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Free electricity and jam (well... sorta)

May 24th, 2012 at 01:01 am

Its hard to write anything when you're in a (good) groove, but I have two recent items that are now sorta free.

First, I got my latest electricity bill. I went and added that to the prior two bills. Admittedly these are the lowest usage months of the year, but the total was $94.15 for the last 3 months. And then I checked the dividend I got for the last quarter from my stock in the company - $94.35. It was more than my bills for the last three months! Of course Uncle Sugar is taking a 15% skim from my dividend, but still... its nice to see that my dividend "covered" my electricity usage (sorta - you know what I mean).

The past week the mulberry tree at the corner of the property has started to produce quite a bit of fruit. Unfortunately this fruit can't be kept fresh for long (maybe a week or two max). It always bothered me that it mostly went to waste, so I decided to try making jam and canning it. I've made two batches of jam (using that fruit pectin thickener you can buy) so far, making 2.5 quarts of the stuff. It tastes excellent, though I think I will grow tired of it long before I run out. To do this I had to buy jars, lids, sugar, and the thickener. Its costing me about $1 per jar, but if I had the jars it should be half of that. Quite the learning experience, and relatively easy to do. I already gave a jar to a coworker (he's into organic everything, so this is up his alley). The GF is ready to try it this weekend.

And on a financial note, I just put in $300 for more Heinz stock (one of my DRIPs). With no major expenses now my savings / DRIPs / brokerage should start to grow, though with the market going south lately my retirement accounts are sagging badly.

4 Responses to “Free electricity and jam (well... sorta)”

  1. Joan.of.the.Arch Says:
    1337818454

    Oh, too cool! I have to tell this to my DH who has become interested in jelly making in the last year.

  2. michele Says:
    1337833848

    i read a tip recently about keeping berries from molding and thought i would pass it on to you. you clean the berries in a mixture of vinegar and water then rinse although the rinsing is optional it said you can't taste the vinegar. then you store in the refrigerator. strawberries were suppose to last two weeks and blueberries one, i think it was. moldy berries is one of the things that have prevented me from buying them when its summertime.

  3. Jerry Says:
    1339360931

    That is one of my favorite things, homemade preserves and jams lead to some insurance of a delicious treat throughout the winter, long after the berry season is over. I don't think that I have ever had mulberry jam, though. Sounds tasty.
    Jerry

  4. baselle Says:
    1339988970

    Keep asking around - it could be that you have friends and co workers who also can. Mulberry jam definitely sounds tradeable in a canning exchange. I'd definitely trade for it.

    The jam can also be thinned out and turned into syrup. I've had mulberry syrup over pancakes and that was fab!

    Canning stuff tends to show up in yard sales. You'll want to pass a finger over the rim to test for chips and cracks. Hardware (except for the lids) lasts over many canning seasons.

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