Wonderful Heidi, thanks for signing up for our July swap! 🥳 17 bingo words are only needed, please omit one word from your list. Let's jam! 🤣

Sharon, count me in!! Thanks for taking the month of July.

I will email you my 17 BINGO words in a few minutes.

Thanks for joining Annie 🥳 I received your bingo words 😊👍

sign me up, messaged you my 17 bingo words

Awesome Nicole, thanks for joining 🥳 I received your bingo words 😊👍

July Swap Signups:

Nicole

Annie

Sharon

Heidi, let me know if you are still interested in swapping this month?

We still have time for more joiners 😊

Yes, I'm interested in swapping. And eliminate my first bingo word please.

I don't know if it's just me, but I do not see Heidi's original post with her bingo words anymore. Heidi can you send the words to me via message please. Good to hear you are still with us!

July Swap Signups:

Heidi
Nicole
Annie
Sharon

Happy 4th of July everyone and our 250 anniversary of America 🥳 Have a wonderful weekend!

3 days left for signups 😊👍

Happy July 4th.........enjoy....be safe!!

Jeanne, great story about entering your blueberry preserves at the SC State Fair.....shame on your Dad!! LOL!!

Love the preserves story Jeanne! Thanks for sharing your story 🥰 I have never made blueberry preserves, but it sounds delicious. That is awesome you won first place!

Wonderful you are joining us for the July swap. I have received your bingo words 😊👍

July Swap Signups:

Jeanne

Heidi

Nicole

Annie

Sharon

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Has anyone heard of corn jelly?

A few years ago our local grocery store was selling cases of corn still in the husks for only $2 a case. I thought that was an awesome deal and figured I could freeze some. My husband said I should make corn jelly with the leftover corn cobs. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I looked it up on YouTube 🤔 It's true, there's such a thing as corn jelly! I followed the instructions and made 12 pint jars of corn jelly. It came out really good! 😋

I've only ever made Blackberry Jam, Pear Preserves, Watermelon Rind pickles and Peach Preserves. The last was Peach Preserves in 2020. I don't think I could find any of these recipes, but I can send a recipe.

The Peach Preserves were not planned but the guy at the Farmers Market offered me a box of peaches at a really good deal and I fell for it. Had to use the peaches really fast as they don't last well.

One year I had grown a lot of hot peppers that we don't eat and I wanted to make pepper jelly. The frost got the peppers before I could find canning supplies (it was November) and I haven't had that many peppers since. Have any of y'all made pepper jelly?

Sharon, I have heard of corn cob jelly but have never seen/ate it.

I have two Beautyberry bushes (Callicarpa american) and I know some people use them for jelly. I don't know if I'll ever try it.

I do want to make Fig Jam if I ever have enough ripe figs at a time.

Please sign me up for this month and Thank You for hosting.

Corn Jelly....need to look that one up.......

Corn Jelly....it sounds like something that Auntie Em would have had in her Kansas cellar!!

Annie, I agree Auntie Em would have corn jelly 😂 It's definitely an unique jelly!

Anyone else know of any other unusual ones?

Ruth, I bet peach preserves smell wonderful! I have made pepper jelly a few times. It tastes great on crackers with cream cheese! The last time I made pepper jelly though, I had a problem with the jelly not setting up. That was the first time that happened. My husband thought it may have been the humility at the time. I have had fig preserves, not made by me. It tastes good on toast. Happy you are joining us for the swap!

July Swap Signups:

Ruth

Jeanne

Heidi

Nicole

Annie

Sharon

Posting pics of our cucuzza this year before we burn through our data plan again on the phone! 🤣

Ruth, I received your bingo words, thanks for sending!

Heidi, please message me your bingo words as your post somehow disappeared from our swap thread. Thanks!

Today is the last day for signups for our July swap. Thanks to everyone who has signed up! Partners will be posted tomorrow. 😊👍

My words have been sent!

Jeanne, I got the seeds in the mail. Thank you-June swap update.

Heidi

Heidi, I received your bingo words. Thanks!

After all the talk of corn jelly, I pulled a jar out for breakfast for toast! Yes, we are still eating on the jelly. Lol It made 12 pint jars total. Even after giving some away, we still had several jars left. All jars were water bath processed for storage. Here's a pic from this morning, corns added for illustration 😆 Photo jelly color came out a touch darker than it really is.

