Finding Me

One thing that I had in Alaska was a sense knowledge in everything there was to know about what needed knowing. If I didn't know how to do it, Google was right there to help me figure it out. High speed internet and Youtube videos have been utilized to their fullest extent at our house. You name it, I could do it. Were you looking for someone to do a great repair on your home? I knew the guy. Looking for the you-pick farm and the best deals on produce? I knew where to send you. Looking for that lady who sells hay and straw for half the price of the feed store? I have her number too. Need amazing garlic that grows in Alaska? I have that for you in my gardening lair and I can even teach you how to grow it. There's a lot of pride and joy that come from being a know-it-all and I was that person, full of pride, full of joy and full of know.

That woman is gone.

I mentioned about the woe-is-me-ness in the last post that I wrote. I lost my shoes, I lost my blanket, my home is gone and now me...Me is gone. I miss Me.

I realized something just this week. I need my own home. My own domain where I don't have to be beholden to a property manager to repair the heating ducts or the back door that doesn't close. I need my closet to be just so, so that I actually know where my clothes go because otherwise they get draped on the broken rocking chair in our bedroom. My JOB is being a wife, mother, baker, cook and I have failed miserably in the last 5 months. I have been trying to stay strong in this lovely, cold, bug filled home that God has provided. I know that our 9 person family needed temporary shelter and this home is big enough. But I can't be Me here and Me needs to come back...my family needs Me.

We may be buying a home here in about a month. It's no sure thing, we have been through this once already since we moved here. But I'm hopeful and looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. Having a good oven that doesn't overcook, cooking more meals and possibly doing some canning.

I thank God for this house we are in. I got to mope around here for 5 months, gain a bunch of weight while I sat around eating Doritos and Costco pumpkin muffins feeling sad about missing Me. I want to go home and by that I don't mean Alaska, I mean to a home where my family lives and is content. Where my husband can fix things with out getting permission from the land-lord and he can feel manly and useful and we can be joyful. Where I can re-learn how to garden in a much warmer climate, find a peach farmer, grow a different kind of garlic, buy goat milk from the cool nuns down the road, tell everyone about Gary-the-amazing-plumber and get my head back into the knowledge game.

Me is coming home soon. I can't wait to see her again.

Just lounging on the cool porch.

One Good Friend

Often times lately I feel sorry for myself. "Woe is me," I say.

Today I was feeling especially woeful. My sister and her husband made the yearly late fall trek to Girdwood, Alaska. My husband and I have been going with them for the last three years and we have such a grand time...no kids, just adult time with two of the best people in the world. We were invited to go with them again, but getting tickets back to Alaska at the last minute and juggling what to do with our children proved too much at this time. They left for Girdwood last night and today she sent me a beautiful photo of the two of them at the top of the mountain surrounded by snow and bright blue sky and they looked so lovely. I love and miss them so much. I cried. Woe is me.

We all do that sometimes...right? We take turns feeling sorry for ourselves. A little indulgence into the passion of self pity. We allow it from time to time, some allow it to take a firm hold for a long time, sometimes a lifetime... some can combat it entirely. I fall to this temptation too often. Woe is me.

I was making a list in my head of all of the things that I have lost (misplaced?) during the move...not people that I have lost. Things. My tennis shoes, my shirt that I really like, an old comforter that my son likes, my fall boots, my garden clogs. Wracking my brain, I don't know where they went. Woe is me.

Then a car pulls into my driveway. Up walks my new friend that I met after moving here. She is a good soul, kind, loving, non-judgmental, giving. She has lost so much. Not just things but also many people. She has endured much suffering, she still goes through such suffering. My problems are nothing compared to hers. When I saw her I knew that she would see my pain and ask if I was ok. She would care enough to ask and I would probably cry when she did.

I tried to stay strong, to put on a good face. I failed. She asked. I cried. She hugged me. I felt so silly but she comforted me and told me how hard it must be to be in my shoes. She cared, really cared, and loved me.

Thank you, God, for this friend. How many people have a friend such as this? Someone who has suffered beyond anything I could ever imagine. Thank you for my tiny cross that I bear and for helping me to see how small it is. Thank you for loving me so much that you sent this woman that I did not know three months ago into my life exactly when I needed her and when she needed me. What a loving Father you are, how much you love us is unmeasurable and overwhelming.

Ahhh, what lovely people. Miss you guys.

