my evening

The bread came out fine. Very tasty, not as hole-y as the all-store-bought-flour version but very tasty nonetheless.

The red currant tart was delicious!

My latest google search? Look here and that will give you a hint of what I've been doing this evening. Now it's time for bed.

strange

I often hear about people who have odd searches that lead to their blog. This usually doesn't happen to me. Today in checking my blogstats I did see one odd search that lead to me

can a weimaraner eat water chestnuts

I don't recall ever mentioning weimaraners on my website (although I love Oliver. I'm also wondering why someone would want to know this...most dogs eat anything whether they are allowed to or not.

Well, it made me smile anyway.

whew, i'm tired

It's been a long afternoon evening. I've made 9 jars (8 oz) of Rhubarb Apricot Jam, so I've gotten my yearly allottment in. Not sure if I'm going to make another batch of Rhubarb Lemon since I'm the only one who likes it. Last year I made Rhubarb Blackberry Jam using frozen blackberries that I had on hand. This year I've cut up the rhubarb and frozen it for use when the blackberries are ready.

I also picked more currants. It's beginning to become a contest between me and the birds. I did get enough to make a red currant tart tomorrow. I'm hoping the rest will ripen enough that I can get them tomorrow as I really want to make some red currant/raspberry syrup.

In going through my cookbooks for recipes I started re-reading my Mom's book. Preserving Memories: Growing Up in My Mother's Kitchen I really like reading this book in part because she's a great writer but also because I love the stories. The recipes are neat too. I'm trying to decided between making her Rhubarb Ginger Jam and trying Rhubarb Pickles from another cookbook. The pickles sound interesting but I'm not sure if anyone in my family will eat them. I should confess that I still have two jars left from the Watermelon Pickle that I made a couple of years ago. I'm the only one who likes it and even I can't eat an entire widemouth pint jar of the stuff.

While I was in the kitchen I started another batch of kombucha. Not hard to do but it kept me busy washing pots as I moved from one activity to another.

Then I began a batch of the no-knead bread that is still going around bloggityville. I confess that I think my experiments with making this bread completely with fresh ground flour are grinding to a halt. It's not working well and I'm getting fed up with not being able to figure it out. Half fresh ground and half store bought seems to be the best I can do. Usually I make it with spelt flour but decided to try using half Ezekiel flour and half store bought. We'll see how it turns out. Research has not come up with anyone else who has successfully made this bread completely with fresh ground flour (unless they're not telling) althoug a few people have blogged about trying or wanting to try. In any event the bread is delicious and my family loves it which is all that really matters.

It has been a busy evening.

grains of gratitude

Started by Christine this blogprompt has certainly begun to spread it's way through the blogosphere. I love reading other posts and really to enjoy taking the time to think about what I am grateful for (even if I don't post it every week).

This week I am grateful for:

The wonderful weather we have had. Yes it has been hot at time but it has been sunny and beautiful, the birds are singing, the butterflies and bees are out. It's really been fabulous.

D having such great camps to go to. Last week was a career camp to try and convince girls to consider careers in math and science. They had a fun field trip, did a confidence course at a wilderness center and had a great time doing experiments and making new friends. Today of course she is at Bible camp for her second year and so happy to be there.

Having the opportunity to do community service. These days it doesn't always happen or if it does I find myself feeling overwhelmed by it. Filling the gaps here and there seems to work best for me.

All of the fruit that we are starting to harvest from our property. I LOVE that.

My hard-working wonderful husband who comes home from a long day at work and still helps pick currants and fix raspberry fences.

My farm share. Reconnecting with the farmers, other share members and the peaceful quality of my time there. Not to mention the yummy food. Our dinners have been great lately because there is so much fresh produce to work with. We all love it.

My ipod nano. I have been listening to several very thought provoking and some very funny podcasts this week (catching up). I'm really glad to have this little device that allows me to listen to my shows when it is convenient for me instead of being tied to the radio or the computer on a schedule.

There's more, there always is, but this is a great list of things to be grateful for. The fact that there's more is even more of a blessing.

check out what others have to say

camp

I have dropped D off at camp. She's thrilled to be there. Some of her friends from last year were there already. One of her counselors is the same as last year. She got a top bunk (and these things are three beds high!). And I bought her lots of vegan goodies for Chef J to store in his kitchen for her. What's not to like. Two weeks no parents no sisters in a real old-fashioned camp. There's nothing like dropping off a happy child. She'll come home for one night in between and then return the next day because they need that day for clean-up before the next session.

On the way home from dropping her off I stopped and bought a magazine, a puzzle book, chips, cookies, and a disposable camera. I was going to send gum but she already had her own private stash of 4 super packs so I figured she had enough.

I can't wait to hear about her camp adventures when she gets home.

church

D and I volunteered in the nursery at church today. It was not that difficult as we only had one customer...a beautiful curly-headed, blue-eyed chubby blond. She is 11 months old and very sweet. We had lots of fun playing, reading, giggling. It was great.

