25° this morning.  Up at 3:30 AM.  Made the first pot of coffee and started my day at the computer as always.  This is my favorite time of day.

Yesterday was one of those days I actually got done what I planned to do.  Milk, cut wood for kindling and make up the apple jelly.

Milking went well;  she  seemed a bit antsy but gave her normal amount.

Next we cut up a stack of limbs that DH had been accumulating for kindling.  It took about an hour to get our tools together and do the actual work.  Of course, we had a cat watching our every move.

One pile:

and a second pile.  This is all under the overhang of the barn roof so can just stay in place until we need it.



Late in the afternoon, I made the jelly and am happy to report it jelled well.  I made this the regular way using Sure Jell.  It called for 7 cups of juice so I opened a quart of canned juice from last fall and added to my fresh juice.  It may have been the largest batch of jelly I have ever made...used 9 cups of sugar.
I always keep my pantry stocked with lots of sugar just for  this kind of thing.
 
 


I also squeezed in finishing my 'loaned' Kindle PC book my sis sent.  If like historical fiction, this one won't disappoint!  It is Just Deceits by Michael Schein and is based on a true event.

Storing Vanilla Beans - Apple Jelly and butter

It is much warmer here this morning, 54° compared to 43° yesterday.  The high is supposed to be around 70°.

Yesterday turned out to be a very long day.

First I researched and found that the vanilla beans store the longest in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place.

I realized that the came in a vacuum sealed bag so I did the same thing.  I used the Food Saver and froze 12 beans to a pack.  I bought so many because of the price break and the fact that I had points on my Amazon credit card that paid for the entire order.  I didn't even know I was accumulating points....what fun!

The question now is what on earth was I thinking........way too many beans.

After cooking the cores and peelings until they were soft, I drained all the juice from them using my hands to gently press in the colander.  I ended up with 7 cups of juice, exactly what the jelly recipe calls for.
I did use some old pectin just because I had it, but I don't think I would have needed it.  It sure speeds up the process though.

I pressed the remaining mass through my food mill and got 48 oz. of nice sauce or pulp.  I used an equal amount of sugar and added some cinnamon and cloves and began cooking it down in the much used maslin pan.  I probably reduced it by half. 

I decided to make the jelly  even though it was getting pretty late in the day. 

Here is what I ended up with from the 'waste' of the peels apples:

Right in the middle of the jelly-making, our new neighbor stopped by to see if a stray cat that had wandered to their place and stayed was one of ours.We invited her in and she followed me into the kitchen.  I wish you could have seen the mess!  If you have ever canned or make jelly, you know what I mean.  

She sat down and stayed for two hours....she's a talker and so am I and sometimes DH, so we enjoyed it.

I didn't even care about me mess but it was distracting trying to finish the jelly! I ened up with not sealing a few jars and will store it in the extra fridge.

It was 8 PM when she left.  Her husband actually drove up looking for her!  She is maybe a little younger than our daughter and has the charm of the South.  I didn't notice an accent though.  Maybe not far enough south.

They are from Raleigh, NC. but she grew up in Maryland.

I did a cursory cleanup and quit for the day.