WILD RAPSBERRY JAM, GENERATIONAL WINNER!

 Our granddaughter Avalon and her boyfriendwent out picking one lovely recent day,
returning with a beautiful surprise ofBlack Hills Wild Raspberries.Avalon's stipulation in gifting some of them to me was that I would teach her how to make JAM!So I made the first batch, mine.And the second batch she made by herselfafter paying careful attention to me making mine.

 Seeing that she was a good student,one thing led to another,and next thing you know, with encouragement,
she entered her Wild Raspberry Jam in the forthcoming Central States Fair! Her jam placed thirdamongst seasoned jammers and canners,and her Wild Chokecherry Jelly won second!
Wild Raspberry Jam in the Processing—Hers

Mine

In 2004 I entered my Wild Raspberry Jamin the Central States Fair.To my utter amazement, it wona Blue Ribbon,Best of Class, andBEST OF SHOW!See the famous recipe, below the photoof us two avid pickers, me and Sam.

RECIPE FOR “BEST OF SHOW”

WILD RASPBERRY JAM

(In 15 Easy Steps)

c 2004-present — by LINDA BROWN

 

1) First, you must show the raspberries where you are.

         In fairy tales, they will smile

and eagerly jump into your bucket.

         By the way, you are in the woods somewhere.

2) Over your shoulder and on your knees:

         a) Glance over your shoulder

frequently while picking.

         b) Pray a mountain lion doesn’t pounce on you.

3) While on your knees,

lift branches and pick the big ones.

4) The big berries, not the big spiders.

5) And don’t pick the bees either.

Run from territorial bees.

Come back later.

Two weeks later,

or whenever the horsemint is gone.

6) While you are waiting, pick over yonder…

but listen for rattlesnakes.

7) Don’t let the stinging nettle get in your face.

         Brush it away with a free hand.

         On second thought, just step on it.

         And on the thistles, too.

         It’s ok. Your shoes are tough—

they’ve tripped you, haven’t they?

8) It’s also ok, while you’re confined to the bushes,

to let your mind wander

and think grandiose things.

         …Just don’t hold your breath.

         You need your breath for the next step.

9) Do deep knee bends for at least 1-3/4 hours

for each batch of jam.

10) While on your knees again, thank God there are no

berry-munching bears out there.

11) While on your feet, if something bites your ankle

and you jump, you did the right thing.

         You took your big foot off those poor ants’ house.

12) Pick like there’s no tomorrow,

because it might hail and take the crop.

         Or worse, someone else might get them!

13) Pick some more, like crazy,

because ‘crazy’ is feeling familiar now,

         and it’s easy to do familiar things.

         After three weeks of picking, though,

you might get delirious and have thoughts…

         like, “What am I doing,

I can get bigger ones at the store, already frozen!”

         Next, when another berry falls

and misses your bucket

cuz this is no fairy tale,

         you will begin thinking of who you can call to

come and get some of these berries.

         In fact, you’ll probably be thinking

out loud by then.    

14) At that point, it is time to gel.

So, gel out and enjoy the pleasant breeze. Refocus

         on the perfectly scented scenery.

Watch the deer, the turkeys, birds and squirrels.

15) If the squirrel scolds you,

for pete’s sake move your berry bowl

from under his tree.

         And when the elk coughs…

 

         That’s it…That’s the recipe for

“Best of Show” Wild Raspberry Jam.

The rest is history.

         I’ve been making this jam since 1974.

For me, there is no place on earth closer to God

         than in a wild raspberry patch,

for reasons noted above.

 

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits…Ps 103:2

🌱Eloosive Moose and Chokecherry HideoutChokecherry Bed and Breakfast
hospitality that shows you are on our minds
- nightly vacation rental cabins in-home - black hills home cabins in hill city- central black hills national forest - south dakota
🌱
convenient lodging accommodations
- near mount rushmore - 1880 train - mickelson trail
- smiling bear antiques for staying guests -
 smiling bear espressmo menufor staying guests - historic downtown hill city -all things prehistoric
- custer state park - crazy horse memorial
- black elk wilderness - sylvan lake and other mountain lakes
- black elk peak formerly harney peak - the centennial trail
- norbeck scenic byway - iron mountain road - needles highway
- wind cave national park - jewel cave national monument
- black hills home cabins -at chokecherry bed and breakfast

In the mountains we forget to count the days.

CANADIAN GUEST

From Canada we have a guest staying 7 nightsin Chokecherry Hideout.With him he has both bicycle and motorcycle. Today’s adventuring will be in the saddleof his Harley Davidson. 
He expressed really liking the patio.But granted, most of his time herewill be enjoyed out riding in the beautiful Black Hills scenery!

There he goes, on his magnificent Harley!

🌱Eloosive Moose and Chokecherry HideoutChokecherry Bed and Breakfast
hospitality that shows you are on our minds
- nightly vacation rental cabins in-home - black hills home cabins in hill city- central black hills national forest - south dakota
🌱
convenient lodging accommodations
- near mount rushmore - 1880 train - mickelson trail
- smiling bear antiques for staying guests -
 smiling bear espressmo menufor staying guests - historic downtown hill city -all things prehistoric
- custer state park - crazy horse memorial
- black elk wilderness - sylvan lake and other mountain lakes
- black elk peak formerly harney peak - the centennial trail
- norbeck scenic byway - iron mountain road - needles highway
- wind cave national park - jewel cave national monument
- black hills home cabins -at chokecherry bed and breakfast

In the mountains we forget to count the days.

