming from Seattle because they want to experience firsthand the making of elderberry jelly – from picking the berries to processing the juice to making the jelly. That I should be considered an expert in anything – let alone elderberries – is truly remarkable.

Mike and I were newlyweds when my dad gave us a jar of his fresh elderberry jelly. Mike was immediately hooked. That's the way with elderberry jelly: you either love it at first taste or you say, "Yeah? What's all the fuss about?" But Mike loved it and when my dad was gone, he would occasionally come home with elderberries for me to make into jelly. I had to learn the process by reading the jelly instructions, and even now I research and review. A few years ago, Sure-Jell dropped elderberry from its recipe list, but we can still find it at their online site.

And elderberry jelly (amongst other jellies) also makes Nick's eyes light up. We have quite a few elderberry bushes on or near our property and know of others in various nearby gullies, etc., and he and Hallie plan to prune some of them while they are here. The Fish and Game guy who came last year said he was surprised to see so many elderberry bushes because they usually don't survive in the agriculture country.

So, anyway, I'm getting ready for Elderberry Fest. I have checked my list at least twice:
Stock pot – check
Cheesecloth -- check
Candy thermometer -- check
Plenty of jelly jars – check (I hope it's enough)
Rings and lids -- check
Canner located and cleaned – check
Canning rack -- check
C&H Pure Cane Sugar (no Idaho beet sugar!) – check
4 boxes Sure-Jell – check
Many fresh lemons – check

The weekend's festivities will open with a tour of various local elderberry bushes seeking the fullest, most promising clumps of ripe berries, after which we will return to the house (time approximate) to clean and rake berries from clumps into the stock pot for processing of juice. Following that lesson, we will make jelly in earnest. I expect to make one batch of jelly without Sure-Jell in order to demonstrate "sheeting." After a productive afternoon, a friendly yet competitive game of Dominoes is tentatively scheduled for the evening.

In the event we can't find berries, I have prepared elderberry juice in the freezer. A little apple juice added to the elderberry increases natural pectin and tempers the strong flavor, so I also processed juice from apples picked off the old tree on the Senter property. Not wanting to waste the pulp, I then ran it through the food mill, sweetened it with sugar and added a cup of red hots. Some kind of good!
Oh -- and I almost forgot. Son Clint says he's coming to the farm Friday night to spent some time and share a couple of meals with us. His family also loves elderberry jelly, though Clint has not professed interest in actually making the stuff.

Photo: Nellie doesn't enjoy the hustle and bustle of housecleaning. She waited patiently in a sunny spot while Mike and I both ran vacuums. KW

HUNTER GATHERERS

Here it is – the second Friday in October and the flickers are picking on our old country house. It's always something . . .

My mother used to insist on a fire in the furnace during the first week of September. She said if she didn't heat the house a little on chilly mornings, at least one of her children would take cold. Well, you know, the whole weather change thing . . . It has yet to be chilly enough to warrant consistent heat. Overnight temperatures haven't even approached freezing. Mike and I were reminiscing that this time last year – at opening deer season – it was cold.

Yesterday morning Mike was up early and out to scout for sign of deer. After tramping the property for an hour, he came back to report that he had seen neither "hide nor hair." We're into a rainy spell now and the deer are just pretty savvy. They know when it's time to seek shelter. So – if you were rootin' for the deer, the score is already Deer-1, Mike-zip, though the season doesn't open until Sunday, the 10^th.

After a little morning rain gave way to a lighter sky, Mike suggested we should head over to the woodlot at the Senter place. Our last trip to town (Tuesday, Sept. 28), Mike drove the big old Dodge Ram with a load of wood, pulling the utility trailer, also loaded with wood. The trailer-load of limb wood went to Ken, who sustained a tendon injury the last time he and Mike went into the woods. The pick-up load is now stacked neatly on pallets behind the shed in town. We had already brought a trailer-load here to the farmhouse. We are pleased for this opportunity to be working a year ahead on our wood.

"I won't take all of it," I heard Mike tell our neighbor, Chuck. "Probably just some limb wood."

"That's okay," responded Chuck. "Take all you want – leave the rest. No one else has spoken for it."

And I notice that little by little we've worked our way into taking most of the wood. Mike was pleased to discover that the locust splits easily – or so he says – and we have cut trunks into measured lengths to be split and stacked. My part is to handle the measuring stick, throw limbs and branches on the slash pile, and assist in loading. The elm, however, is another story -- resistant to splitting.

