the little wild kingdom

[frustratedearthmother]

these were all brought in a car trunk load at a time or one time we had someone drop a full dump truck load out front in the ditch and we moved them all in.

That's even more impressive then! That's a lot of work.

 

[flowerbug]

That's even more impressive then! That's a lot of work.

it was, and still is, we always say it is our life to move rocks around here. so many have been moved multiple times. good exercise until you drop them on your feet or smash a finger.

at one time i thought it would be really interesting to learn how to split field stones. i found out that i'd rather not. hahaha...

 

[flowerbug]

a few pictures...

bumblebees first!


feeding on the bunching onions

and on the creeping thyme

a decorative bit of charred stump

and the north garden that's just been planted and still needs some weeding around the edges, but nice to have it back in production again this season at last. we'll see how the critters do...

 

[flowerbug]

i do have to admit that is an excellent picture of a fly too. i didn't notice it was in the picture until i went to edit it this morning. haha!

 

[flowerbug]

all the work over the past several years in the strawberry patch finally paid off for the 2020 season. all these got mashed for shortcakes.

 

[wyoDreamer]

My hubby would request Shaum Torte - crunchy egg white meringues, topped with fresh mashed strawberries and fresh whipped cream on top. The strawberries around here are about 2 weeks behind, and the farm I pick at had winter damage also, so the owner is not sure how much of a crop they will have either. I hope to get some strawberries this year, but depends on when they are ready and when I have my surgery, they may coincide...

 

[flowerbug]

My hubby would request Shaum Torte - crunchy egg white meringues, topped with fresh mashed strawberries and fresh whipped cream on top. The strawberries around here are about 2 weeks behind, and the farm I pick at had winter damage also, so the owner is not sure how much of a crop they will have either. I hope to get some strawberries this year, but depends on when they are ready and when I have my surgery, they may coincide...

i had to look up Schaum Torte. egg whites, sugar, vanilla, bake low and long to dry them out. we had some other cookies here like those which we called Angel Wings. anything with sugar in it is good to me.

these days i would like some cream puffs with strawberries on top. i'm really a custard lover too so things with cream fillings of most kinds i do like.

i hope you can get some strawberries this season! fresh strawberries from a good local grower are so nice in season. i have a really hard time appreciating those imported in the off-season - frozen are about the best in flavor we've been able to come up with.

 

[Britesea]

I agree, @flowerbug if they're not dead ripe and still warm from the sun when I get them, they're not worth eating. Frozen or freeze dried isn't bad though.

 

[flowerbug]

I agree, @flowerbug if they're not dead ripe and still warm from the sun when I get them, they're not worth eating. Frozen or freeze dried isn't bad though.

i opened up the last jar of freezer jam to make sure the lid had remained sealed and all was still good. tasted just as good as the day i made it a few years ago. i add extra lemon juice to the recipe, otherwise it is as the pectin instructions had it down. now i wonder if the pectin i have is any good but i guess i will find that out when i open the packages. i'm pretty sure that i don't really need the pectin anyways now as i don't use this as jam or care about it not being set or not - nor does the other primary consumer... buying the pectin is a major expense too so if i can avoid using it and the taste still works then doing without will be ok with me.

 

[wyoDreamer]

I had a recipe for strawberry jam that used a granny smith apple instead of pectin - just grate it up and add it to the strawberries. It ended up with a decent thickness for spreading. Apples have a lot of pectin, especially crab apples.

Editted to add: granny smith apples have a lot of pectin, otherwise use under-ripe apples. The more ripe the apple, the less pectin it has.