It was hard to capture exactly how loaded our cherry tree was this spring with cherries. Last year, being the first year we harvested any fruit from that tree – a banner two pounds! – I was hoping to get as lucky, if not luckier this year. Continue reading
It seemed like a simple plan.
With Pat gone for a few days to a conference, I thought I’d take advantage of the beautiful weekend weather and mow the yard. It had been a bit since it had been mowed – between the weather and our schedule, mowing was a task that just seemed to fall through the cracks. With the weather being sunny and dry on Saturday, I thought I’d mow the lawn, then move onto canning all the cherries I’d picked from our tree this week. Also on the docket was a little bit of house cleaning. Continue reading
This week’s go-to potluck item.
We spent Memorial Day weekend mostly around the homestead in a blur of outdoor band concerts, impromptu potluck dinners with neighbors and a float down the river. There was an attempt to make home made ice cream that failed spectacularly when I realized way too far into the process that our ice cream maker was no longer of this world. I tried googling how to make ice cream without a maker but I didn’t realize until a few hours later it was probably too far along to really salvage. We now have a big plastic tub of frozen creamy strawberry mix in the freezer that is quite lovely with warmed pound cake or lemon cake fresh out of the oven at a potluck.
Well hello there!
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? True to form, May has kicked my ass on every level imaginable once again this year. How is it Memorial Day weekend already? I’m still not done getting the gardens in, the only batch of strawberry jam I made was at last night’s Happy Cook class and when people ask what our summer plans are, I have no answer. None. Continue reading
Springing.
Spring, with all its glorious blooms and colors is still a marvel after last winter. The blooming pink dogwood has transitioned to green leaves, with the breeze sending petals to the ground in spring’s version of snowfall. Continue reading
Complete and utter madness abounds.
Last Wednesday afternoon I came home from running errands to discover Pat was taking off to Lynchburg at the news of a train derailment that sent tanker cars carrying crude oil into the river, setting the river itself on fire. Continue reading
The front yard in a jar.
Easter Sunday evening, Kitchen Intern & husband had popped by for a drink. Sitting under the gloriously blooming pink dogwood, they couldn’t help but notice our yard was a carpet of violets in bloom. They inquired if I was going to do anything with them – like make violet jelly. The idea had not occurred to me, but later in the week, Pat mentioned he needed to mow soon, so if I was going to pick those violets, I needed to get on it. Continue reading
Every day a holiday.
It’s Earth Day. That one day a year we’re supposed to stop and consider being nicer to this planet we call home. There are all sorts of events scheduled to take part in this time of year where one can learn to conserve, to show your love of mother earth or just plant a tree. Being married to a Riverkeeper, I am often asked what we do to celebrate the day.
Announcing….
Food in Charlottesville Jars.
If you’ve ever taken any of my canning classes, talked to me for more than say, two minutes about canning or read anything I’ve written in the past few years about canning, then you might have picked up that I’m a bit of a fan of Food in Jars. I completely and totally credit the end of my years long struggle of making a decent batch of jam to Marisa McClellan, the woman behind both the blog and the cookbook. She introduced me to the concept of small batches – which also happens to be the subject of her latest cookbook, “Preserving by the Pint:Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces“. She was here in Charlottesville last night at The Happy Cook, where she demoed Honey-Sweetened Strawberry Jam, on the first stop of her southern book tour promoting her new cookbook.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 