So yesterday forenoon the three of us headed back to Senter's where we had left the trailer. We loaded what was already split, then cut, split, and loaded more. On our way back to the house, we stopped at an elderberry bush to pick some luscious-looking clumps, but you know how it is with elderberries. When we approached the bush, luring us with its promise, we discovered that the berries were just out of reach, hanging off a steep, rocky drop-off. Even if Mike could have negotiated the drop-off, he would have been too far below the berries to capture the clumps. We tried with our long hook but to no avail. But, as it is with elderberry, we were able to pick a few clumps here and there and fill a two-gallon bucket.

And Nellie! – she picked up a clump that dropped on the ground and ran away with it. When we asked her to fetch, she disobediently munched the clump – berries, stems, and all.

After lunch at the house, I processed the elderberries into two quarts of juice in preparation for Elderberry Fest 2010 to be held October 16. I was just ready to head for the vintage sewing room to work on an apron I'm making, when Mike announced his intention to go back to the woodlot and finish loading the trailer. I knew it would be hard for him without me, so I volunteered to go. The worst of it was knowing that I would be really tired at the end of the day, but at least I had leftovers to serve for supper. We worked hard for several hours hearing thunder in the distance and watching a storm develop to the south and east. You know how it is with "scattered showers." It doesn't rain everywhere, and we really didn't get much at the farmhouse. Anyway, during a break in our work, I picked a few more apples from the Senter's old tree.

We were able to bring another trailer-load of wood to our woodshed – already split and ready to be stacked. KW

[Bloggers new photo feature which allows for captions under pictures is great, but as is often the case, working with it is frustrating. Captioning prevents opening the picture for a larger view, and a couple of readers really enjoy seeing the photos in larger format. I will use captioning sparingly.
Photo 1 -- Morning storm to the northwest.
Photo 2 -- Mike target shooting.
Photo 3 -- Mike at the Senter woodlot.
Photo 4 -- Storm to the southeast from the Senter place.
Photo 5 -- The old apple tree.]

IT'S ALL IN THE SUGAR!

Have you ever had a recipe you used over and over with unfailing results? And suddenly one day you go to make that recipe – whatever it is – and it just won't work for you? Perhaps it's over-confidence, perhaps it's subtle changes in ingredients. Whatever – it's baffling. This year's elderberry jelly has been like that for me.

Murray left a comment on the last elderberry post: "I read that 100% cane sugar is important - no Idaho beet sugar. Also boiling time." I'm not so old but what I can still find someone old enough to have been my mother, so I asked my oldest sister, who was a country housewife for 50+ years, if she could confirm that cane sugar should be used in jelly making. She said she believed she had known that at one time because she has always insisted on C&H brand sugar. Okay, I admit it. I have been buying store brand sugar and I guess it caught up to me. Mike and I have always believed that the grocery store is not the place to scrimp, but I have been experimenting a bit with store brands.

"So you don't have any elderberry jelly?" Clinton asked as he was getting ready to leave. "Elisha likes it." So I gave him a jar of last year's batch and explained that I have not given up on this year's product. Then I decided that this would be the day I would make another batch. I came prepared with a bag of cane sugar and a sack-ful of Gala apples. First I cooked the apples (2.5 pounds of apples cooked with 2.5 cups of water) and strained the juice. Apple juice mellows the flavor of the elderberry and provides natural pectin. I decided to go with Sure-Jell brand pectin, and I increased the juice to 3.75 cups as recommended by one online expert. (Remember, both Sure-Jell and MCP have dropped elderberry from their recipe lists in the last couple of years.) I used 2.5 cups of pre-processed elderberry juice to 1.25 cups of my processed apple juice.

According to recommended procedure, I stirred the powdered pectin into the juice (including ¼ cup lemon juice) and stirred this mixture constantly over high heat (except for when I took this picture of a rolling boil). I had pre-measured the cane sugar and poured it all at once into the hot liquid. The difference between the cane sugar and the previous failed mixtures was visible at once. The cane sugar dissolved immediately and the syrup appeared silky smooth as opposed to grainy and globular. I kept stirring over high heat until the rolling boil was reached. Whereas previously I had questioned when the mixture came to a rolling boil, there was no question about that rolling boil with the cane sugar. It actually foamed up in the pot. I boiled for one minute per Sure-Jell instructions.

The jars and lids were ready and I filled them immediately with the hot liquid. The jars have now sealed and are sitting on the counter for 24 hours.

Well, I figure if cane sugar is best for my jelly it's probably best for anything I make. From now on, this "Mrs. Retro Housewife" will insist on brand name cane sugar for the visibly superior final product.