Life Changer

I am 38 years old and never lived anywhere but Alaska.

We moved to Washington state 3 weeks ago. What the heck?

We sold. A lot. Including our animals. I finally got everything just right in the yard, fencing, apple trees, berry bushes...then poof, we leave.

Everyone asks me how I feel about this, am I sad am I excited? I don't get depressed or excited easily. I am at peace about it and trying to wrap my mind around it. I know myself well enough to know that I will be fine here. I will adjust. God wanted us here for His own reasons, we aren't sure of all of them but think we may have some ideas of why. It has been a hard journey that we started in February, really considering it. Many things have gone wrong but more things have gone right to make it possible to move.

We moved mainly because there is a new parish starting in the small town of Goldendale, WA. My husband is a deacon and our parish in Alaska had grown to a nice size where we weren't needed like we used to be. (Wanted sure, but not needed.) Leaving our parish was extremely difficult and more-so considering the history our parish had with people, especially clergy, moving away, we know the abandoned feeling all too well. This time it was us that was doing the abandoning. That was really terrible.

There isn't clergy here in this town to get a new parish up and running, and when presented with this as an option for us vs staying in Alaska it just felt so right for us both. Once the decision was made, the kids were told, our families were told, tears were shed...the work of moving began.

Moving=horrible.

If you have moved you know. If you have tried selling your house you know. If you haven't, read up on it on the internet and learn what you can, then hang on for a bumpy ride. If you have any money in savings, it will go bye bye. If you have a credit card, it will get maxed. If you're moving because God wants you to, be prepared for a lot to go wrong. Get into the back of God's car and just sit back and watch the drama out the window. He's in control, let it go.

My husband can keep his job and work at home like he has for the last 14 years. My business didn't sell, so I'm attempting to run it from here. My sister was looking for a work-at-home job and as she's the best worker I've ever known, I was happy she was willing to work for me. 

Our house is still not sold. I don't know if it will. It was supposed to close June 2nd and they buyer's house still hasn't closed and we aren't sure ours will go smoothly now either after theirs sells... I'm thankful that we got plane tickets out of Alaska because I'm sure our car would have broken down had we tried driving. Either that or the nine of us would have killed each other on the way down. A 3 1/2 hour plane ride was definitely worth it.

When we got here most of the active parish was very sick, one boy had mono, another two families had whooping cough. Another has a simple surgery then gets sepsis and almost dies. What?

God did provide us with a beautiful rental house here. It's one of the old Victorian houses in the town and rent is very reasonable. Someone put in a very pretty yard and nice fences all the way around. There is even a koi pond with fish. I have always wanted a Victorian house and this way I get to have my cake and eat it too. I get to live in it but not be responsible for the major work that goes into owing one.

I don't have time to mess with a lot of pictures tonight but I've been posting some on Instagram: https://instagram.com/akmamaof7/
 

Early Summer

Well, it may be another scorcher this year. The unusual thing is that May in 2013 we had snow and that darn snow did a lot of damage to trees...not good!

This whole winter has been ultra mild, hardly any snow, and a very early spring. We even had thaw and perennials start growing back in January. Crazy!!! So spring is basically over now and summer is coming along nicely. The birch tree allergies that I normally have in June have almost gone away now and June is still more than a week away. I'm thrilled.

I just wanted to post a few pics. I know I have not written much. I still have been very tired during this pregnancy. 2 more months to go!

Today my front porch got a makeover.

Teenager eye selfie. She hates that word. Selfie. She's almost 16 *gasp*!!!

Springtime tulips I got me for mothers day.

Sweet Sus enjoying the drive out to the goat farm. That day the new babies were getting de-horned.

Mama swallow guarding her nest at 11pm the other night.

Papa and son fixing our door at 11pm the other night. Love that man.

Pictures and fall

Last Tuesday my daughter discovered a kitten with our cat, surprised at a kitten she didn't think one kitten was enough, she found two other "dead" ones and revived them. (long funny story, perhaps I'll talk about that when I have time and energy)

Sunday we drove down to Girdwood (hippie ski town 45 min from Anchorage) for our Anniversary "weekend" with my sister and her husband, we did this 2 years ago with them and it was great. It was a beautiful rainy day, I adore that drive along that coast. The tide was going out and the mud flats looked especially stunning.

One of the mountains on the way there, you could see the separation so nicely of fall and winter. I love this time of year.

Monday we woke up to snow outside of our shared Chalet.

