Farmers market

I was so excited today as i walked the aisles in  Lowe's picking out seed packets for the children. A few days ago the Harnett County Cooperative extension filled out a nice letter requesting seeds and Lowe's gave us twenty five dollars worth of seeds. While we are attending the Farmers Market day we are encouraging our youth to pick out their favorite seed and plant a plant in a dixie cup. Sometimes as i'm teaching canning classes or speaking to youth groups it always comes up that vegetables are made at the grocery store. Maybe this will give them the opportunity to see things in a different view. So this is a thank you to Lowe's and our local Cooperative extension for helping with our youth groups. Remember..What "Can" you do..

Canning classes and Farmers Market

So many wonderful things are coming together and what a great way to promote our community by sharing and teaching others. I have been fortunate enough to work with Cooperative extension and help with the plans for canning classes. We are also planning a little Farmers Market day in April and asking for folks to sign up for canning classes and be a vendor that day. Megan who is the Cooperative extension agent has been working so hard on putting together info and dates to help others in our community. At our Farmers Market day we are planning on having a few lessons for the children in way of games and fun things for them to do. A few of the vendors are sharing their time by hosting a half hour lesson in either a planting skill or a craft skill. Myself, I'm hosting a cornhole tournament for the kids to get a chance to win a ' Green Buck", exchangeable for a packet of seeds or a chance to win a Farmers hat.
  The Farmers Day event is going to be located in Downtown Erwin at the newly renovated Indigo room as well as along the sidewalks outside to promote a Farmers Market atmosphere.
  As the event progresses i will post more updates and sponsors that are helping with the networking opportunities that are also becoming available.
  I'm a strong believer in Made in the USA and i so want to share the wonderful items that we have right here in our community and that outside as well, please remember our youth, share traditions, teach, help others and always remember...What " Can" you do..

Orange pineapple raspberrie spread

What a wonderful day it was spent in the kitchen, making a simple recipe in preparation for our canning class. One of the easier recipes calls for the use of concentrate and i decided to jazz it up a little by adding a few raspberries. Well, it turned out wonderful and the flavor is marvelous. I usually never like to make a spread or jelly as they are so bland to me. But, never say never...
  Had a wonderful time today with my friend Megan,CoOperative extension agent.  She is so excited about the series of canning classes we are preparing for. The dates will enable the lucky participants to take their wonderful canned items to enter the Agriculture Fair. There will be a series of three classes and loads of information as well as hands on experience.
  Really looking forward to sharing and best of all involving others that have a passion for canning and preserving foods.
  Well gotta run, remember our youth and until next time..Remember..What " Can " you do..
 

Zesty Orange Marmalade

What a wonderful day we had at the County Cooperative extension office. A few months back when i had the pleasure of taking the ServSafe course with the Cooperative extension office i also met the instructor Megan Ray. Well, let me tell ya she is a wonderful instructor and a joy to work with. The CoOperative extension office offers lots of wonderful classes and ties in the Farmers, Consumers and Agriculture folks to enrich our community.
  I love to can and so Megan and i set up a date to get together and cook and can. Megan is preparing to offer a series of classes on canning and the proper usage of either a hot water bath or pressure canner for proper application.
  Well, I took all my tools and we worked on a great batch of Orange Marmalade. My good friend Susie Davis came over and helped with the cutting and constant stirring of the pot. We first started with peeling, dicing the peel and cooking to make a wonderful Zest. Megan filled the jars with a little water and put them in the oven to sterilize them, she also put all of the rings and lids in boiling water to sterilize them as well. We all cut oranges while the Zest was cooking and talked about future plans for our county and built one great wish list.
  The Zest was drained and the water saved, we call it the reserve water, to put back into the Marmalade as it was cooking since it is full of natural Pectin. Well we ended up with about 16 cups of beautiful cut up oranges in the large cooking pot. We then added the Zest, reserve liquid plus a little more to make up about 10 cups of total liquid. I personally like to add a little French Vanilla to make the Marmalade taste a little Dreamy, also i like to put in a few maraschino cherries to add more color. The jars remain in the oven while the cooking process is being completed and just prior to filling removed from the oven. The Marmalade takes about thirty minutes of a rolling boil to cook and when this is at the last stages you have to skim off some of the foam.
  While the Marmalade is cooking i like to set a little bit of marmalade on a plate and place in the freezer to check the set of the gel. Alright i'll admit i also like to taste it along the way and eat any of the leftover oranges.
  As everything was cooking and the sweet aroma filled the air we also got the bonus of all of the ladies that work in the building to stop by. I love this part of cooking, the conversation and aroma leads to great ideas and future plans.

  Well it was ready, we started to fill the jars and uh oh...ran out of jars..Well Megan made a mad dash to the store and saved the day. We ended up with 28 jars of beautiful Orange Marmalade and future plans to meet next week to put together a four week course on canning. So i will leave for now on this note..Remember..What " Can" you do..