Black Hills Home Cabins
hospitality that shows you are on our minds
nightly vacation rental home cabins - bed and breakfast
hill city - central black hills national forest - south Dakota- black hills home cabins at chokecherry bed and breakfastIn the mountains we forget to count the days.
🌱

Black Hills Home Cabins at Chokecherry Bed and Breakfast

TRANSITIONED

April 1, 2021, Sam and Linda Brown sold

the Hill City BnB vacation rental property

which was owned, operated and loved by them

for 15 years—2006 through March 31, 2021.

They have retained the name

Black Hills Home Cabins

and have added as BnB the name

Chokecherry Bed and Breakfast

(click to website)

A new hospitality home is

taking reservations!

 

— Please visit our listings on Vrbo —

 (Black Hills In-Home Cabins)

 

Eloosive Moose click

 

Chokecherry Hideout click

Thank you, travelers . . .all who have passed through our doors,and travelers who will pass through our new doors.We have been blessed beyond measureover the yearsprivileged to meet so many wonderful people!Our home was also home to our visitors.

Goodbye Mountains To Prairies

 Please email Sam and Lindaif you have any questions.

We invite you to read our previous blog stories

which reflect the times that we so enjoyed living.

 

 

hospitality that shows you are on our minds

nightly vacation rental home cabins - bed and breakfast

hill city - central black hills national forest - south dakota

🌱

convenient lodging accommodations located near 
mount rushmore - 1880 train - george s. mickelson trail
- smiling bear antiques by appointment or for staying guests

- smiling bear espressjoe menu for staying guests

- historic downtown hill city - all things prehistoric
- custer state park - crazy horse memorial
- black elk wilderness - sylvan lake and other mountain lakes
- black elk peak formerly harney peak - the centennial trail
- norbeck scenic byway - iron mountain road - needles highway
- wind cave national park - jewel cave national monument
- black hills home cabins at chokecherry bed and breakfast

In the mountains we forget to count the days. 
Japanese Proverb

· New on Mountains To Prairies Blog, Photo Pages!

You are invited to view photos of our Guest Nests... found by clicking on the three titled page links across the top (to the right of Home)  - or below - Prairie Homestead Chessie Lee's Peas Flower Girl Woodsy Newest #4 (for 2)

Mountains To Prairies Bed and Breakfast
bed and breakfast hospitality inn
hill city - central black hills national forest - south dakota
convenient lodging location near
mount rushmore - 1880 train - custer state park
- wind cave national park - jewel cave national monument
- crazy horse memorial - black elk wilderness
- mountain lakes - harney peak - norbeck scenic byway
- george s. mickelson trail - the centennial trail
- historic downtown hill city - antiques

· Junior Miss Chokecherry

What an exciting morning! Many of Mountains To Prairies Bed and Breakfast guests and countless of those who visit Smiling Bear Espresso Bar can attest to the luscious juicy sweet flavor of our original Wild Chokecherry Latte . . . 
But this morning we were especially thrilled to offer a complimentary iced W.C.L. to AbriOnna Wetzel, a delightful 14-year old long-haired gal with some interesting titles. She and her amiable father, Leland Wetzel, stopped into the espresso bar at the same time as our other guests, so, over coffee, some serious visiting spontaneously erupted, that is to say . . . seriously lighthearted! 
After chatting a bit, AbriOnna confided to me that to eat chokecherries straight off the bush, not so good, but when sweetened up, like in the latte, well, just saying it brought a big smile to her bright face. 
AbriOnna was Junior Miss Chokecherry 2013, Williston, North Dakota. She also won the title of Miss Oil Country's Outstanding Teen 2014, Tioga, North Dakota. 

Though AbriOnna is a talented pianist, her platform is Literacy: Opening worlds with words. Good for her, and good for all whom she influences! Several of her slogans include . . .
Literacy leads to success.
Everyone is a reader, some just haven't found their book yet.
I choose to read not because I have no life but because I choose to live many.
Literacy makes you independent.

Mountains To Prairies Bed and Breakfast
bed and breakfast hospitality inn
hill city - central black hills national forest - south dakota
convenient lodging location near
mount rushmore - 1880 train - custer state park
- wind cave national park - jewel cave national monument
- crazy horse memorial - black elk wilderness
- mountain lakes - harney peak - norbeck scenic byway
- george s. mickelson trail - the centennial trail
- historic downtown hill city - antiques

· Picnic Breakfast and Cookies

Our Bed and Breakfast guests are given a special Picnic Breakfast for Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings, which carries with it the luxury of partaking at their leisure. The mainstays of this fun meal include hard boiled eggs, Tillamook medium cheddar cheese or other tasty cheese, homemade muffins (steaming blueberry muffins are pictured) or other baked goods, fresh whole fruit and juice. For those who do not take pleasure in hard boiled eggs, we may substitute hard salami panino wrapped mozzarella cheese or other meat. 

