I know, I know. It goes against all of the usual advice. Sometimes you aren’t really picking between doing it now and doing it later though. Sometimes it is between “later” and “not at all”. That’s where I sometimes find myself when something in the garden is ripe. Like these raspberries that ripened earlier in the summer.

Thank goodness for the freezer this year! If I hadn’t been able to toss these berries into freezer bags, I would have been in a real pinch. There was no way that I could fit in processing them at the time, not even as jam. Being able to do it at a time when not much else was coming out of my garden was absolutely worth it.

I don’t really do anything fancy with my jams. I use the little boxes of powdered Certo from the grocery store and follow the instructions inside. The only difference is that I water bath the jars for 10 mins afterwards to give them a shelf stable seal. (Check your elevation before you do the same. That is the safe timing for me).

This post really isn’t about the jam though. it’s about how it’s ok to do things the way that works for you. Do it differently, or later, or whatever it is that helps you to do it. It is really easy to get caught up in it being the right time or season to do something, and then you fall into the trap of not doing it at all. So go forth and garden imperfectly my lovelies! I’m over here doing it too.

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