Blossoms and Canning

BLOSSOMS

The correct answer for the blossoms is.......Anne Apple blossoms. Apples don't grow well here in Florida, but apparently there are a select few (like 2) that will. Well, I was at the nursery the other day looking for blackberry bushes when I came across these trees. The owner told me that they would definately bare some fruit this fall, so I thought I'd try one. I got the the checkout and she told me that Anne Apple trees need (like a lot of fruit trees) a cross pollinator. I was afraid of that. So, I bought two trees instead of one. More apples right? :)

CANNING

Today, I'm canning blueberries for the first time. We went down to a local outlet mall yesterday and I got a steal of a deal on a canning stock pot (it's huge) and it came with a rack for canning. I've always wanted to learn how to can things. When we have an overabundance of things from the garden, I usually freeze it. Now, I can can it and if the power were to go out or something, we'd still have food! Cool huh? I found this video today and am getting ready to follow it step by step. I did purchase this book...

...and have found it to be helpful. Now, I'm just waiting for garden produce to ripen so I can get some major canning done. :)

I also found this insanely cool video about pickling.