Good morning everyone 😊 ☕

I mixed the names up a bit to have different partners from last month.

Partners list:

Jeanne sends to Heidi
Heidi sends to Ruth

Ruth sends to Nicole
Nicole sends to Annie
Annie sends to Sharon
Sharon sends to Jeanne

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Raspberry

Anyone know of any uncommon jams, jellies, preserves or marmalades?

I have a recipe for a tomato marmalade. I have never made it but will put it in the bingo winner's envelope in case the winner is feeling adventurous!

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Currants

Jelly story. I have been diabetic since I was young. In our house, we had two categories of food: sugar and regular/diet (sugar jelly/regular jelly, sugar syrup/diet syrup, sugar jello/regular jello). Recently I had "sugar grape jelly" for the first time and wow is it amazing! Now I know why everybody makes such a big deal about it.

Well, I must confess, I do not like jams, jelly or marmalades. I do not eat it/them, regardless of the flavor. The exception would be a pepper jelly, peach pepper jelly, hot pepper jelly on a roast or in a cheese/puff pastry appetizer.

I am not sure why I do not care for jam, jelly or marmalade, I am not a fruit person at all...the thought of consuming peach jelly on toast is rather ick to me. And the texture is a turn off as well. But putting it on top of a pork roast and cooking it, works for me. Wonderful flavor.

I did just see some jellies I have never heard of.....Banana, Watermelon and Pumpkin. Maybe some you jelly canners have canned these.

Tomato Marmalade.....might be interesting if I can get past the wobbly texture....LOL! I do like tomato....

Happy Thursday!!!

Annie, I have never put any type of jelly or such on a roast, but it does sound like it would be yummy! 😋 I like pepper jellies too. I have never made any banana, watermelon, or pumpkin.

Heidi, peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches were a childhood favorite for me, and still are!

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Sugar

Sorry to not be posting more. I had lots of medical appointments/procedures in a row and a prescription change and with the super hot weather added, my energy is definitely reduced. Has anyone mentioned lemon marmalade? Someone in a swap group (maybe this one?) years ago made that and sent me a jar of it. It was good!

Two times I bought local peaches at the grocery store and they were so good. Bought half a dozen more, planning to make peach shortcake. Well, these were all "mealy" (is that what you call it when most of the juice is gone from them?) I guess the hot dry weather impacted them so I may need to make my shortcake with canned peaches. Will not be nearly as delicious.

Never heard of corn jelly. Yes, I'll bet Auntie Em made some.

Anyway, we are finally getting some much needed rain. My cherry tomatoes are ripening at a furious pace so I have been sharing them with others who live here, I think I have now picked over 200 and although I like them, it's a bit much for me. Most days lately I pick more than 5 dozen tomatoes while I'm out there. I will plant this variety again next year, but fewer plants! I'm also getting some green peppers and banana peppers and my herbs are doing well. The main bloomers right now are daisies and my yellow canna lily.

Jeannne, what variety of cherry tomato did you grow??

We had to go to our local mom and pop hardware store yesterday for something for hubby. There's a lady that works there that makes many different varieties of pepper jellies and sells them on the counter by the register. I saw some interesting flavors: blueberry pepper jelly, coconut and pineapple pepper jelly, fig preserves and some others. We decided to purchase a red pepper jelly from her. In the past we had purchased a Maypop jelly from her that was really good.

Jeanne, that's amazing you are getting that much cherry tomatoes! I had planted a few dwarf cherry tomato plants in early spring, but did not produce that well this year and has since been pulled.

Lemon marmalade sounds good! I like lemon cake, and other sweet lemon desserts. I think I would enjoy that one. Will have to try it some day!

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Pineapple

Previous Bingo Words:

Sugar

Currants

Raspberry

We got a good bit of rain yesterday that watered the garden really good. I had a chance to go outside after the rain and cleanup parts of the cucuzza plant, dead limbs and leaves. There's still small cucuzzas coming out so hoping to get another harvest. Anyone doing any garden cleanup?

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo word: Peppers

Previous Bingo Words:

Pineapple

Sugar

Currants

Raspberry

More rain for us today, giving us a brief break from a hot, humid day. Anyone has any summer plans?

Happy Monday everyone!

