Neglect

Oh hi...remember me? Yeah I know, I am hanging my head in shame because I have neglected this blog for *cough* 2 weeks *cough*.

I am really sorry but I have been oh so busy the last 2 weeks and have neglected just about everything. Yup everything. I haven't worked out, I haven't cooked, I have hardly cleaned, I haven't done much of anything. I have even neglected pinterest until tonight which is actually the reason for this blog post. I got on the website was re-inspired. Pinterest has its ways of doing that...

Why have I been so busy that I couldn't do anything else you ask?

We decided to start a business.

Yup we are in the process of starting up what will someday be an outfitting business...at least that is the dream.

We purchased six stand-up paddleboards and a trailer and are going to start renting them out soon! If you have never tried paddleboarding, you should. It is fun and easy to do and a great workout.

Alright, enough of the business promotion...but seriously, if you or anyone you know wants to rent paddleboards let me know...

Ok so that my friends is why I have been too busy to blog. Starting a business is very time consuming.

I promise to blog more.

Strawberry Jam

My mom makes the best strawberry jam. Every time we go to visit her Nick and I eat about a gallon of it. It just makes everything taste better. Each time we leave to come back home I try to think of a way to smuggle it in my suitcase, but it never seems to be that practical. Never once has the thought occurred to me to make it myself. You see, jam is one of those things that I have always thought you had to be a super-mom to make. Or at least be over 50...

Today, I made jam.

Seriously, it was not that hard. It contains 3 ingredients (sugar, strawberries, and pectin), cost about $15 (strawberries were on sale for $1.40/lb), and took all of 30 minutes. I now have 7 containers of jam to put in my freezer. Amazing.

Aparantly being a super-mom isn't that hard.

Next step is homemade bread to eat with the jam...or maybe not.

Below is the recipe if you want to make it yourself! (The recipe also comes in the box of pectin)


Strawberry Freezer Jam
yield-6 cups

Ingredients

4 cups crushed strawberries

3 cups sugar

1 cup water

1 box Fruit Pectin (I used Sure-Jell brand)

1. Crush strawberries using a food processor (don't puree-it should be chunky)

2. Measure out sugar into saucepan

3. Stir box of pectin into sugar until thoroughly mixed

4. Stir in 1 cup water. Bring mixture to a boil stirring constantly. Boil and stir for 1 minute.

5. Stir crushed strawberries into mixture and stir for 1 minute

6. Pour into containers leaving 1/2 inch space at top to allow for expansion during freezing

7. Set out at room temperature for 24 hours until set. Refridgerate up to 3 weeks or freeze up to 1 year.

Chickens

Nick's dream in life is to live off the grid. He wants to be completely self sufficient. I'm talking living in the middle of no-where on a giant farm raising chickens, cows, goats, horses, you name it. Living off the land. Unfortunately for him, I do not share this same dream. Don't get me wrong, I would love to live on a large property with a small garden (as long as someone else takes care of it). I also wouldn't mind raising our own beef (have you ever seen food inc?) But there is a reason I wasn't born in the 1800's. I want to live near a large chain grocery store and I don't want to smell like cow poo.

About a month ago Nick told me he wanted to buy a chicken. I laughed in his face and told him we were not buying chickens. A few days later he came home with 3 baby chicks. (Aparantly I don't have as much control as I thought.) I will admit, the chicks were very cute. They lived in a bucket in our house for a few weeks until they could live outside.

Nick built a huge chicken coop (I call it the chicken palace) in the backyard and they now live out there. He then decided that since the baby chickens wouldn't be laying eggs until the end of summer we had to buy grown chickens that were already laying eggs. (airtight logic right?) Long story short, we now have 9 chickens living in the backyard. We got our first egg today.

I think we are going to cook up the egg and see how it tastes. I can't explain it, but I have a slight aversion to fresh chicken eggs. Nick laughed at me when I told him this and said they are so much better than the ones from the store. While I'm sure this is true, I just can't get myself to eat the egg that literally just came out of the chicken's butt. I'll get over it in time. I just need a minute. I guess that is one thing I can check off of the grocery list...self sufficiency here we come!