When church was over on the way out I notice a huge box marked "Summer Reading" full of freebies to take. Wow! I restrained myself and only took three books:

Return of Merlin because it looked interesting. I didn't know he wrote fiction.

Georgiana: Dutchess of Devonshire which also looked interesting. I always like period stories and this one sounds pretty good.

Chang and Eng because they were interesting. I really don't know anything about then other than the fact that they were famous conjoined twins who lead remarkably full lives.

Reading continues apace this summer. I'm finishing up How Doctors Think which was recommended by my sister-in-law's sister. It's a fascinating book and certainly gives you pause for thought when thinking about medicine and medical matters. It also underlines that the few times I have had to practically stand up and shout at a doctor to be heard I was right to do so.

I also started reading The Historian which my other sister-in-law had lent me. It's quite good and I am enjoying it very much but I am saving it for bedtime reading so I'm not getting through it very quickly.

It's funny, I have dropped out of the reading challenges because I felt overwhelmed by how prolific these other readers were and how thought-filled their lists seemed to be. I now realize that I don't need to have a "challenge" in front of me to read. I love to read. It's more a matter of making the time in my busy life and making sure that I am reading what grabs me at the moment.

Even funnier my local library misses me, when I run in to drop off magazines and plunder the magazine basket they remark how long it's been since they have seen me and ask me what I'm reading. I guess I'm very fortunate to have all these wonderful books flowing into my life these days from whatever source they arise.

What is anyone else out there reading? Just curious.

fruitilicious

Today has been about fruit. Steve and I went to the garden and picked a huge bowl of red currants. All the ripe ones. There's still twice as many berries on the bush so over the next few days we'll be picking them trying to stay ahead of the birds. Tomorrow I'll start washing and freezing what we have as I do not have the time to make jelly right now. I plan to make jelly, syrup and tarts with the berries when I am done with the rhubarb.

Speaking of rhubarb I ran out to the garden tonight and grabbed a huge bunch of stalks and have a container of Rhubarb-Apricot Jam starting on the counter. I'll process it tomorrow.

The gooseberries are doing very well, getting plump but still green. I think there will be enough for a pie. Not bad since I only planted it last year.

I then wandered over to the raspberry bed (on the other side of the house) and found the first few ripe raspberries. There was an unfortunate accident on the 20 steps back to the house and somehow none of the raspberries survived. However it looks like a good crop is forming so we'll start picking those soon.

The blackberries are setting an unbelievable amount of fruit. Every branch inside the fence is loaded. The ones outside the fence? I think the deer have been nibbling. Good thing the fence is up.

farm again

Farm day again, how lovely it is. I really find my time on the farm to be very calming. It's so serene and peaceful out there. Amazing to think that people used to (and some still do) live that way. It's a lot of hard, hot work but there are benefits to be sure.

Todays share was:

strawberries - the last of them *sob*
spinach, garlic scapes, salad mix, buttercrunch lettuce, curly kale, salad turnips, radishes, a huge tomato (brandywine?), and basil. Boy did my car smell good driving home.

canning again

Today I made a small batch of Rhubarb Lemon Jam. So tart and tangy. So delicious. No picture because it wouldn't look that different from yesterdays.

Recipe? I'm glad you asked

Rhubarb Lemon Jam

2 pounds of rhubarb
1 thin peel of a lemon (no pith - the white stuff)
1/2 C. water

bring to a boil then simmer covered for 30 minutes

add 2 1/2 C. of sugar

raise heat and cook on medium-high for 20 minutes

process in sterilized jars in hot water bath for 10 minutes


Mmmmmmmmm.......

knitting around town

While doing my banking today I was knitting in line at the drive through. I have started keeping a small charity project at hand for just such an opportunity. I managed to get three rows done.

At Stitch Sisters tonight we sat outside for the first hour as it was VERY hot inside. We had two new people show up. One is a crocheter and the other brought her spinning wheel! That was pretty cool. She has a flock of sheep and this is her own fiber.

We had our usual fabulous meeting time. I'm done knitting the sweater. Just need to sew it up and do the neckband and the waistband. I'm really bummed because one sleeve is a couple of rows shorter than the other due to the fact that I ran out of that yarn. No ball band and I'm sorry but I'm not buying a whole skein of yarn just to do two sleeve rows. I think it won't show too much and it's supposed to be a beach throw-on anyway so I think it will be fine. Not happy with the way the seaming is coming out so I'll need to experiment with different methods until I find one that looks the way I want it to.

just because

I don't normally put pictures up here. Too busy/distracted/lazy to get out the camera, transfer the pictures, upload the pictures...oh well. Today for some reason I happened to be at the computer with the camera and the stars aligned so there are a lot of pictures coming to blogityville. This one is of Chloe, just because, because she's cute, because she's a silly cat who sleeps on paper, just because.

berries to come

While wandering around the yard today I noticed that my blackberry bush is in full blossom. It's so pretty and will provide a lot of tasty fruit later in the year. I'm starting to plan now for all of the yummy crisps and jams that will come from this bush.

weeding with a chainsaw

Steve and I got out into the garden today before it got too hot. I was weeding and noticed that a couple of things needed to be moved. Then I noticed that a couple more things needed a haircut -- badly.

