Adventures in Canning

This weekend I went to the farmer's market with Steph and found that the berries were the fruits du jour. I was hoping for peaches but most of them weren't ripe and I wanted to do my canning that day. I made four pints of blackberry-raspberry jam and four pints of strawberry jam. No seal failures! It turned out to be pretty easy, except you can see from the picture that the strawberry ones have some bubbles and I wasn't too even with the headspace. I had some extra strawberries, and then we got more in our CSA box on Tuesday, so today I made four more pints of strawberry jam. It's really easy, but how much jam can you eat in a year? I'll give some away, but I'll have to make sure I get my jars back. When the tomatoes start rolling in I think I'll try salsa. mmmm.

First Trip: Spicer Meadow Reservoir

Two posts today since I didn't get around to posting last weekend about the launch. Read below.
This weekend Tracy and I took the canoe up to Spicer Meadow Reservoir. Its a 6 mile long reservoir at 6500 ft off hwy 4, partly in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness. I think it is the closest thing California has to a long distance lake trip. The scenery was beautiful and motor boats are limited to trolling motors in the lower half of the lake. We paddled out to the end in about an hour and a half of leisurely paddling and set up camp on a granite hilltop rising out of the water. You get some unique rock formations by the water's edge that you don't normally see in a natural lake. There were a few hazards for the as yet unblemished underside of Thistle, namely numerous submerged and partly submerged pine trees from before the reservoir was flooded. Some of the tops were sitting just a few inches below the surface. Thanks to Tracy's superior navigating skills we got through unscathed. The water was clear down to 20-30 ft and a perfect swimming temperature. Fish were jumping all over the place. Have to bring a rod next time.

Launching

She floats!

Last weekend lots of friends came down to Shoreline Lake in Mountain View with us to launch Thistle for the first time. After putting up with the jokes about what IKEA kit I used, the champagne flowed and she took to the water like, well like a canoe. I don't think I've ever seen it rain here in July, but it was threatening last weekend. In the end there were only a few drops and a few of got to test out the boat. Dan and Jen and little Henrik were there. Pete and Ayse and little Selim were there. Adam and Emily made it down. Catelyn and Andy and little Everett were there and Tracy and me. Nate and Steph and Jude didn't make it for the launch, but came over later to drink some beers.