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Jam

Previous Bingo Words:

Peppers
Pineapple
Sugar
Currants
Raspberry

Sharon. I ordered seeds from Baker Creek for you.I will post after they send. I will mail USPS the other portion of the swap tomorrow

RE: Summer Plans....I was thinking about traveling but decided to stay home. ....to much work...LOL! I am laying low in my neck of the woods and enjoying it.

RE: Garden clean up.....I have cleared much of my vegetable garden out. It usually stays in until November or December depending on the weather. I have diagnosed my soil to have hydrophobia. I have been treating it heavy duty....aeration, wetting agents, more compost., slow watering and Annie patience...haha! Certain areas are improved but much of the veg garden is is not my usual. I thought it better to pull lots of it......my pumpkins and most of the tomatoes looked so miserable, so unhappy.

Oh Sharon, I would love some rain....send some West. A little heatwave is supposed to be coming in to town.

Happy day....

Sharon I love how good your cucuzza is doing.

Jeanne, I will have to try the Cherry Falls tomatoes.

Annie, good luck with your soil hydrophobia issue. Sounds like you have it handled.

I need to pull my cucumber vines. I got a few cucumbers, but as soon as the rain stopped and the temps rose, vines are practically dead now.

I got a few tomatoes and now they just aren't growing and the vines look half dead. Still some very small green tomatoes on vines. Haven't decided what to do with them yet.

Pepper plants look good and bloom, but only one pepper so far. I'm growing all new kinds that I haven't grown before.

Some critter is eating all the long beans. That hasn't happened before.

Herbs are pretty good except everything is suffering from lack of rain.

I ordered a few Bud Bennett daylilies because they are very hard to find and the daylily company was going out of business. Took 7 days in this heat to receive a 3 day package. They still looked pretty good except for mold on a couple of them. Checked them this morning and one looks dead. Just have to keep my fingers crossed.

We finally got a good rain last night and more in the forecast for a few days.

We've had two or three days of triple digits so far.

Our local weatherman predicted that summer would be hotter and drier than normal (which is always hot and dry anyway). I knew I should skip planting veggies this year.

Summer plans.... probably not. We keep talking about maybe a short road trip, but it just seems too hard right now to get away.

Good morning everyone 😊 ☕

Jeanne, your envie is on its way to you! It was dropped off at the post office yesterday. I was thinking you could make a cherry tomato and spinach quiche if you wanted to use some of them up and had the time. Good to hear you were able to share with other residents. I bet they enjoyed some fresh cherry tomatoes!

Annie, thanks for the seed order update. I love Baker Creek 🥰 thank you! Looking forward to it and your envie. Good to hear you were able to diagnose what was going on in your garden and it's recovering ❤️‍🩹 We are hanging at the house too for summer!

Ruth, my cucumbers have not done that well this year either. I had planted in early spring and just barely got a handful of cucumbers since. I was able to make only one quick pickles jar, compared to last year when I made seven jars! I checked recently and have not found any female flowers so just waiting to see if it will produce any more. I was so looking forward to a good cucumber harvest. Post pics of your daylilies when they get going, would love to see them! What peppers are you growing?

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Marmalade

Previous Bingo Words:
Jam
Peppers
Pineapple
Sugar
Currants
Raspberry

I really need to do more frolicking in wildflower fields, but knowing my luck, I'd trip over a root, twist an ankle, and end up airlifted out of the meadow. Ruth, I spent an hour ordering your seeds, changing passwords, checking accounts...and still sent the seeds to myself instead of you! You'll get them, I promise. Heidi

Annie, I wanted to mention I believe Heidi received your Baker Creek seeds you sent as she posted this a week ago in this swap thread:

"Jeanne, I got the seeds in the mail. Thank you-June swap update."

I think she just got the names mixed up. Heidi, if you see this, please confirm our understanding or we will assume the above is correct. 😊👍

Heidi, no problem with the seeds

These are the peppers I have growing this year.

Pasilla Mixe

first time growing

Pasilla Apaseo Pepper

third year planting these seeds and finally got one plant

Zapotec Jalapeno

first time growing. One plant has one small pepper

Puya

I grew this variety years ago

Hoping they all start making peppers soon

Good morning everyone 😊 ☕

Ruth, you have a nice variety of peppers growing! Please let us know how you like the peppers and your favorite. I have never tried those pepper varieties.

