One thing that gets me in the mood for the springtime is to start planning our garden while it's still winter. In an effort to make food from our garden and other locally grown food last through the winter, my husband and I took up canning a few years ago. This year, we will be gardening with canning in mind.
We started off with jars and jars of marinara sauce that we made to use up tomatoes – tomatoes basically took over our yard due to using our compost. Then came a variety of salsas where we made good use of some of the delicious peppers in the backyard. Then came jellies, jams, and preserves, thanks to local farms and our very own raspberries!
I began reading up on the types of things you can can and what the difference is between jelly, jam, preserves, etc. Here’s what I learned:
Jelly usually does not contain pieces of fruit, as it is made by cooking fruit juice, sugar, pectin, and lemon juice.... read more
Every autumn, we spend the day at our favorite orchard and winery, 
For the coffee lover:
