Featured Etsian~AuntAnnadee

Do you have a post, craft, art, or something on your blog about Dandelions?
Make a post before Friday and I will link to it!

~See the links below~

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Now I told ya'll about the Dandelion Jelly I purchased off Etsy, remember?

And I also said I'd tell you all about it, right?

I sure did!

I have to admit, I was slightly concerned when I ordered this. I've done plenty of research on Dandelions and the delicious jelly they make.. But I was skeptical..

It doesn't seem as though a weed would make something good, agree?

But It Does!

I received my Dandelion jelly Monday (VERY fast shipping!).. I felt like a giddy child on Christmas Morning, I was literally rushing to get the packaging open so that I could see my new jellies. "JellyS?" You ask.. Yep, I ordered Dandelion, Violet, and a sample of Honey Suckle, mmmmmm....yummy!

My only regret was not getting a larger size of each of these!

The Dandelion jelly is sweet like honey, but with a slight lemon taste. It's much tastier than it sounds, trust me! It's a thin consistency, not thick and lumpy like a lot of store bought jellies. Very easy to spread, that's a plus to me :)

An unopened jar lasts a year on the shelf, once it's opened, it's good for a month! Plus, AuntAnnadee tells you how you can prolong it. (She's a sweet gal)

The other two jellies are just as good!

My entire family loves these jellies and insists that I order more! At least I know this jelly is much more healthy than store bought jellies.

I love Natural..Don't YOU?

AuntAnnadee has wonderfully affordable prices, and her plants and herbs are grown in a safe, chemical free environment. She has more in her store than just jelly and plans on adding even more as she can. I can't wait!

I hope you'll try something new today!

(jelly)

AuntAnnadee

I grew up in a small Tennessee town. My family has been in the area for more than 4 generations. Which means that between my 4 grandparents, there were 44 siblings. I was related to almost everyone in town! I've joked that I had to leave town just to find someone I could legally marry!

When I was nine years old, my mother, a stay-at home mom, had a part-time summer job. That was when I first became interested in cooking. Mom and dad ate some pretty awful things while I was learning. Every once in a while, my dad, who never said much, would say, "Let's not have that again." But I made my first Baked Alaska that summer.

Even though mama's family was from there, they moved to Indiana when she was a girl. Mama's parents farmed 320 acres. Summers were spent on the farm. Grandma knew she had plenty of slave labor when all 19 grandchildren were there. She taught us how to can, put up preserves, make butter, and all sorts of things like that.

My very favorite thing grandma made was pear honey. Her pear honey was also a lesson in recycling. Every year she canned pears. As the family opened them and enjoyed the fruits of her labor, she saved the juice. She would re-can the juice, and then when she had enough saved, grandma would make pear honey. She never used pectin in it. Grandma would just reduce the syrup until it had the consistency of honey. That was heaven on a biscuit.

I have a cousin with a 5 year old granddaughter in preschool. Rick, my cousin, and Shalie, his granddaughter, spend their summers working in the garden and orchard, playing in the creek, riding bikes and other activities like that. There are about 20 children in Shalie's preschool. Two other children in her class live on farms. These three children are the tallest, healthiest, and strongest children in the class. They get plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh milk and eggs, fresh air and sunshine and few fast food meals.

This is the first year I've had time to plant a garden. When I first moved here, there was an above ground pool on the property. When he was 2, my son went in while I was cleaning it. I was able to get to him the second time he surfaced. That evening, I put the pool up for sale. Under that above ground pool was a 24' sandbox. He loved it, and over the years, it's built up a decent layer of topsoil. This year when I tilled it all up, I had beautiful, well drained soil. That's given me a great place to grow. As the summer progresses, I will have lots of fresh vegetables to put up. I'll be able to offer pickles, pickled okra, homemade sauerkraut, chow-chow and piccalilli, and some dried herbs in my etsy store.

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*Check out this blog post by TeddyStartedIt to learn how to make Dandelion infused oil!

Great for a "great home made gift for an exercise buff or an arthritic grandma"

*~Soap Deli has a wonderful post with dandelion art~
Dishing Up A Little Dandelion

*~StitchWorks has a wonderful post with dandelion art~

Dandelion Art