SOUNDS OF SUMMER

Last weekend I was sitting outside after the sun went down and I heard, for the first time at this house, crickets. The sound of crickets at night is purely the sound of summer to me. I am not sure why we have crickets in the neighborhood now, but I am happy to hear their chirping. It makes me want to take a walk around the area at night to see if I can discover where they are. Now if we could only find some croaking frogs.

Its time to prune back the grapevines again. The grapes are looking good so far this year. Our spring was not as wet and cold as last year when we had so much fungus hardly any grapes survived. Now, as I go out trying to cut back canes that aren’t producing to improve the air flow, I am seeing big healthy bunches of grapes. There are still some fungal issues, but mild. The weather in general has been mild. The fog we do have mostly burns off by midday. There have been gentle breezes and cool evenings, perfect for growing grapes. I am looking forward to making wine with this crop.

Last weekend I went blueberry picking at a nearby farm. I love going early before the crowds come. It is so peaceful out there walking amongst the berry plants. Last year the storms severely damaged the blueberries so most of them had to be replanted. This meant very low bushes to pick from. Still while I was squatting down to pick the berries, I saw a little bunny where the blackberry plants were growing. I might have missed the bunny if I hadn’t been down on its level. I took my bounty of blueberries home and started a big pot of blueberry jam with some lemon and cardamon added for flavor. I’ll go back in July to pick raspberries and blackberries. I grow both but not in enough quantity to make jams or pies. The raspberries go especially well with the figs. I have a big crop of figs coming in right now. People often ask me if I follow a recipe. I do not. I don’t like too sweet jams or jams with pectin added. You can add a little apple if you like firmer jam. Some jams need extra lemon juice to protect them from spoiling. I usually add extra lemon juice to the fig jam, stirring in a Tablespoon after putting the fig jam in jars. You can find more information on the Ball website for canning but the two things I do are sterilize the jars by bringing the water to a soft boil for 10 minutes or so and also sterilizing the ladle, the funnel and anything else that will come in direct contact. I add the lids right at the end and let them sit in the water while I ladle the jam into the jars. Add the hot lids and rings to seal and put them back in the pot, making sure to have at least an 1inch of water over the tops of the jars. I then low boil them for 15 minutes. I use far less sugar though. For instance, for eight cups of blueberries, I used three cups of sugar. I would like to use less but it would be hard to get low pectin jams to set without the sugar.

Tonight is the Summer Solstice. Midsummer is June 23rd. I love being in Europe for Midsummer. They really celebrate it there and the sun is out so much later there than here. Solstice arrives at almost 8 pm here in California. I plan on sitting outside to salute the sun and watch it go down. I love having it still be light at 8 pm. i will sit outside with my cats and listen to the chirping of the crickets. HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE.