The Perfect Gift, Garden Style

It seems that a majority of the people that I know are born in the spring and summer. This is also when we have mother’s day and father’s day and graduations and weddings all of those other made up holidays and reasons to buy people presents. I’m not rolling in cash, and let’s be honest I don’t want to spend my hard earned $ on presents - I need it to pay for things like food and rent and school… I have become a master of making presents that people actually like and use and are inexpensive and often use things from my garden, or the closest produce stand anyways.

This mother’s day I made my mom strawberry jam. It was so easy! It only took about 15 minuets. When I was at the grocery store I bought a package of pectin. Pectin is what makes jam set, it is also what makes unripe fruit taste gross and green apples so tart. It is kind of like flavorless jell-o. I opened the pectin and inside was recipes for jams and jellies. I prefer the cooked jams to the frozen jams and the jellies, they are more like the consistency of the jam you are used to (but obviously more homemade delicious). I bought a flat of strawberries from the fruit stand on the corner for $4 and got to work. I followed the directions that came with the pectin except for I don’t do a lot of the fancy stuff they recommend. For example, I don’t own a potato masher to mash the fruit with, heck I open wine bottles with a screw and hammer, potato masher is way out of my league! Instead I live every child’s dream and smash the fruit with my hands. I also skip the whole fancy canning thing. I just wash the heck out of the jars and put the jam in and then tell whoever I give it to keep it in the refrigerator.

The mason jars that I put the jam in are one of my favorite items. They are super useful for the garden, gifts, and pretty much anything you can think of. You can purchase them in a flat for about a dollar per jar for the quart sized ones. They come in all different sizes and designs. I will give more tips for things such as apple sauce and apple butter as we get into the season. I recommend keeping some on hand for emergency gifts all the time.

I think that another perfect present is an herb bundle. This is exactly what it sounds like. What is really great about herb bundles is that they can be dried or fresh. Mother-in laws are particularly impressed with this gift if you bring one when you are invited over for dinner. Even if your friend for whom you are making the gift doesn’t cook, dry mint (from the aforementioned mint plant – see February post) and put it in the trusty mason jar and give the gift of home grown mint tea. To be extra fancy you could attach one of those tea strainers to the side. To give my Mason jars an extra rustic, homemade feel I usually tie a bow with yarn or twine around the neck.