The haul – week one
In case you missed it on Facebook, here’s the counter full of goodies gotten while the gettin’ was good, real good, at the first downtown market of the year.
How’s that for an amazing run-on sentence? I’m almost proud.
I did not buy rhubarb, for obvious reasons. There’s a recipe for rhubarb bread pudding sitting on the table and calling my name. I’ll freeze whatever’s left over.
Ah, the rhubarb. We’re having a bumper crop already. I used up a little in a strawberry rhubarb ice cream. For my next trick, I modified a classic cake that I usually make with applesauce. In place of the applesauce, I used rhubarb sauce (you guessed that, didn’t you?) and then baked them as cupcakes instead of in the 13 by 9 pan
In case you don’t like to click on links, here’s the updated version.
Depression Cake (named for a historical time period, not the illness)
2 cups strong coffee
2 cups raisins or chopped dates or other dried fruit
½ cup rhubarb sauce
2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour, my favorite)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. each ground cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)
Powdered sugar for garnish (or serve with whipped topping)
Preheat oven to 350.
In large saucepan, combine granulated sugar, coffee, raisins, and applesauce. Simmer 10 minutes. In large bowl, blend remaining ingredients, except powdered sugar. Stir raisin mixture into flour mixture. Pour batter into well-greased and floured cupcake pans. Bake at least 20-30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or serve with whipped topping.
The original was adapted from a recipe in a California Raisin cookbook put out at least twenty years ago.
Actual conversation in car on interstate highway —
Chuck: Is that a tanker that says “Coffee?”
Daisy: I thought it might be a mirage.
Chuck: Wow. Pull up next to it with your mug, turn a spigot, and refill in motion.
Daisy: I have an empty travel mug. It’s at your feet.
We approached the tanker. Here’s what it looked like up close.
“Best Coffee on the Interstate”
Is that a “flammable liquids” sign on the lower left? That’s some strong coffee there, driver. Better add cream and sugar.
It’s a variation on Square Foot Gardening techniques. I say variation because I follow the philosophy of planting in squares instead of rows, but I don’t use a permanent grid. I make my grid with masking tape.
The Grid in living color
The grid is more colorful than usual because I ran out of regular masking tape and had to use painter’s tape instead. It doesn’t matter; I picked up the grid as soon as I was done planting.
It may not look like much now, but this part of the grid will fill up with many shades of green. I planted beans and two kinds of lettuce. The outer border might be marigolds. I say “might” because I salvaged the seeds from dried marigolds on La Petite’s apartment porch. If they come up, I’ll have marigolds to attract pollinators and repel pests like wild rabbits.
Jalapeno peppers to be
Here’s a close-up of one row (column?) in the grid: pepper plants. These are jalapeno peppers. I have a batch of yellow banana pepper plants started, too. I just need to figure out where they’ll go.
So, readers, do you use square foot gardening or traditional rows? Or do you use something entirely different?
It was a rainy day; the kind of rain that made environmentalists smile, knowing that their rain barrels were more than half full.
It was the kind of rain that was steady; it replenished the groundwater and soaked the lawn and garden without destroying newly planted seedlings.
It was the kind of rainy day that meant open windows because in the absence of wind, the rain came straight down and didn’t invade the screens.
It was a nice rainy day, the kind that Californians crave and Texans might prefer because they could have a little moisture without getting out the rescue boats.
I was a little disappointed to wake up and see this steady precipitation and realize it was going to last all day. I wanted to be outside shoveling topsoil from the Big Pile to the raised bed garden, but shoveling heavy mud mixed with soaked sod is not a good plan. Instead, I’m taking care of indoor chores. Blogging about the rain helps me remember that life is precious and rain is good.
And when I think of all the seeds I put in yesterday, I can smile and remember that a good, steady, soaking rain is exactly when we need to get my garden off to a good start.
We picked out a nice hanging plant for Mother’s Day. Petunia moved it from the hanging hook to a small table for easier access. We don’t know if the new tenants moved in when it was hanging or after she moved it. Look closely: can you see it?