Steve obligingly came over and move a rhododendron (a small one) and then tried to move a couple of barberry bushes that I no longer want. They've gotten too big and are impinging the other plants around them. They are so big he had to get the chainsaw to hack them down. I'm not putting anything in their place other than mulch as I figure the tree and remaining barberries will fill in and the hole will not even be noticeable next year.

After that he gave the juniper a haircut; also with the chainsaw because the branches were too thick to cut with shears. Now I'll need to separate out the hosta and fill in the blank. Hopefully it will all look good when I'm done.

rhubarb marmelade

That time of year again. The rhubarb calls.

I've made a lovely rhubarb cake, yesterday, and a wonderful batch of rhubarb-apricot jam from Steve's grandmother's recipe. Mmmmmmm, we love this stuff. And just in time because we finished the last jar a few weeks ago.

Recipe? Of course.

Take a bunch of peeled and chopped rhubarb
take the same amount of sugar
let the two sit overnight
take a handful of diced apricots and let them sit in a little warm water
put rhubarb mixture and apricots into a pot and start to cook
bring to a boil and boil 10 minutes
can in sterilized jars, process 10 minutes in hot water bath



Enjoy!!!

yippedy dippity

It's Miss K's birthday!!! How wonderful to have this little bundle in our family. Her very first birthday surrounded by lots of loving arms to hold her.

thanks to Barb's Pics for the graphic

graduate

Yippee! She's done it! She went and graduated! V has joined the ranks of graduates, the class of 2007. She has worked so very hard to get to this point and now will be heading off to become the class of 2011. Hard to believe that two out of three are one foot out of the nest.

Congratulations on a job well done!

where's the food?

small rant coming up.....

I'm probably dating myself but I do very clearly remember the Where's-The-Beef? lady in the Wendy's commercials. These days I'm beginnig to wonder where the food is? It started with trying to remove MSG and all it's aliases. Then came colors, preservatives; things with numbers. Now it's High Fructose Corn Syrup and folks, I've got to tell you, I'm shocked at how pervasive this stuff is in our diet. Then I find out that almost all HFCS is made with GMO corn. YUCK!!!

Read this list and see for yourself. It's getting harder and harder to find real food. Why is the public unable to convince agribusiness that we do not want this stuff? Probably because most people go for cheap and convenient over more expensive and harder to obtain. We don't think we have time in our busy lives to pay attention to what goes into our mouths.

As I learn more about this stuff I find myself wishing I had known a lot of this earlier so that I could have been more proactive for my kids. It also makes me talk to them about food, hopefully helping them to make better choices down the road.

book backlog

Currently reading too many books. I just finished Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It was really good, very thought provoking. Made me realize that although I believe there is a lot that I am doing right in our diet there is a lot more that we could be doing and should try to do. Not that I plan to raise and harvest our own meat animals and not that I plan to give up my farm share. But we could and should be more conscientious about our food supply miles.

I'm also reading Annie Freeman's Fabulous Traveling Funeral -- given to me by my sister-in-law as a birthday present. It's okay but I'm not enjoying it as much as she did. I don't know maybe I'm not in that reflective a mood to be able to appreciate the story as much.

Next on the reading stand, started and eagerly waiting to get back to:
The Historian -- lent to me by my sister-in-law. Seems great so far. It's also a really big book! I love those, you can get lost in the story.

And, as the rest of the world is, we are waiting for The publication of the last Harry Potter. I think there's a feeling of unreality about this book because no one wants to believe that J.K. Rowling would actually stop these stories. But that's what she's said she'll do. My modus operandi is to let the kids fight over who gets to read it first while I start all the way back at the beginning. Obviously this means it's going to take me a long time to get to the very end...woe betide those who try to tell me what happens because I DON'T WANT TO KNOW until I've read it for myself.

Gonna be a busy summer for reading.

'tis that time

To make Nina's lovely Rhubarb Hazelnut Cake. My rhubarb is growing very well this year and we're going to a party tomorrow. Should be a lovely thing to bring (along with perhaps some whipped cream?)

Here's the recipe in standard measures as Nina very kindly translated it for me:

Nina's Rhubarb Hazelnut Cake

2 C. chopped rhubarb
1/2 C. ground nuts
1/2 C. brown sugar (I use sucanat)
7 oz melted margerine
1/2 C. milk
2 C. flour
2 t. cinnamon
1 t. vanilla sugar
2 t. baking soda

I forgot to write down my baking directions so it's 350 degrees F until done unless otherwise specified in my house. Works for most things.

farm farm farm farm

farm farm farm farm FARM Loverly Farm, lovery F-A-R-M.

Today's share was Broccoli Rabe, Chinese Cabbage, Radish, Lettuce, Spinach, Strawhberries, Sugar Snap Peas, Arugula, and Bok Choy. Yummmmmmm