Weather: Temperatures have been in the 50's and low 60's this week, with lows down into the 40's. We've also had rain almost every day -- not much in sum, but a regular drizzle. Andy was able to plant two long rows of onions, but that's been about it. We're supposed to get a steady rain today, and rain for the next 2-3 days. The kids have been saying, "May showers bring June flowers," which is actually how it works here.
Katydid took some pictures of flowers blooming in the yard after she and Andy came home from her birthday trip.
At a lower elevation, the crabapples and lilacs have already started to bloom. Ours are still in the bud stage... but swelling more every day. Coming home from church on Sunday, I looked at our land from a different perspective, wondering why our blooms lag behind everyone else's. Elevation is certainly part of it - we're at 1100 feet or so -- but I think the slope of the land behind and around us means that we may be caught in a mild frost pocket. We always have more snow, too.
In the Garden:
Not much to report. I've started about 6 flats of seedlings in the dining room window: 2 of okra (just done last night); 1 watermelon (all up and beginning to get their seed leaves); 1 winter squash (not doing so well, but a few are up); and 2 cantaloupe (not up yet). I don't have room to start cucumbers. I need a greenhouse. (I say this every year.) In the actual garden, Pip's radishes and chard desperately need thinning, since he dumped an entire packet (or two) out in the same place. The spinach is coming up -- and probably likes this rain -- and the peas are beginning to grow quickly. Two of five of the rhubarb plants we planted last year have made it. No asparagus yet.
Gareth has started both of the mushroom kits I ordered: shiitake and portabello.
In the Coop:
We're down to 10 hens, and Andy has ordered electric poultry netting. Our turkeys are scheduled to ship May 18. I have heard so many bad things about turkeys -- how fussy they are, how they'll crowd into corners and suffocate, how they're more prone to disease -- that I am not sure I'm looking forward to brooding them. Andy wants to get a stock tank to use as a brooder because it has rounded corners. At least they won't be in my laundry room this year.
From the kitchen:
Fiddleheads!
They don't look very appetizing, do they. I didn't forage these -- I have no idea if our ferns are the kind you eat or not, though it seems like they might be, since these fiddleheads here came from 30 minutes away -- I bought them at the farmstand we frequent when we can. I had never eaten fiddleheads before, and I could only find two recipes in my books. One was for a fiddlehead and morel risotto. I didn't have morels or arborio rice, but I did have a nice big portabello. So I decided to saute the fiddleheads and mushrooms in butter with garlic the way the first part of the recipe said to, and then I salted them with sea salt and gave them a few good shakes of pepper. Then, tentatively, I ate one.
Wow! So much better than they look. All the kids liked them. Let me repeat that, in bold. All my super-picky kids liked fiddleheads and mushrooms. They taste a little like asparagus, except better.
Thats amazing about the fiddleheads. I dont know if I would have been brave enough to try them; not because of the taste but because I would be afraid they were poisonous or something! LOL
Its raining here too so the plants just sit in the solarium awaiting their debut!
Posted by: Mrs darling | May 07, 2009 at 10:25 AM
I would love to get your family a füdoo Board! It is so much fun trying new foods together and it sounds like your kids are up for it.
Posted by: füdoo mom | May 14, 2009 at 10:32 PM