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Sour Cherries
Hey! I was lucky enough to find a sour cherry tree in my neighbourhood. So I took the kids and we loaded up. 
We got a good amount in a short amount of time. The trees are almost always full of fruit because people try one, thinking they’re regular cherries and don’t like them due to the sourness.
I had enough to make jam so I tried a new recipe. It didn’t set for me but next time I’ll either add pectin or boil longer. It’s still delicious and is being used in drinks and on ice cream.
I took 12 cups of pitted sour cherries and 5 cups of white sugar. Bring to a boil and left it boiling heavily for about an hour while my jars (8 250 ml jars) were in a hot water bath.
At this point I’d recommend testing for viscosity by taking out a bit and doing the wrinkle test.
I was impatient I guess and just canned it at that point. I left 1″ headspace in my jars and then boiled the jars for 10 minutes. They then sat on the counter for 24 hours while they sealed and cooled.
If you didn’t want to go this route, sour cherries are also good dehydrated with a bit of sugar, or frozen and added to baked goods.
Prepping When You Have No Money
Earlier this week, I realized I haven’t been doing as much prepping as I wanted to. I don’t have as much done this far in the year as I had planned and am far behind my goals. Money has become tight, as I’m sure is the case for a lot of people. I’ll be honest, it got me down for about a day.
But! There’s lots that you can do that takes no money at all. I started out by taking inventory of what I do have and looking again at my list of what I would like to have. Reassess and reevaluate your goals.
Next I spent hours watching videos on everything prepping and survival that I could find. YouTube is great for this, but make sure you take everything with a grain of salt. The people that make these videos could be anyone, just like you or me. So really think about the things that these people do and say but there really is a wealth of information out there, for free. So find the videos and take notes. There is also a lot of information on Facebook groups and hashtags on twitter (check out #preppertalk for one)
After that, I decided I could use to be in a bit better shape. If the S were to HTF, being in good physical condition would definitely make it a bit easier. So, I revamped my workout routine. Anyone can work out and you don’t need gym equipment and you don’t even need to run. One of the easiest things you can do is sit on the couch and watch an hour long program. Each time there is a commercial, do 20 sit ups or push ups. That should give you close to 100 in an hour! If that’s too much work, cut it down to 10 or 5 or even 1, anywhere is a good starting point. By doing the exercise in small sets, it doesn’t feel like as much of a work out. This is how I started a while ago, now I can just do the 100 sit ups or push ups in a row (which means it’s time to up my numbers or make it harder.)
The last thing I did was mentally prepare. I realized that I may not have thousands of dollars tied up in my preparations but at least I have prepared. That’s more than what most people have done. I thought about what could happen in my area (snowstorms, tornadoes, economic collapse etc) and thought about how my life would be affected. What would I do in _____ situation? What if _____ happened? And make your plans from there. What would it take to get you to bug out? Where would you go? What would you bring? Make your plans and constantly reassess them, always be willing to change them and be flexible!
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