Oh – any suggestions for using up three batches of gooey jelly? I already tried re-cooking – it didn't improve the product. KW

ELDERBERRIES 2009

The harvesters came in about noon on Sunday. By dusk the same day they had finished this 100 acres – a far cry from the old days, but that's another story.

The ripening crops have prevented our scouting around the fields, and Mike was anxious to take the tour. So, while the harvesters were still working he hopped on a 4-wheeler and rode the perimeter of the farm.

"There are a couple of good elderberry trees on the canyon's edge, and the berries are ripe," he announced.

"No! Not now! I can't deal with them now. They can't be ripe," I said emphatically. After all, my daughter's getting married this week. I have other things to do.

"Well, they sure look ripe to me," Mike said. "Some of them look dry."

I have never been fond of the process of making elderberry jelly, but I will say, of all the things I do, the end product has been lauded and appreciated. From the first time Mike tasted my dad's elderberry jelly, he was sold on it and the pressure was on to make more. And apparently love at first taste also happened for our soon-to-be-son-in-law, Nick. "Next year, I'll help you," he said quietly last year. Well, his heart was in the right place, and I just couldn't say what I was thinking: "Next year you'll get married and either the wedding or the fact that you've spent your vacation days on a honeymoon trip will prevent your helping me." Insightful on my part, if I do say so myself.
Naturally, a good pseudo-retro farmwife steps up to the task at hand, so this morning I sat behind Mike on the 4-wheeler, clutching the bale of a 5-gallon container as we rode out to the elderberry trees – two of them on the edge of Little Canyon.It didn't take us long to figure out that we would need some sort of tool to pull down the upper branches laden with clusters of berries so that we could pick the best fruit. Mike left Nellie and me there at the trees while he rode back to the house to devise the tool. He was gone quite a while and I teased him about leaving me there to finish the picking by myself. But he did make a handy tool out of an old dowel and a bicycle hook. All in all, we picked about seven gallons of elderberries.



Back at the house, the day's work was just beginning – stemming and cooking the berries. First, I cleared the clutter off the kitchen counter. Then I began the process of stemming the berries. I worked the first hour alone, and then Mike joined me and we worked together for another hour. I'm tellin' ya – it's labor-intensive.


While we were working, a snake -- a non-venomous racer -- joined us.

In the end I cooked three soup-pots-full of elderberries which I subsequently strained through flour sacking. For years, people used cheesecloth for this process but it's arguable that today's cheesecloth is up to the task. In the end I figured I have enough juice for seven (7) batches of jelly.

There were things that didn't get done today, including some baking for the Seattle trip. And I still have a little handwork on my mother-of-the-bride dress to do this evening. But accomplishment is always a good feeling and sometimes choices have to be made. We can always buy cookies. KW

MAKING ELDERBERRY JELLY

First of all, if you think you can make elderberry jelly within an hour, think again. Clear your schedule for half a day.

It truly is best if you free your kitchen of all clutter before beginning. Jelly making is messy. (Do as I say – not as I do.)

Take your bucket of elderberries and dump them into a colander in the sink. Wash the berries thoroughly. You should definitely remove any bugs you find.

Get your 6-quart pot. (For years I made jelly in a 3-quart pot because that was all I had. It can be done but you have to watch your mixtures closely.) Elderberries grow in clusters. Removing them from their stems is tedious. I remove the largest stems and as many of the smaller ones as is practical.

Set the pot on the stove over high heat. A little water with the berries will start the juice flowing. They should cook for 15 or 20 minutes. Crushing the berries at this point is also helpful – if you have a potato masher.

Now that the berries are cooked, you need to strain them through cheesecloth or a jelly bag to be sure your jelly is free of berry pulp and seeds. I have neither at this time and have found cheesecloth to be marginally useful anyway. Making an online search – "how to make a jelly bag" – I discover others agree with me. Suggested substitutes are old pillowcases, old dishtowels, muslin, and panty hose -- reasonably clean. I love these folks! I find an old dishtowel in my rag bin which I fold to fit my colander. Somehow I manage to pour the cooked berries into the colander, rinse out the 6-quart pot, and then set the colander over the pot so that the juice will drip into it. (I don't remember how I managed that feat but I'm sure the transfer involved another bowl / pan / pitcher.)

Some people might allow a lot of time – like a whole day – for the juice to drip from the berries. I was anxious to get on with the process, which may be why I struggle with a lot of things these days. In the initial dripping I had two and a half cups but needed three. Apple juice is great for stretching the juice, but I don't have any. I do, however, have some Gala apples on hand, so I got out the juicer and juiced three apples. More mess. Grabbing my Pyrex measuring cup, I heated the apple juice in the microwave and poured it over the berries in the colander. Folding the dishtowel over the berries, I began to squeeze the juice out of my makeshift bag. Eventually the old fibers gave way and the "bag" burst open. Oh well – I have enough juice and to spare now. I managed to measure the juice and then pour it back into the pot for the actual cooking process.

