The weekends never slow down, but this diary isn't about all the hurly-burly of living an active life, it's about stopping to smell the flowers. And eat them.
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Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the dingledoodledKosagnocchi ...
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We'll start with this lovely redbud, a new tree to replace one that died in the two seriously bad winters we had with (for us) deep snows and long term cold. Our winters are generally mild with a few brief ice storms or light snow, we aren't accustomed to snow deeper than 3 inches, really. To have 2 winters in a row where the snow exceeded 12" and stayed on the ground longer than 2 days was stunning to us, and fatal to some of our trees.
This little redbud came through the mild winter we had just fine at work. I harvested a lot of the red buds from this tree and others at both work and home and made a syrup from them - there are better plants for making a red syrup, but I wanted this one mostly for the color to use in frostings and cakes.
The best use for red buds is fresh and crisp to eat out of hand. The next best use is to sprinkle them on salads, puddings, creamed soups (I particularly like them on cream of cauliflower soup), sauces, cupcakes, and ice cream. Red buds are slightly tart and sweet, but mostly they're bland enough that they are more for decoration than flavor.
I have to mow often. Twice a week, generally, because if I don't then my grass gets really high. This is a picture of the grass after a mere week of not mowing - it's taller than Itzl who has to stretch to peer over the top of the grass, and sometimes he'll stand on his hind legs like a little chipmunk to gaze around. This weekend, the grass was high enough, even Hector got lost in the grass.
Where I stopped in the picture above, I spotted a ladybug family, tens of teeny baby ladybugs, so I had to carefully mow around them, leaving that stand of grass growing tall for the ladybugs to shelter in. I love ladybugs and so does my garden!
As I mowed, I rewarded myself with ripe mulberries from this tree. I prune it so there are always branches drooping down low enough for me to reach and each time I mowed under it, I would pluck and eat all the ripe berries in reach from the lawn mower without shutting it off. Mulberry season is far too brief for me!
After I mowed, I spread sheets out under the mulberry tree to catch ripe mulberries as they fell off the tree (I helped some by shaking the tree). Itzl and Xoco know not to walk on the sheets, but Hector had to be put in the house. Itzl and Xoco, just by being present, scare off the birds that wanted my mulberries. They don't chase the birds, they were just lying about sunning themselves and enjoying the respite from Hector, who hasn't gone to his new home yet.
That's Xoco, the little white blur on the bottom left of the photo.
I collected 2 quarts of mulberries, and will spread the sheets this evening for more. I am going to make mulberry wine, and possibly mulberry jelly, and if there are enough mulberries left over, I will make mulberry syrup.
While the roofers managed to disappear my raspberry canes and the trellis they grew on, they skipped over this blackberry. This is a first year cane and I'm pleased that it produced a single blackberry this year. next year, when it's established, I expect a lot more from it.
My daylilies are blooming, so I have yummy food. Daylily buds, sauteed in a bit of butter have a lovely knacken - a "pop" when you bite into them, and they taste all goldy-green with hints of radish and green beans.
Peel down the stalks to the white center. These stalks aren't really tasty like celery or scallions or lemon grass, but they are nutritious and sliced up, sauteed, and added to stews or soups, they add bulk and blanco. The stalks can also be sauteed until just slightly crispy tender and added to salads for more bulk and nutrition.
The flower petals don't have a lot of flavor, either, but they have lots of color that can brighten a salad or a soup. The flowers can also thicken a soup and add color at the same time - use some to dye the soup a bit and thicken it, then add fresh petals for more color.
Where daylilies really shine are the tubers. They look like fingerling potatoes. Raw white tubers taste just like jicama, but cook them like potatoes and they taste like really sweet spuds. Saute the tubers in butter with a dash of salt and pepper and a sprinkle of summer savory or thyme or dillweed. Boiled, they grace soups and stews, and boiled and broken (that's like mashed only chunky) with herb butter, they make a lovely side dish. Yellow tubers aren't as sweet and taste more substantial - like a German Butter Potato.
Here is a shot of the bachelor buttons and roses - both edible and ornamental. Bachelor button flowers have a spiciness that complements corn. I love to make bachelor button butter to spread on roasted ears of corn - and since bachelor buttons often grow among the corn, that's a two-fer! The petals can also be scattered on corn chowder for both color and flavor.