For a time we occasionally served breakfast-worthy SON Chocolate Chip Cookies (second photo below, and recipe).

About the cookies: Our granddaughter's intense campaign for Chocolate Chip Cookies finally wore me down; busy as I was, this is the recipe which inspired me to action, taken from a 10 oz bag of Equal Exchange organic 70% cacao chocolate chips. 

(Click the photo to enlarge)

Top of my personal list of ingredients was the determined concept that Sam and our working girl should have a real cookie to enjoy without sacrificing overall nutrition...so I tweaked the recipe to build more nutrition and strength into it, based on our acquired preferences, while preserving the venerable status of real treat. The original recipe, I see, is courtesy of King Arthur Flour, which is a very fine flour. If I couldn't find organic or 'better-than-organic' flour, I would use King Arthur Flour, as I used to...as their whole wheat worked perfectly in my recipes. 

First, I used 1/2 cup real (organic) butter as the recipe states, but substituted 1/2 cup organic virgin coconut oil as replacement for the shortening. I used all whole white wheat flour (which I believe can be found organic at some health food stores, or even some mainstream grocery stores, but if not, then a fine regular red whole wheat flour will do very nicely); added 1 cup Bob's Red Mill organic old-fashioned rolled oats, 1/4 cup organic oat bran, and 1/4 cup each organic whey protein and organic brown rice protein powders. A ripe banana (4 oz) was added to the wet ingredients while they were mixing together in my KitchenAid. The almond extract was increased to 1/2 tsp. The required baking soda was added to the wet ingredients shortly before incorporating the remaining combined dry ingredients into the batter. To the dry ingredients 1 tsp baking powder was added, to bolster up the extra ingredients I had tweaked in. 

Just as I was about to wrap things up per the original recipe's basic instructions, Sam wandered into the kitchen from his nap and asked if there were any nuts in the batter. "The recipe doesn't call for nuts," I said. Moving like a sleep-walker, he pulled the pecans out of the freezer and chopped a cup of those, then slipped quietly from the scene. Following his lead, I added another 2 oz of organic toasted and chopped mixed nuts. 

Sam wanted crunchy, so the banana idea caused me a bit of pause. But, in view of the added oatmeal and other dry ingredients (the protein powders, primarily) which were not in the original recipe, I felt persuaded the extra moisture was needed to keep the batter cohesive. Pleasant and hoped for surprise!...the natural sugars in the banana contributed to no loss of crunch. Plus, the nutrients in the fruit were part and parcel to the nutrition-mission that I had set out upon. The banana flavor melded cooperatively into the other delectable flavors anticipated in a good chocolate chip cookie...only slightly detectable. And the proteins added muscle without muscling-in any undesirable flavors. All was so harmonious. So, we unanimously named these circles of delight...

SON Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Symphony Of Nature Chocolate Chip Cookies)

viva Organic!

Variations may emerge...since the very word organic is innately seeded with creativity. For instance, some of our guests may not eat nuts; which leads my thoughts to a cookie imbedded with dried fruits, such as cranberries and mulberries, sans nuts.

You can always default to the original recipe on the chocolate chip bag, but I must say, these cookies, to our nutrition conscious family, are superb with the tweaking. 
Oh, I also used Rapunzel brand organic whole unrefined cane sugar (it's brown but granular) and Madhava organic coconut palm sugar, to replace the two sugars noted in the original recipe. Coconut sugar, produced from the nectar of tropical coconut palm blossoms, is one of the lowest glycemic index sweeteners available, with an index of 35 (whereas cane sugar's index is 68). 
Organic ingredients are much superior nutritionally to conventionally grown, as detailed in an article by the Organic Consumers Association...
For Your Health: Organic versus Non-Organic
Update - The cookies pictured below were made with dried fruit (organic cranberries and organic mulberries) replacing the nuts, for guests who preferred fruit in the cookies for their picnic breakfast. Since the fruit is moist, 1/4 cup Bob Red Mill's organic 7 Grain Pancake and Waffle Mix was added to the batter. Of course, the entire 10 ounce bag of chocolate chips jumped right in there, too...makes the children happy!

Footnote - An ice cream scoop with a release tongue was employed for measuring and shaping the dough and was handy for plopping the cookie pods onto the cookie sheet...also making for a nice large evenly shaped cookie. In this way, the recipe makes 33 to 34 cookies. Between dips, I sprayed the inside of the ice cream scoop with coconut oil spray. At our altitude of 5,500 feet I adjusted the oven temperature to 370° and baked the cookies for 14 minutes. 

Mountains To Prairies Bed and Breakfast
bed and breakfast hospitality inn
hill city - central black hills national forest - south dakota
convenient lodging location near
mount rushmore - 1880 train - custer state park
- wind cave national park - jewel cave national monument
- crazy horse memorial - black elk wilderness
- mountain lakes - harney peak - norbeck scenic byway
- george s. mickelson trail - the centennial trail
- historic downtown hill city - antiques