Now, after an hour and a half of work, I am ready to begin the actual jelly making. "Read all instructions before beginning," state the instructions that come with the Sure-Jel. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, actually I did read them – and read them again – and read them again. It looks as though I must boil the juice with the pectin and then again after the sugar is added, stirring constantly, while simultaneously preparing the jars with hot water. "I can do that," I say to myself. Oh – and I need the juice of an actual lemon. Fortunately I have one, so I find Ina's glass lemon juicer and juice the lemon. Yet another dish to wash. "Holy mackerel!" says Mike, coming upon a kitchen in disarray. He reaches for the camera.

Bottom line: Four and a half cups of sugar is added to the nasty-tasting three cups of juice, instantly transforming it into a tasty substance. Go figure! Hot jars were filled with the hot, sweet substance and that set up nicely. Would I do it again? Actually – I probably will. KW

ELDERBERRIES

Hallie sent a message to tell us about their trip back to Seattle from the homestead: "We stopped down the grade, put our jeans on and trolled for some elderberries. Unfortunately, most were not yet ready. Nick was very disappointed. Our plan was to pick as many as we could and leave them at the town house for jam. I tried to console him and told him that one day mom would make him a very happy man with the gift of elderberry jam."

How strange, I thought, that Nick seems to be a connoisseur (this is when it so works to have spell check) of jams and jellies. Mike and I eat so little of it. Then I had to laugh at myself because what I know of jams and jellies I learned from my dad who truly would have matched Nick spoonful for spoonful. I can see the two of them judging the jams and jellies at fairs. Daddy had his favorites and elderberry was one of them. He would stop along Gilbert Grade on his way home from the farm and pick elderberries in season in order to make jelly. And when Mike had a taste of Daddy's elderberry jelly, he was also smitten. Some people say elderberry jelly is too much trouble when you can buy grape. Not Mike. He says he can tell the difference and there's no comparison. I can tell you one thing: grapes are edible to begin with while elderberries are not.

Mother, too, took pride in a batch of jelly well-made and sealed. We had a crabapple tree at the Orofino house. Mother loved that tree. It grew next to the house and was tall enough that she could see the beautiful blooms through the upstairs bathroom window in the spring. When the fruit was ready, she would make crabapple jelly, straining the juice well in the process. (She was more careful and precise in her cooking than my dad.) She would hold up a jar of the finished product and say, "Isn't that beautiful!" You could almost see through it. Sadly, the roots of the old crabapple tree invaded the sewer system and it had to be cut down – probably in the early '60s. Mother was inconsolable.

Friday morning I invited Mike and Nellie to hike with me around the field behind the house. We found at least six elderberry bushes / trees with plenty of berries – just not ripe. Mike thinks they may never be ripe. I think it's just too soon. According to a website I discovered, elderberries.com, the berries ripen late August / early September. Frankly, I think it can be later than that in this part of the country. I remember making elderberry jelly in October.

"There's a stand of elderberry trees on Miller Road," Mike said upon return from a bike ride. I didn't think much of that until I pedaled past the same stand the other day. Powdery, purplish, ripe elderberry clusters beckoned to me. I don't know who owns the property but the trees are on the "hill" side of the road in steep, rocky territory. Surely no one would care if we picked a few elderberries.

Yesterday afternoon (Saturday, August 30), armed with a 2.5 gallon bucket, Mike and I hopped on the little blue 4-wheeler and rode over to the elderberry stand. Wow! And what a stand it is! I nicknamed it "Elderberry Alley." Once you step down from the road, you see the elderberry trees going on and on. The deer trail through it makes access easy. Mike picked a few clusters and made like he was ready to leave. "Oh no!" I explained. We need the bucket full of elderberries in order to have enough juice to make jelly. We had to pick from many of the trees in order to find enough ripe, reachable berries.

We were just exiting Elderberry Alley when a voice from above said, "Hello Folks!" We explained our mission and he said, "And you aren't hurting a thing." He introduced himself as the manager of the hunting club. (John Richardson has leased most of his fields to a local hunting club.) He further explained that bow hunting season was opening that afternoon and he was there setting up some blinds. He asked if we were related to the Warnocks that live on the edge of the canyon – or if we were those Warnocks. We said we were those Warnocks. Great! Now the whole of Gilbert could know the Warnocks pilfer elderberries. We can't get away with anything!