We've discovered a new hobby...

Something new for me to bore my nearest and dearest about......we've discovered foraging! I love a bargain, well, who doesn't? A freebie is better still. I've taken the kids for some lovely walks around the village recently and I noticed that there was still a multitude of jem-like berries hanging from branches everywhere. I noted these places in my mind and went back with the girls to fill our baskets with lots of lovely fruit. This is a pastime I can see continuing for some years to come, it may well become part of our family history. We returned home with purple fingers, muddy boots, pink cheeks and a lovely collection of goodies; elderberries, blackberries, sloes, damsons, rose hips, haws and crab apples.  I was itching to have a go at making something with all this lovely stuff and along with the apples from our tree in the garden, there would be plenty to have a go at. First up was hedgerow jelly which was, I have to say, a great success. I have never made jam before so this was a new venture for me. Second batch I tried apple & rose hip jelly, not so successful, set a bit hard but may be suitable for stirring into hot herbal tea and suchlike. Third attempt was a few jars of apple, blackberry & damson jam which I was pretty pleased with. My little darlings enjoyed helping throughout the process but I made sure they were well out of the way when it came to boiling up the jam or jelly, that stuff boils like hot lava! These had already been earmarked as Christmas presents so I let the children help with the labels and lids for the jars to give a personal touch.

I pinched recipes and some very helpful tips from here -  The Cottage Smallholder

All in all, a wonderful new enterprise. The girls had a great time walking around with little baskets for collecting goodies. We talked about all the hedgerow plants and which berries were edible and which ones they shouldn't touch (very important!). I let them have one of my old nature books so they could try and identify things for themselves and they soon got into it. The children helped with washing the fruit, measuring out the ingredients, stirring the fruit whilst it was reducing to a pulp and finally they decorated the finished jars. They are so proud of what we've made and they can't wait to give these little pots of goodness out at Christmas to our friends and family. I have to admit, neither can I!

I shall have to put my thinking cap on now to come up with some more Christmas gift ideas that the girls can help me make.

Star Biscuits - Gift Ideas

I admit, I like cheating, whenever possible. If it saves me time, effort or mess, count me in. I've noticed cheating can also save you some pennies sometimes too. The recipe for these biscuits involved going to Asda (or wherever you choose to do your shopping!) and buying a packet of shortbread biscuit mix. Easy. Simply add butter and mix until a dough is formed. The kids followed these simple steps with ease and with no mess at all. Fantastic. I very kindly rolled out the dough for them, they then set to work with their pastry cutters. Obviously you can cut the biscuits to any shape you like but I quite like the star shape for presents, I dont know why but I think they look nicer. Once they'd been in the oven for about 30 minutes and cooled on the rack we then set about making them into lovely gifts. We made these for all the teaching staff where my children currently attend nursery / pre-school as a parting thank you gift. As there are 11 staff I decided to make up two packets of mix on the basis that I thought 4 biscuits each would be enough.

We decided we'd make up pretty little parcels with cellophane (which can be bought from most craft shops or florist suppliers). We cut a square of card a fraction larger than the stars and then piled them on top. Wrap in larger square of cellophane to make a tube and then secure the side and bottom to make a bag. Tie the top with a pretty bit of ribbon. If you've used a see through cellophane you can write a message on the back of each piece of card so it can be seen through the plastic.

 The leftover dough got made into more biscuits for a jar for Grandad's Birthday. Recycling at it's best - Jar (washed out coffee jar) Ribbon (those annoying bits of ribbon that are used to hang tops onto coathangers, when you snip them off don't throw them away - keep them for making gift tags!) Card Tag (an old birthday card that had a nice star design on the front so I chopped it out and kept it for such an occassion)