It’s 10:18am and I just finished canning 17 jars of plum jam. I have little rituals for things like this, despite not being a superstitious person. For fudge:

I’m not sure it’s going to set. Maybe it’ll set? Definitely not setting. Oh! It set! Great!

For canning in any form:

Me: Little canner - please seal all of these jars, and no explosions today, okay?

Jars: PLINK!

Me: Heck yeah! 100% plinking! (Alternatively: I smell tomatoes. I shouldn’t smell tomatoes. We definitely had an explosion. Bugger.)

Jams:

OK, plinking achieved… but will it set? I’m not sure it’s going to set… Is it setting??

What are your rituals? What do you say when the plinks start? (Canners- be honest, a plink is one of the best noises in the world, right?)

But let’s keep this narrative moving. Are you thinking “wow, before 10:30! She’s got it together!”?

Looks can be deceiving, when you only have part of the picture. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been doing a solid amount of doom-scrolling… scrolling and scrolling in social media, watching the situation in our city continue to worsen, watching so many people in my network getting themselves and others downtown - and home safely. It’s a lot. The COVID situation isn’t getting better, but it’s getting “normal” feeling, which is weird.

What in the world does that have to do with plum jam?

Last night, Liliana (Harvest Coordinator extraordinaire and all around delightful person) and I went to our offices, and boxed up plums for our Fruit Bud members (donors who give $10 or more monthly), since we had a plethora of yellow plums to share. As we boxed them, we sorted out the “scratch and dents,” those plums that were a little too ripe, or wounded to share, but fine for something like, you guessed it- jam. I’m wishing we had gotten photos, but we didn’t get anything except a a picture of some swag we found in the basement (did I mention we were cleaning out the basement at the same time? VERY productive afternoon!). I bet you know where the scratch and dent plums went, right?

Over the course of the afternoon, we met 13 of our closest supporters and enjoyed a conversation about the harvested plums' backyard home, the harvest volunteers and the organizations receiving the donated plums. The plums that didn’t go home last night went with Liliana to our new partners, Familias en Accion this morning, so we’re both having a productive start!

After getting home, it was clear my new plum friends would not fare well overnight if we didn’t get them moving to their next form soon, so the pitting began and my partner and I got them into the slow cooker to cook overnight. Yes, it’s a little over the fill line - someone needs to make a bigger slow cooker.

This morning, I opened up the pot to see where we were at, and commenced jam making. Throughout, I was

1. Not doom-scrolling

2. Thinking about Mister Rogers - as you do.

I was thinking about finding the helpers. Portland Fruit Tree Project is built on helpers. Homeowners/tree tenders help by putting time and love into their trees, which produce fruit, then they help by calling us. We help by making sure the tree is ready, and safe, then getting folk to come help pick. Volunteers help both during picking and sorting, but also administratively doing data entry, design, planning, and so much more. Agencies we partner with help by getting that food to people they know can use it.

PFTP is built on being helpers and as I made my jam this morning, I thought about the, no less than, 15 people that helped to make that jam a reality.

If it sets (but will it? WHO KNOWS!), I hope to help brighten the days of others through sharing this bounty of plum jam (no one household needs 17 jars of jam), and telling them the story of how it came to be, and the helpers that made it possible. We are living through unprecedented times and it’s easy to get caught in the sadness, the fear, and the uncertainty, but because of the PFTP community - and many other communities of helpers - there are bright spots. I hope you find some today as well.

Want my jam recipe:

• Plums- a lot - maybe 10lbs?

• Sugar - 5 cups or so? Til it tastes jammy

• Cinnamon sticks and some cardamom pods

Simmer that overnight if that’s practical, then boil it til it reduces and thickens a bit. Try doing that freezer test to see if it’s right, but not really commit to it because the toddler drank a lot of milk and needs to potty every couple of minutes.

Decide it must be good enough - I mean, it looks good and it tastes good, so worst case, canned plum sauce.

Somewhere in between potty breaks and boiling, get your jars sanitized and your water bath water heating. Bring that to a boil.

Jar all of the (hopefully) jam (maybe sauce) and water bath can it for 10 minutes.

Let it sit on your counter, undisturbed, for 24hrs.

Hope for the best.

Do you have a recipe you like? Share it in the comments!