Monday was a hard day of watching HGTV, eating an amazing lunch where we had real drunkards present (entertaining especially on a Monday at 2pm) and napping, oh, then the hot tub and sauna rounded out the day.

Tuesday we ate breakfast at "The Bake Shop" at the foot of Mt. Alyeska, it was clear and gorgeous. Time to head home.

When I worked for a living, I hated the commute to Anchorage, but now, I adore this amazing drive home. Here's the Matanuska River.

I took this picture of the Butte for Hillary. The Butte has always made me think of my sweetest cousin and now that she's moved I have dedicated the Butte to her. (it's the tiny hill out in the field in front of the cloud line) We finally got to climb it this summer and it was so fun.

This is the Experimental Farm we pass when coming home, I love the Midwestern feel of the homes in Palmer and on this farm. Reminds me of being in the L48 but happy to be home in Alaska as you can clearly see from the mountains and Knik Glacier on the right tucked back there. (above the shed in the filed, that white patch is the glacier)

Yesterday I was running errands and had to take my sister's birthday gift to her. The 3 mile drive to her house is out of this world this week. The undergrowth in the woods are so full of vibrant color, I had to take some pictures.

Sample of the leaves back there.

Had to snap a pic of my yard. Looking quite clean shaven and well dressed. The new fence is so handsome and the yard is inviting. (garden is also all brought in and put away, the chickens are loving the remains!) What a nice fuzzy feeling I have when things get wrapped up each fall.

My sister and me on the beach where we were looking at whales on our way home from Girdwood. Not my favorite picture of me but it's a wonderful one of her. This was on her birthday. I love that woman so much I think my heart might burst.

Glamping, being tourists and having some fun.

Last fall my husband visited friends of ours in PA and convinced them to fly up their son for a couple weeks to spend some time here. Joey is 14 this summer and our godson. We had a blast! We played "tourist" and did some mini adventures. I took pics of most things and for some reason didn't take one photo at the Matanuska Glacier where I took the kids one day. Stupid!

Here's a photo of where we were hiking, taken by someone at "Over Yonderlust". We were able to walk out onto the glacier on this section. There aren't many glaciers that you can access and actually walk on. It was a little creepy but very cool. Take a jacket even if it's 80 degrees in the parking lot...

We climbed "the Butte" in Palmer. That's the Knik glacier behind the kids. It was a fantastic hike and so warm.

Hubby agreed to take two days off of work so we could go "camping" and yes that's in quotation marks because "real" Alaskan's don't go in campers and motorhomes. Someone called it glamping but I refuse to use that word... I managed to find a lady with a motorhome with 9 seatbelts in town to rent from. We didn't have room for us all in our van to go anywhere, so this was our one family trip. We headed down to Seward for 2 nights.

Here is a shot in the motor-home.

Little miss "fluffernutter" having some quiet time with the books she brought in her neat and tidy suitcase.

The handsome men-folk and bonus baby.

Very nice camping spot on the end and with the tent spot we got a bona-fied firepit.

We were fortunate enough to have my sister and her hubby decide to join us last minute. They have 4 boys. Despite the fender crusher bender on the way down and the 2-year-old who was potty training and the colicy baby, they had a great time too.

Time for another change of clothes!

We had our fair share of hiccups as well:

The day we got to the campground we turned on the water pump in the motorhome. Unbeknownst to me someone had tried using the sink in the bathroom and left the water faucet on and the sink plugged. My 5-year-old nephew said to me, "your motorhome is leaking" and pointed under the rig. Then Joey stepped into the hallway and his socks were immediately drenched. The whole motorhome was carpeted, including the bathroom, argh. We had to keep drying it out the whole time we were there, fortunately we brought lots of towels!

We also had another big and nasty "incident" but I think I have filled my blogging-about-poop-quota for the year already, so I'll spare you.You should say, "thank you" now. I'm serious.

We stayed at "Stony Creek Campground" and by stony creek, they weren't kidding. Very silty glacier creek with a cell tower was what it was, but the kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves, that's what counts.

The cell reception there was amazing and they even had Wi-Fi...I could have done with out those, we could have even hooked up to cable!!! What? We jokingly took many photos of each other facebooking on our phones around the campfire and uploaded them to facebook where we were fiercely ridiculed as we should have been...

Not right camping.

While in Seward we visited the Alaska Sealife Center.

