You can never have enough...

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Overcast here but its hot already.. Not looking forward to later.

Good idea with getting ahead on the presents Kiwimade. Im going to do the same if I order anything from overseas. .

I have a couple of things on my To Get this year list. A paper shredder, which might happen soon cos I have two items sold on tm. and I want a stool for the breakfast bar, mainly for if Im icing biscuits etc. it will help my bones. I dont want a big flash one, I like the normal metal type ones in the warehouse.

I have the Holst's crock pot book Mica I must have a nosey. One of my fave recipes in the crockpot is creamed rice. OMG its very yummy.

I haven't looked yet but Ill ask our wise ones... Do you reckon its possible to make jam from tinned fruit? I figure you wouldn't need to add much sugar, maybe some lemon juice to help make it set. And it shouldn't take long to cook. I got 2 of those catering cans of apricots and was thinking about the possibility of making jam.

Have a fab day everyone

[Oh_hunnihunni]

You can use tinned fruit, definitely need to add a source of pectin though - either from lemon juice or jam sugar (depending on the sugar content of the cans). I have done it in the past, but kept the jam in the fridge rather than on the shelf just in case it wasn't as well preserved. It was fine.

With apricot though, you will get a different taste and texture using this kind of fruit as opposed to dried apricots which are much more intense in flavour, but it will be lovely all the same. Definitely worth doing!

[Praktica]

Making jam, reminded me of my dad - a child of the depression and second world war. He once made "raspberry" jam with tomatos (they were cheap at the time), sugar, pectin and raspberry cordial concentrate. It tasted like rasberry jam, but had an odd texture, and the pips were too large!

[popeye333]

Thank you ladies.

I will give it a go. Im not a huge jam eater, but do prefer home made apricot , raspberry and strawberry jams when Im in the mood.

I will find a lemon or two and give it a shot. I have plenty of room in the fridge now its not full of all the sauces etc that MrP used to eat.

Praktika ive heard of Strawberry jam being made with tomatoes and Kiwifruit.

[JanW]

Good afternoon everybody from a warm HB - not too bad only 24deg
Popeye when we were kids my Mum used to say she could make something out of nothing - I can remember Dad bringing home big cans of peaches that his drivers dented in transit and of course Dad didnÔÇÖt have insurance so he would have to pay Watties for them - in the winter she would open a can of the peaches and make half into peach chutney which was absolutely fantastic on mutton and the rest she would make into jam or pie filling - she served it often so I am thinking it probably didnÔÇÖt last long but there were 7 of us plus the odd driver or two on their way somewhere - her crumble cooked in the wood stove was beautiful - she would make two and send one over to the neighbour who had cows to swap for cream - can remember on the way home dipping my finger in the cream- no wonder we are all on the large side -

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies   Another early start thanks to the Furry One and a rabbit.  The rabbit got tangled up in MrK's wood pile and was squealing so was supposedly easy pickings for the Furry One.  But the silly dog let it go, probably to chase it, and it got away.  So now he's on the hunt for it again.

We have rain clouds this morning and according to the weather gods we are supposed to have rain.  Will believe it when I see it.

I have never made jam from tinned fruit before but I have from frozen fruit.  We had a glut of plums one year as a friend gave us buckets and buckets of them.  I made jam and plum sauce but there was still lots left over even after eating so I froze them in one kilo bags, all cut up, ready for jam.  I have also frozen tinned fruit when we haven't finished a whole tin so this could be another alternative, popeye.

The banana cake never eventuated so I'll bake that today but first I want to start cutting out a feijoa that has never had fruit.  MrK had cut it back years ago (ground level) but it has grown back .  We thought maybe it would fruit this time but nope.  So it's going.  There are also some small pieces of concrete I need to biff into the bin, chips off the bigger pieces.  I'll start digging the new garden while I'm at it to  prepare it for new topsoil.  I'll level out the lawn part too but the seed can't be sown until autum so there is no hurry.

I've had an idea for a knitting needle bag and plan to work on that this afternoon.  Might have to use the last of the dinosaur fabric lol as my stash is getting quite low.  

Happy crafting  

[Mica]

Morning all
Overcast with some showers expected later this morning, cooler too.

Had a lovely picnic yesterday, DGS spent alot of time playing on swings

Off out with DD and DGD soon calling in quilt shop this morning for DD to choose backing fabric for the quilt she is making for a friend. I will get to quilt it. Alwayx dangerous for me to be in a fabric shop.
Seems I have been volunteered to shorten a wedding dress for friend as well lots slippery fabri  to look forward too.

Time for coffee now that DH is up and about

Have a good day

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

Its lovely at the mo, clouded over but not humid and only 19. Yay.

Thank you lady's re the fruit. I was googling yesterday it seams I will need to get some pectin to use along with the lemon juice. So I will see what New World has this morning. Ive always frozen fruit for jam etc. Cos I generally prefer to cook it in the winter when cooler. I know you can get jam sugar but its quite expensive.

I put some of the satin on TM yesterday, have kept the two biggest pieces, almost 18 meters of it. So I will get to play with it someday.

Madam Missy has a sulky face on, she knows my routine and knows I have to go to the supermarket lol.

Have a fab day everyone

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I had an interesting day yesterday with an early call from the hospital. I had a date for my next hip op at the beginning of the call - the 10th of Jan, but by the end of her triage questions I'm back on the waiting list. Apparently a still healing wound from a skin clinic nitrogen gun burn makes me a poor candidate. Still, good to know I have gone from urgent to acute, I might just get this op yet.

Only been waiting three years, lol...

