Strawberry Lavender Honey Jam

My favorite jam to make because it's Kris' favorite and I love using Lavender in cooking, and not just the flavor, I like to throw the flowers right in. If you don't want flowers in yours put them into a tea bag or strainer and just steep it in the jam for about 10 minutes.

So it sounds difficult but it's super easy to make....I try to make new recipes by the book then next time I can break the rules. 

I've been using this Pomona's pectin because you can make twice the amount of jam with 1/2 the sugar and it turns out great! I use the "cooked jam recipes" from the pectin and then slightly vary it depending on what I want or what ingredients I have

So I cut the strawberries quite small and pour the 1/4 cup of lemon juice on to help soften the strawberries before I mash them b/c even ripe strawberries are not easy to mash.

Next start cooking, throw in about 3 tablespoons of fresh or dried Lavender (to taste)

Add sugar or honey...I only had 1 cup of honey left so I made up the rest with sugar or (also to taste)

Then boil for a one minute and put into whatever jars you have just make sure your jars are sterilized.

I just happened to have some cute jars I ordered for my medicinal honey recipes :)

see the nice little flecks of lavender?

And there you go! 

Cute, organic and homemade, great for gifts and you can get cases of fruit right now for cheap!

It took me an hour to make in total and I got 6-8oz jars and 4-3.75oz jars and everything cost me $11.00

I was motivated to make my own again when I recently paid $7 at the farmers market for an 8oz jar of jam....and when I asked if there was a discount for buying multiples the answer was a quick "no"

And sometimes Kris and I make it together, which is super fun and super sticky!

Why Grow Your Own Food?

Sometimes I look at my meagre harvest and wonder why am I putting so much effort when I end up shopping at the market anyways? and when you factor in costs of soil and labour it's so much cheaper...

I certainly don't always feel like I'm making that large of an impact on global warming or feeding my family....especially now that I'm reduced to container gardening.

But there's something more that goes into growing your own food, tending to it, watering it, getting to know each plant....and actually being a part of the growing process that gives me a connection to food in a way I had forgotten.

Growing up on a farm and raising animals gave me a love of nature and also a great respect for where my food came from, my dad hunted, my mom cooked from scratch and all the kids had many chores taking care of the animals.
We moved to town when I was 8 and it wasn't long until I lost that connection especially with food.
I remember going into my neighbors yard and picking the apples and being chased off and threatened if I ever came back. I watched for the rest of the summer as the apples fell to the ground and rotted never being eaten.
From that time on we moved around so much I never really had a chance to be connected to any one place and inevitably became a city kid living on hotdogs and KD

It wasn't until I had grown up and gotten my own place that I really got back into gardening and literally got back in touch with my roots!

Yes we all have read the studies that show how working with the earth and getting into nature brings down our stress levels, and never mind all the health benefits of eating fresh grown local food, and further still all the earthly beneficials of growing plants in general for the bee's ect......

BUT there is something else that comes from connecting to plants, to animals to unci maka, our great Grandmother Earth, that is as indescribable as holding a newborn baby or being in love; a sacred connection that once made will always remain.
So yes it is not only worth the effort but vital for me now to have this connection, this relationship with something greater than myself and greater than just digging in the garden.

Chief Seattle said it best when he said "What we do to the earth we do to ourselves"