And my girlfriend showed us all her's and her dad's fishing boat.

On the way home we stopped at the Wildlife Conservation Center. We saw brown and black bears, wood bison, muskox, eagle, porcupine, owl, arctic fox, moose, caribou, white tailed deer, elk and many other cool creatures you find in Alaska. It's a really fantastic park and if you're headed down to the Keani Pinnunsula, I highly recommend it. The prices are affordable and you can drive around there if you don't feel like walking.

Farmer feeding his woodland bison which were thought to be extinct.That is the coolest job.

Hugo the bear, she can even do some tricks.

They have an amazing walk way right up near the black bears. So cool.

After we got home I took the kids up to Independence Mine located in beautiful Hatcher Pass. It was another amazing and warm day and they have added many paths I didn't know were up there. They have a nice little free museum, pictures, and they have been cleaning up the old fallen buildings and restoring some of them.

View of half of the restored and fallen buildings below us.

Behind us is the small train track they used to cart the ore out of the mine.

We stopped at the Little Su River for a photo op of everyone. Sus is simply trying to keep her eyes open, the sun was bright. :-/

We had so much fun with Joey and last night I took him to the airport where I escorted him through security to his gate and I got to get a pat down on the way there...grr. We were so happy that we got to play tourist and be forced to get out and see more of this amazing place. It's so easy to get caught up in the needs of the home, especially for me, and I forget to go out and play.

Fireweed Jelly

If you don't know what fireweed is, you clearly don't live in Alaska. That's ok, you are still a good person.....

Fireweed is a "weed" that grows plentifully here in Alaska. It is known for growing in the Northern Hemisphere in open fields, lots of light and especially where a fire has burned as it has no competition and thrives in that environment. Read more on Wikipedia.

This is a lovely close up shot of what a field of fireweed looks like. Photo credit, thank you.

This is a great pic from USGS from the air. You can see how the firweed will take over an area that was taken out by fire.

I have had to develop my own recipe for my Fireweed Jelly because I use only Pomona's Pectin now. I am a complete convert. I read someplace today in all of my research that the store bought pectins are sugar triggered and Pomona is calcium triggered. What I like best is I have never had a Pomona batch not set up. You can even double batches with no worry. Also...you only need about 1/2-3/4 tsp of pectin per cup of juice or berries when making jam or jelly. So just a little box of pectin will go a long way. If you are anything like me, you will soon be buying a pound or half pound of it to last you years and years. It also comes with the necessary calcium powder. You make a small batch of calcium water and add your water to your juice or fruit mash. The calcium to water ratio is 1/2 tsp of calcium to 1/2 cup of water. This stays good in your fridge all summer...NOT all year. I learned this in 2014 the hard way.

I made 6 different batches of fireweed jelly today, all a little different. I made 3 spiced batches and 3 not spiced batches. Spiced, meaning, I added cinnamon and nutmeg. Two of my kids prefer this most. One of my kids loves it plain best and the rest of us love them both. We have found that the "traditional" recipes with lots of sugar and the store bought pectin doesn't taste nearly as good as the kind we made with about 1/2 the sugar. You can't really taste the flower if you use so much sugar, so just another reason I love the pectin. All of my recipes used about a 1cup juice to 1/2 cup sugar ratio. Some of the lower sugar jams and jellies won't last as long in the fridge, so I used half pint jars this year to avoid mold. I did have some of spoiling with my fireweed/rhubarb jam I made this winter because of the 12 or 16 oz jars and low sugar. I'd like to try a honey recipe next as we have bees making us lots of good honey, but so far, this is what I have.

If you are deprived and don't have any Pomona and want to make jelly RIGHT NOW I no longer have a solution....(sad face) I used to have a recipe link to use Sure Jell but the link is broken, so I lost it....but honestly you won't be disappointed if you try Pomona, it will change your little-jelly-making-life. When I first published this blog in 2013 Pomona was very new and hard to find...so here are some updates over the years: Update 2014: my friend said Fred Meyer in Wasilla is carrying it in their health food section. I also found it on Amazon here. Azure Standard is by far the cheapest if buying in bulk.
Update 2018: Amazon's prices have come way down...on Azure it's still $44 for a whole pound (up from $42 in 2014) where on Amazon it was $80 but now it's $57 for a pound and $36.50 for a half pound...that's a great size if you have a big family, however, if you're not scarfing down jelly like us, DON'T buy a pound! A few one ounce packs will do to start you off.

