Craft Project: Jam

With summer waning (all these Back-to-School signs are simultaneously exciting and freaking me out), it’s important to savor every last bit of the season’s end, but it’s also time to prepare for the arrival of fall. The leaves are already changing and wait, did I feel a slight drizzle this morning? [Insert image of me slurping soup in front of a fire while it’s a mid-August 67 degrees outside.] In my house, the transition means a scramble to load up on summer sales of everything-you-can-think-of and in mass bulk, for the upcoming holiday season. Clothes, home accessories, edible goodies—you can find some real deals that will save your a** come gift-giving time. And in my opinion, homemade gifts make the best ones, which means applying this process to items large and small that you may find at the flea market, craft shop, or grocery store. It’s all quite genius but it takes Martha-levels of preparation and organization. Beauty is in the details, my friends.

All summer, I have been planning an all-out jam-making day but kept managing to distract myself with other things (read: work). That is, until I hit breaking point at the supermarket the other day. I stumbled upon nectarines on sale for a dollar a pound and EUREKA: the time has come to make jam. Sweet, sticky, delicious, homemade preserves. It’s such an aestival activity, what better way to celebrate the end of summer? You can enjoy it all year long when it’s sealed in a jar. So I enlisted the help of my mother and we puuump-pumped up the jam together. In total, we canned about 20-30 jars which would take over my Polly Pocket cupboards but merely added a small sub-section to her already established collection. I took home half the batch and, although I’m not really into toast or pastries for breakfast, I can’t wait to spread it all over anything and everything within reach. Crepes? Mmm. Meat? Yes, please! This shoe? Why not! And I am still in the honeymoon phase of amateur cooking, where I look at my creation and think: I made you. And with some festive packaging and primping, they’ll make wonderful holiday gifts. HO HO HO…guess who’s comin’ to town!