My mom made me this ball when I was little. When I was packing this up for our move I realized why the fabric on this garage sale quilt I bought so appealed to me, I knew that I loved the fabric but didn't realize that it had been on this ball I played with growing up. Isn't it funny how fabrics can have such feelings to them?
I love that word - huckleberry. Huckleberry...love the way it sort of rolls around the tongue. I grew up eating the red variety of huckleberry and only tried the black kind recently (when E found them on a trip to Barkerville). E is our wild food kid, no matter where we go he will find wild food. He is always the first to spot any kind of berry on a hike and I find comfort in knowing that he would never starve if lost in the woods. ;-) The other day he found some berries on the property and wanted to show me to make sure they were huckleberries (we have a rule that I have to double check before he eats). Now that he has found them hopefully he will let some ripen all the way before eating them.
He finds lots of other good things too. He found this lovely egg and then the next day we were heading to town and found a nest right in the middle of the road.
An orchard full of organically sprayed cherries where we can go and pick (as many or as few as we like) for only 90 cents a pound. I didn't miss my cherry trees at all because this was so much simpler than caring for my own cherry trees (and having to pick every single cherry on them).
And this summer I am extremely grateful for the efforts of other growers and for local farm stands and farmers' markets. It is taking some getting used to to have to go out and buy veggies instead of trolling round my own garden getting inspiration for dinner. I feel very blessed to live in an area full of good, locally grown produce (and also for generous friends willing to share their produce).
I feel especially grateful for this after spotting this visitor on the Sunday (and again a bit closer yesterday afternoon).
Tomorrow on As the Garden Grows -
Will Heather have a garden left after she returns from holiday? Will the deer munch with zest and zeal on her little zucchini plants that are just growing tiny little zukes? Will they trample her much-loved tomatoes? Stay tuned...
;-)
This year I am learning to rely more than ever on "wild" plants. I did plant a little spinach but since we didn't move here to mid-June it isn't near ready yet so we have been making good use of the lamb's quarter here. There is loads of it and I think I will even pop some in the freezer for winter use.
The other day I made a simple pasta sauce with a jar of last year's tomatoes simmered with garlic, herbs and lots of chopped lambs quarter. A drizzle of olive oil and a little Romano on top finished it off nicely.
The next night we had new potatoes fried up as hash browns, some fried mushrooms and scrambled eggs with lots of chopped, steamed lamb's quarter in them. Delicious. The boys thought we should have that for dinner Every Night. And since we are enjoying all that green goodness it seems only right that my tomatoes should get some too. 
E also came across a new-to-us plant called Self-heal. With a name like that, it seems like an herb worth getting to know. 
Little by little it is starting to feel like home around here.
dogs being silly
clothes on the line.
The boys love to have lemonade as a cool treat on a hot day in the summertime. E likes the sourness of lemon so much he will eat them as is. The other day they wanted to make some so we bought some lemons and they set to it.
I really like this recipe because you make the lemonade syrup and store it in the fridge, that way whenever you want a glass of lemonade you have the makings on hand.
