At the end of July, I had 4 pounds of very ripe figs ready to process into jam and could not get the lid to my food processor to seat.  At first I thought it was too early in the morning, so I polished my glasses, took another gulp of coffee, and tried again.   After struggling with it for another five minutes and feeling like a fool, I looked at the top of the bowl and saw that it was no longer perfectly round!   With all those figs waiting and us trying to get ready to head back to the farm, I took the easy way out and headed to Target to buy a replacement for the food processor that had served me well for well over 10 years.   Why did this happen?   The answer to that lay in the booklet that came with the new one — don’t wash the bowl on a sani-rinse cycle.   I’d never done that before because I usually have my jars washing before I start slicing and dicing, but with the kitchen counter replacement, I was doing things out of order.

I made two batches of jam using my shiny new food processor and happily headed back to the woods and stayed there until a multi-day forecast of 80% rain!   I came home and harvested the last of the figs and got ready to make a new batch.   Once again I was dealing with a lid that didn’t fit and once again the bowl is no longer round.   However, this time I know that I did not wash the bowl on a sani-cycle, so I’m not very happy about my purchase.  I’m still waiting to hear back from the manufacturer about why replacement bowls are not available.

The jam I made with that batch of figs tastes good, but as I resorted to pureeing the figs in the blender before making fig and blueberry jam, it just doesn’t look as appetizing as when the figs are in chunks.   Now we’re at the point of the year where I look forward to having more pantry space so that we don’t have to store jam and honey in odd places around the kitchen and dining room.    Maybe next year we’ll be able to start the foundation for the new house….

Still, it is a joy to cook in my kitchen with its shiny new counter tops and stain resistant sink.   Even the blackberry and blueberry juices wiped right off.    We painted the floors of the base cabinets when we replaced the counter tops, so much of this week was about putting shelf paper down and putting everything away.   Instead of just putting stuff back where it’s been for the past 15 years, I tried to put things away where they made more sense.  We’ll see how well that plan works as we try to find stuff over the next few weeks!

So, on Tuesday, Farmerella and her Prince Charming turn back into teachers, but we’re returning as relaxed, inspired, and excited teachers for our 8th year until retirement!   We have to get used to alarm clocks instead of sunrises and walking on the treadmill instead of walking down to unlock the gate in the mornings, but my recent reading and hubby’s two seminars this summer have us burgeoning with new ways to present material, and that is invigorating.    It’s going to be a good year!