Sweet, Sweet Sunday

Sunday is a day of rest, goes the old adage, and I do subscribe to it. But today I'm making jam with plums my aunt, uncle, cousin, and I picked last Sunday afternoon from the ancient tree in my yard. I also hung out a load of laundry earlier, a ritual I crave for its simplicity and tactile pleasure.

It isn't work if you love it and it relaxes, reaffirms you. No, I truly believe it's part of the dance of the good life.

Together we picked 25 pounds of fruit last weekend. My aunt usually makes a simple jam based on an old USDA recipe. The wonderful thing about fresh-picked damsons is, in spite of the fact that they are a clingstone fruit, there is usually very little waste. From the entire batch I only found three plums I had to discard due to blemishes or rot. They are sturdy and simple to clean; the stems usually pop right off without tugging.

Here's my recipe for the jam, or rather preserves since I don't grind up all the pulp and fruit skin in a blender and it uses less sugar. I like the texture of the simple combination of fruit in its own rich nectar, and the slow simmering preserves the most flavour:

Damson Plum Preserves

10 lbs fresh plums, washed & picked
3 c water
6 c organic cane sugar

Place plums and water in large dutch oven, cover, and heat slowly at medium temperature, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. When the mixture boils, set timer for 30 minutes. Keep covered and reduce heat to medium-low, stirring occasionally. Stir with wooden spoon and press lightly to encourage splitting of the pulp, which will make the pits easier to remove later. Reduce heat if necessary to keep from boiling over, and continue simmering for an additional 20 minutes.

When the mixture has cooked thoroughly for at least an hour, pulp has absorbed the dark red coloring of the mixture and the liquid has reduced slightly, turn off and set aside half-covered for about an hour until it is cool enough to touch. Stir lightly and pour mixture through a sieve into a large plastic or glass bowl, pressing to get as much pulp as possible to separate from the pits. Stir and return to dutch oven; set mixture aside.

Working over a second clean bowl, carefully remove pits from the remainder of the mixture in the sieve and discard them. When the remainder has been picked clean of pits, return it to the rest of the mixture and combine with sugar. Stir thoroughly.

Place mixture back in heavy saucepan or dutch oven, cover, and heat slowly to boiling a second time. Be careful not to heat too quickly or scorching can occur. Cook carefully over medium- to medium-low temperature until mixture reaches 220 degrees. This may take an hour, more or less. Boil for ten minutes until jell stage is reached. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, checking for thickening.

Pour into hot, clean jars, seal, and process in water bath canner for 10 minutes. Alternately, I am told you can skip the processing if your jars have been boiled and sterilized. A friend does it this way:

... when I do jelly and jam I try to take the jars out of hot water or dishwasher and fill with boiling jam. Then put on lids and invert on counter for five minutes and then turn right side up and wait for ping. I don't use a canner for jelly or jam as the product is hot and sterile, the jar is hot and sterile, and the lids are hot and sterile and they seal nicely. Never lost a jar this way, only in pressure canner.

While the jam is cooling, go check the laundry. Stretch your arms up high. Breathe in the goodness.

Images and content copyright (c) 2015 Susannah Eanes. All rights reserved.

hanging out, letting loose

the last month has brought some new challenges and opportunities, many of which i could not have undertaken had i solely remained in my professional career as a certified land use planner. i have become increasingly involved in the media as a writer and editor for Project Laundry List's Hanging Out! newsletter, in which capacity i find myself --finally, where as a geographer i feel i always belonged, but as a land use planner was prevented from doing so - in the middle of the environmental movement. yes, you may think it odd that a planner is 'not allowed' to embrace environmental ideals and apply them. after all, isn't it the mission of planners, and written in the aicp code of ethics, to 'have special concern for the long-range consequences of present actions' and 'pay special attention to the interrelatedness of decisions' and moreover, 'to conserve and preserve the integrity and heritage of the natural and built environment'? actually, the old, pre-2005 code had stronger language than was watered down by apa in march of 2005. i tried to preserve the foregoing, but was stymied again and again by the people who signed my paychecks. over time, it became impossible to reconcile what i knew was right with what i was observing on the ground. i became no more than a cog in the wheel of constant permitting; my body of environmental knowledge was not only not sought, it was not wanted. it is the main reason i left the profession in june of 2005.

