Stonework and Jam Making

Stonework in progress!

This weekend we cleared the last of the rubble left behind in our front yard when we hooked on to the municipal sewer system.  So far we have five separate raised beds built from the shattered shale from that rubble pile.  Yesterday we built a planter for the John Davis rugosa rose I bought last weekend.  We finished the day by raking the remaining rubble into piles, shovelling it into the wheel barrow and dumping it at the back of the property where we need some fill.

This is hard physical work and my shoulders and arms have grown since moving in here.  A couple of my shirts are now too tight across the back to wear comfortably.  The upside is that my arms look great - firm and defined without setting foot inside a gym!

Today, in need of a little rest, I made two batches of rhubarb jam.  We have several rhubarb patches on the property that are growing like crazy.  The main issue for us is since there are only two of us, what to do with all the rhubarb.  Of course, I'm giving some away, but I went looking for recipes today on line and hit the jackpot.

I found a great website for rhubarb recipes at The Rhubarb Compendium  http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/recipes  This site has a great variety of recipes including sauces, muffins, cookies, breads, relishes, jams and conserves.  It also gives basic instructions on preparing rhubarb for freezing.  The next batch of freshly cut rhubarb will likely be turned into muffins and a sauce for cooking pork roast.

I'll let you know how it goes!