Nature makes a good camouflage.
Here’s a closer look.
One, two, three, four, five eggs!
The mom and dad are finches – house finches, we’re pretty sure. Petunia has been avoiding the porch except for minimal time to water the plants each day. In return, they entertain her as she turns from her computer to look outside.
I can’t wait until they hatch!
This encore comes from a pre-rock garden era. The rock garden took the place of the mint pictured here. If I ever plant mint, I’ll do it in a container so it doesn’t take over the world, er, yard. Here you go, folks, an encore presentation: Dandelions.
Have you seen the commercials? The ones that imply that dandelions are evil, nasty, even toxic creatures that intentionally invade your (gulp) Lovely Lawn. The commercials want you to buy their product, of course: the Chemical Killer of Evil Dandelions. Here’s one fighting for its life in the middle of the mint. I predict the mint will win. Mint is a very aggressive plant that doesn’t give up easily.
But chemicals? Expense aside, I don’t need them. I don’t want them on the mint; I might use it in cooking or to mix a mojito. I don’t sweat the dandelions; I use them to offset the high cost of lettuce.
Buttercup loves them.
subtitle: And my reaction.
Tip: The next time you boil or steam vegetables, don’t pour the water down the drain, use it to water potted patio plants, and you’ll be amazed at how the plants respond to the “vegetable soup.”
Daisy says: Down the drain? No way. The water left after steaming vegetables becomes part of a soup broth. The water leftover after washing dishes in the sink – now that can water the plants.
Tip: Water in the morning. This will give plants a chance to drink their fill before the sun and warm winds evaporate the moisture. With a morning watering, plant leaves will dry easily with no risk of getting mildewed overnight.
Daisy says: Well, maybe. I prefer watering in the evening. I put on mosquito repellent, hook my watering can under the spigot on a rain barrel, and water section by section at the root of the plants. Only the smallest of plants will get their leaves wet; that’s only a danger when using a sprinkler. With a sprinkler, a large portion of water will evaporate. What a waste!
Tip: “Farm to Table” is a trend that’s past its prime.
Daisy says: What?! Garden to table and farm to table and farm market to freezer are still popular. If the trend isn’t making headlines any more, maybe it’s no longer a trend. Maybe, just maybe, eating fresh and local foods is becoming a habit, not a fad.
Readers, expect more posts like these as I skim the newspaper and the interwebs for gardening ideas. If I find good advice, I’ll pass that on, too.
From a few years ago – we go to the Memorial Day parade every year. This year, Amigo has a gig with the Barbershop Quartet Chorus. They’ll be singing all patriotic songs, of course, and he’s loving it.
Every year we start Memorial Day by throwing our lawn chairs in Amigo’s bike basket and hitting the road for half a block to stake our claim on a good place to watch the parade. Seriously, it’s half a block from our home. We watch from the front yard, and when the police are putting the traffic barriers up, we head over and park ourselves in the road under our favorite shade tree. Here’s Amigo and MIL cheering on the municipal city band. Chuck? He was relaxing.
And then we went home. Home, to help out our “real live veteran in our front yard,” as Amigo put it. FIL didn’t want to struggle all the way down the street with his walker, so he settled under our mock cherry tree and read a book. We gave him a little flag next to his lawn chair so he could be part of the festivities.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. May your family members in the services stay safe and return to you soon.Or – the rhubarb that took over my kitchen
Or – the day the rhubarb swallowed the world
Or – oh, okay, you get the idea.
I brought up my big strainers with the idea that I’d fill one or both with rhubarb. Hahaha. What was I thinking?
Where’s my big white strainer?
I brought the crop inside, and I had to move things off the counter to make room for the huge quantity of the red fruity stalks. This was scary. The rhubarb monster almost covered the coffee pot!
Where’s the bread machine?
About 40 minutes and two trips to the compost bin later, I had won. I earned this!
I tamed the red menace.
Bwahahahahaha!
For my next task: cook it!