The issue of line-drying laundry unfortunately became a symbol of poverty sometime in the past 30 years in America, and has therefore been banned or severely limited in thousands of communities and homeowner's associations. this, even though there are many of us who associate line-drying with nostalgic childhood memories of home, not to mention the sweet smell of sunshine-drenched towels and bed linens. as a planner, i had been frustrated for years being caught between ordinances and the public too many times, seeing the regulations enacted by short-sighted organizations and public officials chopping away at the roots of citizens to live their lives --and care for their homes and property as they saw fit --one invasive, prohibitive sentence at a time. the covenants adopted by myriad homeowner associations are in many cases outright authoritarian and extremely restrictive to the point of being fascist, in my humble planner's opinion. many of these restrictions are hidden in the back pages of monumental layers of paperwork signed by buyers in the midst of the excitement of owning the property, and are not discovered --or actually read --until a representative knocks on their door, alerting them to an "aesthetic problem." these can range from the location of vegetable garden plots to the size and construction materials of doghouses, to the outright prohibition of laundry lines.

in retrospect, i am glad i had the experience of seeing the wheels of government turning from the inside out. i can verify the suspicions of many: that government does not serve those it was designed to protect, it caters to the wealthy. but not in the way many think - it is an inefficient mechanism for big brotherhood. that honor belongs to big business, who merely assures that the regulatory and political yes-men are in place to approve and give credence to their greedy outcomes.

but all this is happily undergoing change, which i have been shouting about now for years to anyone who would listen. people thought me a charming cassandra, they would pat my head and say, 'there, there. don't get so upset. it'll never get that bad.' but i knew that it would. my educational background as a geographer was either completely invalid or the mighty were going to run smack up against mother nature at some point. and see, i was right. so glad i am now in a position to lead people to the answers they are so desperately seeking now. all around us, people are wondering what to do. not to worry --most are simple changes. like hanging out laundry. raising a flock of chickens. planting a garden. looking for new value in the simple things in life - writing a poem, going for a walk, reading to your children. i saw a group of neighbors last week doing something i'd not seen for ages: playing horseshoes, outside, on a weekday evening. bravo - much to be preferred over electronic evening entertainment of any sort.

i wonder if the homeowner covenants in their neighborhood have anything to say about that.

things of note

best i can do today is pass on for your edification & perusal some things i am totally embroiled in & consumed by at the moment... too much so to really comment right now. so much to learn, so little time!

the first time i voted for al gore was when he was running against clinton for the democratic presidential nomination. i was devastated when he dropped out. and i read & actually admit to owning a copy of "earth in the balance." but that's old history.
Emotional Return to Congress for Al Gore

Here's another spin on same:
The Goracle

Go get 'em, Al.

Jim Kunstler has condescended to go round & round with me on some things (notably his yankee ethnocentrism on inhabitants of the southern united states), but when writing on the end of oil, he's right on target. His recent Orion article demonstrates:
Making Other Arrangements

Project Laundry List - National Hanging Out Day is April 19th!

No Impact Man - "A guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nazi, turns off his power, composts his poop and, while living in NYC, generally turns into a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, four seasons-loving wife along for the ride..." You gotta love a guy who jumps in with both feet. Experiential (also called experimental) archaeology at its best.

and alongside that:
The Compact - just click thru and read... and read... and read...

The Forest Stewardship Council's FSC Certified Paper program: or, how to use paper and save the forest at the same time. still trying to figure out how this works.

and last but certainly not least:
carbon offsets - only the latest in the "if i pay enough i can make my conscience cleaner" anti-logic that brought us PDR's, TDR's, and Wetland Mitigation Banks:
Another Inconvenient Truth

saving the world one bit at a time

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/19261/
http://www.laundrylist.org/





perhaps the reason i've always found hanging out the laundry therapeutic is the fact that when i was a toddler, my mother and grandmother carried me out in the basket where i would lay on a quilt in the warm sunshine while they hung out the sheets. i also remember helping gramma running clothes thru the wringer washer. the work was clean and made her happy --she always hummed a tune as she worked. now, even on days when nothing else seems to get done (or done right), it is always a source of extreme satisfaction to me to be taking advantage of the wind and the sun, with the end result a fresh, healthy, and free pleasure, not to mention a great source of exercise.