Life is Just a Bowl

When I was younger, I was not a big fan of cherry pie.  I'm not sure why but I would usually turn it down if offered to me.  I have seen the error of my ways!

We have a good-sized pie cherry tree.  In fact, it is what I see when I look out the window sitting at our table. 

Right now it is loaded with beautiful red cherries.







The first couple years I lived here there were enough cherries for pie and freezing for future pies.  But the last three years have been quite disappointing.  For two years there weren't even enough to pick.  Last year we got only one pie's worth of cherries.  We were beginning to think something was wrong with the tree.  Perhaps it had was old and had given up producing cherries.  Whatever, we were discouraged.  But this year it has made up for lost time! 

I've already made two pies in one week!  And for some reason, I now like cherry pie.  As our friend Thomas said,  "It puts me in an Allah mode!" 

Garlic Goodness

The curlicues you see here are garlic scapes.  They are the buds of future blossoms on the garlic in our garlic bed.  Until a couple of years ago, I pretty much ignored them or cut them off so the garlic would develop underground.  Then I found out that garlic scapes are great to eat.  They can be roasted and eaten just like they are or chopped and added to dishes.  I have a new recipe for garlic scapes and white bean curry that I want to try this year.  

However, our favorite way to eat them is in garlic scape pesto.  It's a simple pesto of 1 cup chopped garlic scapes, 1/3 cup walnuts,  juice of one lemon, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup olive oil, and salt and pepper.  It is delicious on pasta but amazing on pizza.  We spread the pizza with the pesto, add mozzarella cheese, some chopped proscuitto, diced bell pepper, blobs of homemade ricotta cheese, and a dusting of pecorino Romano cheese, in that order.    

It tastes even better than it looks.

I love cool and interesting culinary surprises...like eating the buds of garlic blossoms.  Breath-wise, just make sure everyone at the table eats it!  

Small Town Girl

I grew up in a small town (sounds like the beginning of a John Mellencamp song)---St. Paul, Oregon, population 320 or so it was when I was growing up.  Actually, I grew up on a farm 5 miles outside of St. Paul near Champoeg State Park.  But St. Paul was where I went to school.  At the time, St. Paul had a gas station, hardware store, bank, barber shop, farm implement store, feed mill, post office and two taverns.  It is also home to the oldest brick Catholic church this side of the Rockies.  But its claim to fame is the St. Paul 4th of July Rodeo. It is a big event, an honest to goodness PCRA rodeo and organized completely by the community.  
I used to usher at the rodeo when I was in high school, attired in my "Buckerette" outfit (short skirt, Western shirt, vest, hat, and boots).  Yep, we were the St. Paul Buckaroos!  (They still are.)  Most of the people in town are part of the "Rodeo Association,"  the group that puts on the rodeo.  Everybody has some job to do and everyone works to make the rodeo happen.  It brings thousands of people into town over the 4 days it goes on.  It's amazing to think about such a large undertaking being shouldered by such a relatively small group of people but that's how it works in a small town.  It is a community...a place where people work together to make things happen. 


Being part of a small town has its pros and cons.  Everybody knows everybody, which can be both good and bad.  There aren't as many opportunities for expanding one's horizons. As soon as I was out on my own, I moved to a small city.  I loved being where things were "happening."  There was always something to do and places to go.  I met lots of different people, many of whom are still friends to this day.  I really liked living there.  Then I moved to a smaller town, which was a little less hectic but still lots of fun.  I really liked living there, too.


Now I live in Palouse, Washington.  At about 1,000 people it's bigger than St. Paul but it's still a small town.  I'm back to being a farm girl, taking care of about 3 acres (along with Paul, of course).  I'm doing lots of gardening and enjoying being in a quiet place again.  It seems I've come full circle and I'm quite contented with my life and where I live.  Someone I know wrote that those of us living here make a choice to have fewer choices.  I really like that idea.

One thing I've noticed is that this small town has that very same sense of community that I grew up with in St. Paul.  People here help each other out.   Folks wave even if they're not sure who you are.  They show up at events to support each others' projects.  They work together for the sake of the community.  I would say that most folks here in Palouse are happy to be a part of this place, to be living in a small town.  I know I certainly am.

Company

You know what happens when you're going to have company?  You clean house, right?  Sometimes we laugh and say that's the only time the house gets thoroughly cleaned, although that's not really true, but it does get that little extra spit and polish when you know someone else is going to see it.  I know you know what I'm talking about.  

The past few weeks we have been doing lots of spitting and polishing around here.  We were invited to be part of the Palouse Home and Garden Tour this year.  It is a fund-raiser for a local group that is preserving a lovely small old church here in Palouse.  We like to support community events and agreed to do it...even though we wished it was two years from now when things will be more finished and lush and impressive.  Actually we were kind of surprised and honored that they asked us.  So we have been weeding and mowing and raking gravel and painting porch step risers and washing windows (you get the idea) for the last couple of weeks.  Whew, it was a lot of work and, at times, we wondered if we had done the right thing.  But today proved that we had.  