Roses, of course, have been eaten for centuries.
The irises aren't edible, but I do have edible irises (Iris missouriensis, Iris cristata, Iris pseudacorus, Iris germanica, are the edible ones). On the edible irises, the seeds are roasted for a coffee-like substance, and the roots dried, roasted, and ground to use as a spice - it starts out sweet tasting then develops a capsacin-like burn. Use sparingly! Also, many people are allergic to it so use cautiously!
This is my Zombie Maple, shedding trunks and limbs like rotting body parts. This trunk is too large for me to chop up or move, so I've decided I'm going to hollow it out and use it as a planter for lettuces and calendulas.
This is my lavender, snapped in the dark because I realized it's ready to harvest! Lavender makes sachets, lemonade, cookies, pie crusts, syrup, wine, perfume, soap, and potpourri - useful plant.
And here's a parting shot of the bachelor buttons, taken at the same time as the lavender above.
This is just a small part of my garden, and I hope you enjoyed it as you descend into the grip of the Tops: Comments. Mojo and Pictures!
brillig here, Purveyor of Fine Tops and thoroughly impressed with all the wonderful plants up there!
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From blue aardvark:
Nominating a thread and subsequent, with especial credit to boran2.
From raina:
Belinda Ridgewood waxing poetic about real bagels and cursing faux bagels is so funny.
From Purple Priestess:
Calouste has a logical point to make in Kaili Joy Gray's diary about GOP House candidate Alan Quist. But Dauphin's follow-up is a scream.
In cka's diary about urinal flies, mrsgoo explains why she thinks they are a good idea. The diarist answers with a quip that sets mrsgoo up for the punch line.
From aarrgghh:
lineatus wins my nomination for this comment in my diary a freeper struggles to come out of the closet.
From Noddy:
Lineatus talked about the horrors of homophobia on aarrgghh's diary, A Freeper Struggles to Come out of the Closet, who responds to lineatus with this bit of insight on life as a homophobe.
Jfromga is concerned about the state of the male mind on cka's diary, Fly in the Urinal
Tom Tomorrow shares a twitter about his The Austerions comic.
Top Mojo for yesterday, May 13th, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you
mik for the mojo magic!
1) Your religious freedom ends at my civil rights by Dallasdoc — 209
2) Often ignored by Zwoof — 170
3) Credit Default Swap dominoes by FishOutofWater — 133
4) Don't forget the "vaxxers" in this travesty by ontheleftcoast — 126
5) I Often Say You Learn Something New by webranding — 125
6) Great news!! - thank you by MartyM — 99
7) Just read the link, for the reply to my own by SottoVoce — 95
8) Someone outside a little, rural post by Little Lulu — 92
9) All I will say in closing is this: by LeftHandedMan — 91
10) Funny thing by sidnora — 87
11) Fourteenth edition!!!! by Meteor Blades — 85
12) Was just going to bring that up... by SwedishJewfish — 83
13) Yes... by KathleenM1 — 82
14) A noun, a verb, by Patriot4peace — 75
15) I like the way you write by Patriot4peace — 71
16) Very supportive of his remarks... by Mets102 — 71
17) Oh One Other Point About These CDS by webranding — 69
18) Thanks. This diary made by Old Gray Dog — 67
19) You want prayer in school? by kitebro — 64
20) Oh Hai Kossacks! Pleez Remember Mothers Have To: by leonard145b — 63
21) Ayup by Dallasdoc — 62
22) Oh Hai Whoknu! Yes, A Mother's Work Is Never Done: by leonard145b — 62
23) Thanks to all who read this for your time by LeftHandedMan — 62
24) Mittens Character by jimstaro — 61
25) The baggers probably won't know by yet another liberal — 61
26) It's not an issue in and of itself. by AlyoshaKaramazov — 61
27) Part of being a progressive and a liberal by blue jersey mom — 60
28) Totally agree. Completely. by StrangeAnimals — 60
29) Well, as a European by northsylvania — 60
30) Hallelujiah! Someone finally said it. I have by More Questions Than Answers — 59
31) Some poetry. by One Pissed Off Liberal — 59
Top Pictures for yesterday, May 13th. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you
jotter for the image magic!