It’s morning again at 8:14. The sun has risen but it is cloudy and -3℃ out and 7.3℃ in the greenhouse. I see from the graph on the LaCrosse View app, the heater must have kicked in at 4 am. Thank goodness for modern technology that we can monitor the temperature in the greenhouse from the house. Before that in the spring of our first year, I was running in and out, back and forth. I had to cross my fingers and hope for the best after covering everything for the night. Now I can rest easy. It’s our second year. We are doing fabulous. I am pleased. The sun is beaming just now, too.

I made jelly the first time ever yesterday. It is another one of those things that I didn’t think I could do. In the past, reading the instructions discouraged me. First you have to prepare the fruit, cook it and do all that stuff with cheese cloth to get the juice. Doesn’t that sound formidable? Well, for some reason or other, this summer I got enticed by Lee Valley’s ad about the Mehu-Liisa Steamer/Juicer. It was a little pricey but I shrugged and thought: Why not? I deserve it. It’s not as if I need to justify it to anyone. It sure made things much easier. I made the first batch of juice with apples from my brother’s tree. Though they were the end of the season ones, the juice was sweet and delicious. No added sugar needed. I had a few bottles stored and waiting for me in cooler.

Yesterday I discovered that I can make jelly after all. It was fairly easy when I had already made the juice. But being the first time, it was more complicated, messier and took longer than needed. Isn’t that true of all first times? I’m happy to say it was a success. The jelly jelled. I will try making grape jelly next in a few days. Making food is very satisfying to an old soul.