Gather ye fireweed:

This is a job for kids, if you don't have 6 slaves kids, I'm sorry, I guess you're on your own. (Fortunately you probably don't eat as much jelly as 6 kids who are addicted to PBnJs so you won't need as much.)

One gallon of fireweed blossoms. Or 8 cups (1/2 gallon) of packed blossoms. Rinse, drain, put into a large pot. Fill almost up to the top of blossoms with water. Look out, these blossoms are like Cheerios, they float, so don't put in too much water.

 

Now, put your pot to boil but don't walk away. You don't want this overcooking, your tea/juice can turn bitter if left too long so let it come to a boil, stir it for a sec to be sure your flowers are drained of their color & remove from heat. Strain (I use a paper towel under a sieve). You will have a purple juice. Each batch is a bit different color. Some darker, some lighter, but all very pretty.

Time tip: The last two years I didn't have time to make jelly the day the kids picked the blossoms. So I filled up my 1/2 gallon jars to the very tippy top and put on an un-used jar lid. It sealed with the hot juice and I poped it into the fridge. (Price tip via 2018...Azure is also better priced on their half gallon jars if you're signed up with Azure. I LOVE these things and we use them for everything...grain sprouting, storage, goats milk, etc...one gallon jars are way too big for kids handling precious goat milk.) What I made today was a week old but in a sealed and refrigerated jar. I also made the kids pick again today so I managed to get another 8 cups of juice today to make a total of 14 pints of fireweed juice total.

I can also make large batches of juice in this canner. Before that I used my pressure cooker to water bath jams. I got this last year from Amazon for my husband who loves to make cheese and I wanted a thick bottomed pot. I LOVE it soooooo very much. I actually bought it because I also wanted a large stainless steel pot for making giant vats of chili and I didn't want to use my aluminum presto pressure canner for that. I feel spoiled now that I actually own a water bath canner. It's been 6 years and I use this thing a ton...for canning jelly and also for cooking big batches of food. 

Gather ye ingredients:

In the jelly making grand scheme of things, this one is really simple. You need:

-fireweed tea/juice, my recipes use 4 cup juice measurements so if you need to add a tad of water to make that much, that's probably ok.

-lemon juice

-calcium water (Pomona comes with the calcium powder...it reacts with the calcium to set up)

-sugar

-Pomona Pectin

-cinnamon (opt)

-nutmeg (opt)

-sugar cookies (for sustenance)

Here are all of your needed ingredients sans the spices. I'm using Tattler lids for some of my jars.If you've never tried Tattler Reusable Lids, try out a dozen or two to see if you like them...I love reusable lids it allows me to can more and not be stingy with the lids.

Canning Caveat: 
I'm going to assume you have basic knowledge of canning jelly/jam.
If you don't please do yourself a HUGE favor and buy the "Ball Blue Book" for canning. This is a must for any canner and is not expensive. I also LOVE the new Pomona Pectin Cook Book, "Preserving with Pomona's Pectin" I bought it 2 days after I posted this blog post...this post is my most popular blog post and now I'm an Amazon affiliate, so I can get a percentage of what is purchased through this site! I already had links all over the place, so it's a win win! The Pomana Pectin cook book works for teaching basics of canning jams and jellies too, so you don't have to buy the ball blue book if you aren't planning to can other things. It's a beautiful book and gives lots of ideas for how to can with low or zero sugar.

This is such a great book!

2018: Since we live in Washington now I'm using this book a lot this summer because our friend gifted me a huge box of peaches that they gleaned and also a ton of free frozen cherries. So the book is giving me great low sugar recipes to use. I made maple syrup- peach jam for my mom who brought me maple syrup from Vermont but so far her favorite was the peach-cherry recipe from the book. I love that they even have you use grape or apple juice concentrate instead of sugar in some of them. I even found a big patch of fireweed up in our local mountains! So we still make fireweed jelley every year! I guess I'm not as cool as I originally stated...but Washington is pretty rad and I do love my new home.

I also got this canner back in 2012 from Amazon. I LOVE it soooooo very much. I actually bought it because I wanted a large stainless steel pot for making goat cheese and also for making giant vats of chili and I didn't want to use my aluminum presto pressure canner for that. It's been 6 years and I use this thing a ton...for canning jelly and also for cooking big batches of food.

9:38pm house is WARM! No AC for us Alaskans.