We had women from the church preservation group here to help, which was great.  They checked people in at the front walk. 









 



I gave tours inside the house and then turned folks over to Paul, who covered the gardens and prairie part of the tour.  It got pretty busy during the afternoon and the last people left about 4:30 (it ran from 11-4).  

 








It actually turned out to be a fun experience.  We met lots of really nice people, some local, some from farther away.  Everyone was complimentary and, seemingly, impressed with our little piece of Palouse paradise. 

Even though it was lots of work, it was worth it in the end. 

The Lupines

We live in lupine country.  Wild native lupines dot the countryside from here to the Cascades.  There are a few different varieties of natives and all are lovely, in my opinion.  Paul has come in from his prairie each day to tell about more lupines coming up in different places.  

I planted some Russell lupines (a cultivated strain) in my flower garden.  They have done quite well and are blooming in profusion right now.  








 

But lupines have a habit of spreading themselves even where they weren't planted.  Take this one.  It just showed up in this bed one day.  I didn't plant it and it's not the same color as the Russell that's close to it so, I have no idea how it came to be there.  It certainly seems happy to be there though.  It is about 3 feet tall and gorgeous... but not perfect. 

It has put up one flower spike that is quite unusual.  It has 5 ends on it.  Everyone that I show it to just shakes a head in awe and wonder.  How in the world???

I am watching as the blossom opens and continues up each of the spikes.  It will be interesting when it's completely opened up.  Can't wait to see it.


 This lupine sort of reinforces a few life truths, I think.  
1)  Make the best of where you end up.
2)  You don't have to be perfect to be beautiful.

The Pie Plant

Rhubarb!  What an odd and wonderful food.  Even though we think of it as a fruit, it is actually a vegetable.  We eat the stalk of the plant, not the "fruit."  Rhubarb is one of those foods it seems that people either love or hate.  I am on the love side.

Here is a picture that I posted of our rhubarb plant in April.

 And here is one I took this week.  Our rhubarb is obviously very happy and productive.  



 
Rhubarb is also called "pie plant."  I once read that this is because it is the first plant of the spring available for making pies.  Makes sense to me.  Also, rhubarb is used in Chinese medicine to keep one's body working regularly, so to speak.  Another interesting thing is that the leaves are quite poisonous, so don't eat them!                                                                                                                                   
Because we have this healthy plant, we are always looking for ways to fix rhubarb...rhubarb muffins, rhubarb coffee cake, roasted rhubarb.  One of my favorites is a family recipe for a sort of rhubarb cream pie with meringue on top.  Paul loves strawberry rhubarb pie.  I just found a recipe for a rhubarb pecan loaf I want to try.  
 
Tonight it is rhubarb crisp, pretty straightforward but with a bit of orange peel added for flavor.  Can't beat it with a scoop of ice cream. 

There is something exciting about the first fresh pie of spring.  Rhubarb season can last as long as it wants as far as I'm concerned.

Tulips and Tragedy

I love tulips.  There are many here in the garden.  Some I planted. Some were hiding here waiting for someone to appreciate them again before they reappeared in all kinds of places.
 

  The lawn, the walkways, under the spruce trees in the grass...as well as around the house in the flower beds I created.  Tulips say "spring" in so many colors. 


One of my favorite tulips is Angelique.  It has a peony like bloom in a lovely light pink.  I planted two clusters of them, one on each side of entry to the garden.  Yesterday, as I mowed the lawn, I was noticing how beautiful and full they are this year.  Then, this morning, I looked out the window toward the garden as I pulled up the blind.  I actually gasped out loud.  I could see no pink Angeliques anywhere.  Closer inspection showed me this.

The deer came in the night and ate off all the blooms, not only of the Angeliques but also two other bunches at each corner of the garden fence.  Now I sprayed those tulips with a repellant not a week ago.  Obviously deer like tulips more than they dislike repellant!  I was so mad I could have spit nails...or shot a deer.  Then my anger turned to disappointment and frustration.  I work so hard to make my flower garden beautiful only to have it destroyed by big rats with hooves.  At least they didn't go inside the garden and destroy that, too.  I don't know what else I can do aside from building an 8 foot tall fence around the whole place.  Part of me would, if it wouldn't look horrible.  

I've calmed down since this morning and am, again, determined to keep gardening in spite of the deer.  I do hate them but I can't really get rid of them so I have little choice.  The one saving grace in this is that the tulips will be back next year.  Unfortunately, so will the deer.