Apricots

This week is Apricot week.  Trees are just now beginning to ripen which is a week or two late for Lillooet.  Yesterday I began drying apricots on a 4'x8' frame I built.  Today was apricot jam day (I may make more tomorrow as there is a huge abundance of fruit this year on neighbors' trees).  I thought I'd share this recipe with you... worked out pretty good and yields 16 x 250ml jars (8 x 500ml jars: just in-case your math skills are poor).  You may cut this recipe in half, but I like to make large batches when fruit is available... and it's not available for long!  Between to quickness of the apricot season and marauding black bears, you need to get on this sort of thing as quick as possible.

6 lbs Tree Ripened Apricots

13 cup Sugar

1 cup Lemon Juice

4 Tbsp Grated Ginger

2 doz. Lavender Flower Heads (bundled in cheese cloth)

Pit and quarter the apricots - place in a heavy pot (large).  Add Lemon juice, sugar and ginger.  Place on medium low heat and stir regularly to ensure the sugar does not burn.  Just before boiling (when foam starts to form) add the lavender flower bundle.  When a boil is reached, reduce heat to simmer.  I usually simmer for 5 min. - others like to do the "jell test" on a cold plate (I can't be bothered but then again some of my jams don't set all that well).  While still hot, ladle jam into hot sterilized jars.  Process in a water bath for 10 min.  Should keep for at least a year.

I hope you enjoy this recipe... another one of my pass times while in recovery mode.  This recipe is the first I've made using my outdoor propane burner (turkey deep-fryer... I'll probably never use it for that though).  It worked pretty slick... a lot faster than the stove top burner and kept the house cooler.  A bit of a pain running around between the stove top (where the jam was made) and the front yard where I was processing.  I'm sure I'll figure out something more convenient as time goes by.

What to do when recovering from open-heart surgery.

First, I have to say that my recovery progress is exceeding even my most optimistic expectations.  I must be within the top 95% of patients - to be 9 weeks into the recovery process and feeling like nothing ever happened!  You may wonder what it is that I have been able to do these last three weeks of my recovery.  The answer is surprisingly - quite a lot!

Picking Fruit.
This has been a good way to pass my time.  Picking fruit gets me out on walks.  It also gives me the opportunity to carry a little weight around and stretch my arms while picking fruit overhead.  So far I have been picking cherries, saskatoon berries, strawberries and the odd raspberry.  Apricots will be ripe this coming week, and like cherries and saskatoons there is a bumper crop on the neighbors' trees.

Preserving.
So far I have canned fruit and preserves, including: Cherry Strawberry Jam, Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Cherry Lime Jam and plain old pitted cherries in a light syrup.  I have vacuum packed 5 lbs of cherries and 17.5lbs of saskatoons for the freezer.

Wine Making.
Currently there is 23 L of Strawberry/Cherry Wine brewing in the secondary fermentation stage.  Once I rack this batch into a second carboy (in five weeks) I will start on my Saskatoon Berry Wine (from the 17.5 lbs of fruit I picked- now in the freezer).

Gardening.
The garden is definitely behind this year.  It was planted the week after I got out of the hospital which in the case of the leafy greens and beets was a month behind schedule.  Not a big deal since everyone's garden in Lillooet is behind.  This has been a wet and cool summer (nearly 15'C below normal) and usually I would have picked the first ripe tomato by now.  Still we have been able to enjoy plenty of Arugula, Mixed Lettuce, Basil, Swiss Chard, fingerling Beets and one cucumber.  Radishes were a complete bust this year, riddled with maggots due to the late planting.

Besides all of this domestic work, I have been out hiking a bit and helped Tracey build an 7'x8' platform outside the shed (I held boards while she cut).  We were to go camping last weekend but the weather wasn't so nice.  I took my first bike ride today!  This weekend is the Lillooet Apricot Festival, and I will help Tracey build a pergola over the hot tub.  Possibly, we will get out on the canoe this week, and maybe... just maybe get out for a longer hike into the Alpine on the long weekend - maybe in Jasper?