Chokecherries

OK, folks, note that I have actually added a photo to my blog. This is a rare occasion, so you'd better appreciate the extra effort involved.

I thought I was retreated out - but regardless I went on another retreat. This one was organized by the Christian Schools Association and was for the student leadership teams at each school. It as a Dallas Valley again, but at their main camp instead of the Conestoga camp. I was the adult chapherone/leader for Western's team of six students. Again, it was an excellent time; the speaker was very good, and when I finally arrived home at 4 pm Friday, I slept until after 6 pm.

However, while I was there, I simply couldn't ignore the ripe chokecherries. They had been ripe two weeks earlier when I was there, and they were still ripe - a very few were past their expiry date. I picked 25 cups worth in about 2 hours, then yesterday I fashioned myself a jelly bag, looked up recipes online and proceeded to make a mess. I had a lot of fun too - but the whole thing is rather messy. I have ended up with 17 cups of chokecherry syrup, which I froze in freezer bags instead of buying canning supplies, and I'm guessing about 10 cups of chockecherry juice concentrate. I still have to bag and freeze it but it needs to cool first. I think I'll throw out the jelly bag - it's just a tea towel sewn in half with a casing for the string so it can hang from my cupboard knobs over the sink. A new tea towel is only about a dollar, so I think I can afford to throw out this one, rather than trying to get all the pulp out of it. Likewise, I think I'll discard the rag I was using for the counters and stove - and I have two shirts that are good only for painting now.

Ideally to do the whole thing properly, I'd like to have a food mill - like the one above - but they're not in the grocery stores. (I hear my mom has one, but didn't feel like driving to S'toon to borrow it).