On Tue, 27 May 2014 12:27:02 -0500, George Shirley >
wrote:

>On 5/27/2014 10:47 AM, bluechick wrote:
>> On Thu, 22 May 2014 20:42:00 -0500, George Shirley >
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 5/22/2014 5:05 PM, bluechick wrote:
>>>> On Wed, 21 May 2014 16:40:38 -0500, George Shirley >
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>Yesterday ended our drought, started with about a half an inch falling.
>About 0200 this morning I was awakened by a tremdous rain storm,
>according to the weather folks we were in danger of tornadoes and some
>areas had golf ball sized hail. We got 4.5 inches of great rain,
>tremendous downpours for a few hours, with street flooding in low spots
>and, now, a gentle rain with spurts of hard rain.

We just got the rain that you had! I don't know whether to be happy
or not. It was torrential. And, of course, we were coming back home
from running errands and I had to open the gate. I still look like a
drowned rat. At least we got into the house before the hail hit.
Tore up some seedlings I had just planted. I still don't know how
much rain we got or how strong the winds were but they were strong
enough to knock down a huge oak tree in the backyard. It was on
the side of a hill and it was blown UPHILL. So, that lets you know
how strong those winds were. Thankfully, the oak didn't hit any
structures. At least I don't have to water the tomatoes today!

>We mostly pick at berry farms, lots of pick your own type farms within a
>ten mile radius of us, some have been here fifty or more years. Where we
>pick blackberries they do a lot of drip irrigation and the blackberries
>were 1 3/4 inches long by 3/4 inch diameter, biggest blackberries I've
>ever seen and very sweet.

Those are huge! I'm happy you found some big, tasty blackberries.
Those ought to make some delicious cobblers and/or jams.

>> Sounds similar to the 'Blueberry Pie Filling' recipe in Ball's
>> "Complete Book of Home Preserving" which also uses Clear Jel and food
>> coloring (as well as a little optional lemon zest). Have you used
>> Ball's recipe? If so, why do you prefer UGA's? I'm not criticising
>> UGA's method, just curious.
>Most of those recipes were established with federal funds and all the
>preserving books list them, the same recipe is in many of the recipe books.

Ah! That explains the similarities in the methods between the UGA and
Ball recipes.

>Rinsed the blackberries let them air dry and then put them on bun pans
>and into the freezer for two hours, froze them solid. Then quickly
>vacuum bagged them for later use in four cup measures, just right for
>pies and cobblers. They held up well to the vacuum with no crushing. I
>keep both freezers at -10F and that helps. Now I need to get in the big
>one and organize things again. We tend to just toss stuff in there until
>it's full and then have to unload and organize. Maybe tomorrow, today I
>was hanging curtain rods, again, and wire brushing and painting a sixty
>year old lawn sprinkler, belonged to my folks and I just ran up on it,
>sold cast steel base with copper sprinkler head, beats the heck out of
>all this plastic stuff.

How did we live before vacuum baggers? It's a wonderful method for
keeping things fresh and free from freezer burn. I can't tell you how
many times we had to throw stuff out of the freezer before we got our
vac machine. Plus, bacon and cheese stay around a lot longer without
wasting them.

Do you have an upright or a chest freezer? My grandparents had a huge
chest freezer in their basement that was ruined by a bad flood one
year. I remember having to take everything out to find something in
it (and the thing I was looking for was always at the bottom). We
have an ancient upright freezer here, at least as old as I am. I know
it's inefficient as can be but I'm keeping it until the motor dies.
It's a PITA to defrost but stuff stays frozen hard as a rock.

Keep that sprinkler as long as it still sprinkles. We have a cast
iron "walking" sprinkler that follows a course laid out by running a
hose where you want it to water. It does a lousy job trying to "walk"
uphill but is great otherwise. We just oil the wheels every season
and it keeps on truckin'.

>George, listening to the rain and feeling the arthritis that comes with it

Hey, arthritis is the pits but it does a better job letting you know
it's going to rain than the weatherman! I should have known we'd get
more rain today than the pitiful 10 drops we got yesterday since my
right hand was killing me this morning. And I'm lucky I can type now.
Sometimes it sux to get old but it's better than the alternative.

bluechick