So thankful for my screen door and the nice cross breeze we get.

Fireweed recipe #1 - plain:

(Today this was Batch #5, it set up the best over all, this is being updated the day after the original post was made. The only difference I see is the other plain batches didn't have enough calcium water.)

4 c fireweed juice
1/4 c lemon juice (1T per cup juice)
4 tsp calcium water (about 1tsp per cup juice)
-bring these to a boil in a large pot-

In a separate bowl whisk:
2 1/2 cups sugar
(For the sugar, you can change this as you please, with Pomona you can use honey also they give you a conversion chart with the pectin so you know how to convert sugar to honey or maple syrup!)
3 tsp Pomona Pectin

When juice is boiling add the sugar and pectin mix, stir vigorously while everything dissolves. 
Return to a rolling boil. Remove from heat (Don't over boil at this point, this pectin won't work if over boiled.)

Ladle into hot jars. Water bath 10 minutes.

Here's a good picture of the plain jelly and the color you get. The spiced will be more brown in color.

Fireweed recipe #2 - spiced:

4 c fireweed juice
1/4 c lemon juice
4 tsp calcium water (this batch also had the correct ratio on calcium and set nicely)
-bring these to a boil in a large pot-

In a separate bowl whisk:
2 cups sugar (this is 1/2 cup less than batch #1)
3 tsp Pomona Pectin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon (cinnamon is good for you, did you know that?!, this is an easy way to get it into your diet)

When juice is boiling add the sugar, pectin, and spice mix, stir vigorously while everything dissolves. 
Return to a boil. Remove from heat.

Ladle into hot jars. Water bath 10 minutes.

16 pints of jelly from 14 pints of juice/tea. 6 batches later.

Enjoy the fruits of your labor, you deserve it.

Oh, yeah, and today we also canned 14 half pints of smoked Alaskan red salmon. Fortunately, hubby did all that prep work and I just manned the canner. Yum.

Sat. 7/12/2014: Note taking on here for my own record...easier to find this than a recipe. We ran out of the fireweed jelly about a month ago. Two of my kids will eat no other kinds unless we are completely out of fireweed jelly, then they'd prefer not to eat PBnJs. I decided to make much more. Tonight, I told the 4 younger kids they could have ice cream if they each brought me a gallon of flowers. I ended up with 2 nice full gallons semi-packed and to each gallon I added about 3 quarts of water and cooked them in separate pots. It's late so I can't make jelly tonight, but I now have 3 one half gallon jars filled to the brim with the beautiful purple juice. I'll put those in the fridge after they are cool in the morning. One child still owes me a bucket of blooms, so hopefully I can get another 8 cups of juice made tomorrow. Our neighbor expressed interest in buying some jelly when she saw my kids picking on the road. I may end up selling some since I'll have extra. We shall see.
Sun. 7/13/2014: Got another gallon of blossoms today and made 8 more cups of juice. Checked my math and last year I had 14pints of juice, that equals 28 cups that equals 1gal and 3 quarts. I currently only have 2 gallons of juice made for this year, guess I will need much more if I want to make extra jelly. Our goat, Elka, kidded today. She had one boy one day before she was due. They're doing well.
Mon. 7/14/2014: Hired the neighbor girls to pick 4 gallons of blooms, they PACKED them so full I had to use a gallon of water instead of a half gallon to extract the juice. I ended up giving 2 gallons of blooms to my sister because I was running out of pectin and realized that I would have 4 gallons of juice to use with what I had. Did one whole gallon of juice for my first batch and used last years calcium water...bad choice. Should have not done so much in one pot, also should have made new calcium water. Had to re-batch the whole thing, none of it set up.
Wed. 7/16/2014: Made 2 more batches  (I'm doing 8cups at a time for one of my batches this year, this works great! just double the recipe) I'm starting to run out of jars.
Sat. 7/19/2014: Finished using all of the tea, made the last 2 batches today and re-batched the rest of the non-set jelly. Final count was 36 1/2 pints total (with 4 gallons that would be 32 pints of juice that I started with, 36 cups of sugar, 16 TBL pectin = 1 cup, 4 cups lemon juice, ~2 cups calcium water). Broken down into 18 pints of plain fireweed and 18 1/2 pints of spiced. That is over double what I did last year. I have already sold one 1/2 pint and given away 2 other 1/2 pints. I followed my recipes that I posted here exactly and they all set up except the one gallon batch using old calcium water.