[JanW]

Good morning all - cooler and a threat of a shower but will believe it when I see it
Hunni my old boy had been waiting for 3 years for knee surgery - two weeks after he passed he received a letter giving him a surgery date - he would have had a chuckle
My gout is still preventing me getting this damned blanket finished - just not enjoying it at all
My neighbours are two young South Africa chefs - lost their restaurant jobs at the beginning of covid and are now pruning trees - they cook themselves a BBQ breakfast every morning at 6am before heading off for the day - waking up every day to the smell of bacon just ainÔÇÖt fair when it is one of the worst things for gout

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Each time I got a preadmittance clinic clearance we got a new covid variant outbreak, lol. I was beginning to think it was me. And now the fates have changed their excuses! Maybe I am just not meant to have another ortho procedure.
Tg4 good drugs!

[Roma]

Good morning. 

A nice 22 deg with a cloudy sky and rain expected later ... what a pleasant change from stifling heat! Definitely too hot for any craftwork lately for me. I shall take advantage of the relative cool to bake another Christmas/New Year cake to share with all the rellies around 

I hope your surgery eventuates sooner rather than later hunni ... such a frustrating waiting game.

A tomato plant question .... besides removing the laterals, do you take off the top or just let them keep growing taller (than me)?

Kiwimade, you obviously don't have a self pollinating feijoa ... I found that out the hard way a few years back! My feijoas are still too young to fruit, but my passionfruit is for the first time ... 23 fruit, lol

Off to a wedding this weekend ... yay, it's been a while!

Time to deal to the now cooled dried fruit.

Enjoy the day.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I take off early laterals, replant those, and remove some of the larger lower down leaves at the plant matures, but I let it go height wise. The lower fruit are usually the biggest, but the taller they go the more fruit I get. They do need support though.

[popeye333]

Good morning all - cooler and a threat of a shower but will believe it when I see it
Hunni my old boy had been waiting for 3 years for knee surgery - two weeks after he passed he received a letter giving him a surgery date - he would have had a chuckle
My gout is still preventing me getting this damned blanket finished - just not enjoying it at all
My neighbours are two young South Africa chefs - lost their restaurant jobs at the beginning of covid and are now pruning trees - they cook themselves a BBQ breakfast every morning at 6am before heading off for the day - waking up every day to the smell of bacon just ainÔÇÖt fair when it is one of the worst things for gout

Jan ask your Dr for Allopurinol.. its really helps prevent gout... My Dr at the time apologised for not giving it to me sooner.
I get it in my ankles. I can lay blame to my Mothers side of the family and too much lettuce or citrus. Mum couldn't eat too many tomatoes either or it set hers off. 
but now I seldom get it

[kiwimade64]

morning ladies   Wow, we had some rain last evening and night.  It was all gratefully received by the lawn and garden.

We (using the Royal 'we' here lol) do the same as you oh_hunnihunni to the tomatoes.  The cherry tomatoes that grow realllly tall grow over a  arch type frame MrK built and dangle down like grapes on a vine.  They ripen quicker this way as the sun hits them all day.  Courgette and apple cucumber are finally planted.  A bit late but we'll still get fruit from them.  We're also eating our beans

Yesterday I dug over the bit of new garden, it was full of stones and metal they use for roads.  I had forgotten how bad this end of the garden used to be for that.  Over the years as I've weeded I've picked them out of the garden.  I suspect this part of the garden used to be a metal driveway before it was concreted by the original owners.  The next owner broke the concrete up to change the entrance and left us with the concrete. 

I also cut out the feijoa tree the previous owner planted.  I think you were right, Jan, it wasn't the self pollinating one.  So I have a lovely space towards the back of the garden and I'm going to move a very tall rose there.  When I planted the rose, I had no idea what it was as it was just a half dead stick from the neighbour's garden.  This new piece of garden means a good shuffle round of plants   Buff Beauty, the rose I moved a couple of weeks ago is thriving in her new spot.  

Housework for me today then back to the sewing machine.  I didn't get to sew as much as I wanted yesterday so I'll have another go today.  I have more patterns to post too and I have a pile of things for the op shop when it opens again.

Happy crafting

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Pleased to hear someone else is a bit late with cukes! I had germination issues with three attempts at seedlings, but this last lot have struck, along with some unusual sunflower hybrids I hope to have bloom this aurumn.

We'll see...

[popeye333]

Morning everyone

No rain here yet but its very grey.. Yay, there's a nice breeze and its only 19 degrees.. So Im a happy Lassie I slept heaps better last night too. Actually woke up with the sheet pulled up lol

I hurt my wrist yesterday pushing the shopping trolley back into the rank, it stopped before I did and really jarred everything. So I have it strapped.. Bloody annoying. Just when its cool enough to do things and the hand is out of action.

I have a friend who has just started doing diamond painting and she wants to see some I've done. So I can manage to take photos Im sure lol.

My 3rd geranium rescue still hasn't flowered, yet its the healthiest plant of the three. Crazy.. Talk about dragging out the surprise cos I have no idea what colour its going to be. The single gladioli that I picked the other dau is almost fully open today.. I love white flowers.

Have a fab day everyone

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I have white geraniums in blue and white pots on my outdoor stairs. They always respond well to a few waterings with liquid ferilisers. I think they must pull a lot out of the potting mix surviving the wind and the sun, but they do look wonderful.

[Mica]

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Afternoon all,

Early start this morning tired for a walk in 3rd booster along with many others, have an appt for tomorrow.

Quick look around shops in the Mall and home for morning tea and DGS and his mum and dad turned up. DD had invited us for lunch so just back from that. DH ended up out in her garden. Thought of you Kiwimade he was hacking some aggies told him about you stubborn  brutes

So relaxing from my "busy" day might get some sewing done later.

Everyone's gardens sound productive.

Hope your paw feels better tomorrow Popeye

Have a good day

[Oh_hunnihunni]

Hacking aggies? Send him round I have a green goddess lily that needs to go...