I have one heatless jalapeno plant that is still going from last year's planting. It looked healthy at the end of the year so I dug it up and potted it to bring inside for the winter. My first time overwintering a pepper plant. It did good and was put back outside when the weather got warmer still in the container pot. I have gotten a handful of peppers from it so far.

I am also growing two paprika pepper plants and five sweet pickles pepper plants. All currently have peppers on them. 🥳 It took several attempts to get the paprika pepper plants to grow (first attempt no sprouts and other attempt young plant was disturbed by garden critter).

Anyone else growing peppers this year?

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Peaches

Previous Bingo Words:

Marmalade

Jam
Peppers
Pineapple
Sugar
Currants
Raspberry

How is everyone reacting to the parasite issue in the news? How terrible! I bought some lettuce and cucumbers from the grocery store and will throw that away even though I've eaten some of it once or twice already. I heard today that you might get sick 2 weeks after eating something. Of course I'm still eating the peppers and tomatoes I grew myself, but finding it harder to give the tomatoes away so I'm sure some of those will need to be thrown away. I might put my aerograrden up once again and grow my own lettuce for awhile. I think the tomatoes will stop producing in another week or two. Really too hot to sow anything new outdoors until fall - then I'll start some fall/winter crops.

Sharon, I received an email from Baker Creek today....your seeds have been shipped. I am not sure if you will receive seeds first or the envie I sent first. Just open them together.

Bust on peppers this year.....bust on my pretty much all of my vegetables. Tiz life in the garden....LOL!

Good morning everyone 😊 ☕

Jeanne, I did see on the news about the parasite issue too. We will stop buying lettuce for now until the weather gets cool again. They had stated the concern is during spring through the summer.

Annie, thanks for the update! Will keep an eye out for both. The garden can be unpredictable at times! Are you doing any container growing?

I am on my second attempt to plant dark green Italian parsley. The first sprouts became leggy then died. I am growing in a frog planter I recently purchased at an estate sale, placed at a kitchen window that gets morning sun. Would be nice to have fresh parsley in the kitchen.

What herbs are everyone growing this year?

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Maypop

Previous Bingo Words:

Peaches
Marmalade
Jam
Peppers
Pineapple
Sugar
Currants
Raspberry

I love having fresh herbs available.

Growing now,

Basils

Oregano

Mint

Thyme

Marjoram

Sage

Garlic Chives

Rosemary

Papalo

Lemongrass

Ginger

Good morning everyone 😊 ☕

Ruth, you have a nice selection of herbs growing! I had to look up the Papalo. I didn't know what that one was 🤔 Do you have a favorite herb or one that you use the most?

I love the smell of fresh herbs! I am growing peppermint, ginger, turmeric, lemon balm, greek oregano, and common thyme. There is a mint jelly recipe that I am considering making with my peppermint. I just don't know if a peppermint jelly would be good?

Has anyone tried or seen any type of jam, jelly, preserves or marmalade with any herb(s) in it before?

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Let's Jam Bingo!

Bingo Word: Jelly

Previous Bingo Words:

Maypop
Peaches
Marmalade
Jam
Peppers
Pineapple
Sugar
Currants
Raspberry

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Swap Mailout Status:

Tomorrow is our mailout deadline. Please let us know when your partner's envelope ✉️ has been mailed. Below is our mailout status. Let me know if I missed any mailed info.

Jeanne sends to Heidi
Heidi sends to Ruth (📨 sent?)

Ruth sends to Nicole
Nicole sends to Annie
Annie sends to Sharon (📨 sent)
Sharon sends to Jeanne (📨 sent)

I'm waiting to see if the seeds I ordered end up at my house or Ruth's. If they end up at my house I'll send them on. Obviously not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm trying not to say, "Back in the olden days..." and whack my computer. Heidi

I dropped Nicole's envie at the post office this morning.

I love almost all herbs.

I probably use the garlic chives more than my other fresh herbs that I grow.

I buy cilantro a lot for our taco's and quesadilla's, but it doesn't grow well for me in the summertime. I use a lot of dried parsley, but it also doesn't grow that well in the summer for me.

....( Has anyone tried or seen any type of jam, jelly, preserves or marmalade with any herb(s) in it before?)

I've only seen mint jelly served with lamb in restaurants that I can remember. I'm sure there is lots of kinds if we looked for them.