Sunday, August 28, 2016

A wotrhwhile trip



through the garden


yielded color and 




and the makings for a HOT Salsa.

Happy Sunday to you and yours, 

Gina 


Thursday, August 25, 2016

Nature has been generous



And I love it all


We never know what kind of year we're going to have.  
It's either feast or famine.





I'm not bashful. I call it what it is,  Fabulous. 




We had to harvest our grapes a few days early.  
The wasps showed up before the grapes were completely ripe. Wasps dessicate our grapes in only two days. 

We had to get up very early, while it was still dark.  Wasps wait until the sun comes out before they leave their hiding places.

They will come after you. 






Juiced by hand, nothing added. 





Raw Interlaken Grape juice.







Picked yesterday morning...






In the freezer this afternoon.





Peaches are next.




I knew it would break...too many peaches for a young tree. 





These peaches will be ripe in about a week. 
Will share with friends...they get the pleasure of picking their own. 

Did I tell you that I love picking fruit, high up on a ladder looking at the blue sky and the puffy, white clouds. 




We also have two older peach trees, "Early Albertas".  They always ripen early.  






Early Albertas are cling free and easy to peel and they have a most superior flavor...in other words they are the perfect peach. 







Late grapes (if they survive) will become golden raisins.







  Papaver Somniferum still blooming in my garden.  
I'm saving seeds.


If you're in the neighborhood.  Stop by.  
The ladder is leaning up against the tree. 

Gina



Monday, August 22, 2016

Oh Yes, it's Gooseberry Pie



Mention Gooseberry Pie and your guests will wrinkle their noses. 



Serve the pie with whipping cream laced with Likör. 

One of your more adventuresome guests will give it a try.
 And then the pie will disappear in a flash...
and a new legend is born.  






If you don't have a Gooseberry bush in your garden, Oregon Gooseberries are a great substitute. 







My Gooseberries are red.
Red or green, they all taste the same and both make a most unusual and delicious pie.


Recipe (It's on the can)

You will need 2 cans of Gooseberries, sugar, cornstarch, salt, butter and Pastry for a 9-inch double Pie Crust 

Whipping Cream is optional. 


If you like people talking about you, 
this will do it.  

Have a great week dear friends, 

Gina 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

It's harvest time



 There is enough produce growing in my garden to challenge the weeds.



Peaches are almost ripe.





This is how we harvest beans...
we pull out the entire plant and pull the beans while sitting in the shade.  





Enough beans to last all winter. 






You do know how beans grow.






We pulled the first onions at the same time.
The rest will have to grow some more.  









A family portrait, the Farmer, his dog and the photographer.  






Onions drying on the wall. 

(Look how clever is Mr G.  He places plastic wrap into the sieve first to form Pesto packets).





Liesel has been pampered.  The rest of the Farmers are shaking their heads.  They all say that she should be with the rest of the herd by now.  In the meantime I'm still bottle feeding her 4 times a day

Liesel likes to spend time under an old apricot tree.  Hope she does not get sick from eating apricots and their pits.





Will her Father recognize her when she is put with the rest of the herd?  I know that her Mother won't care, she is the one who abandoned my little charge.  

I will be like a mother duck who watches her ducklings going for their first swim.  


Hope your week goes swimmingly. 

Gina 



Thursday, August 11, 2016

So, So many




Apricots 


And so many more left in my tree.





All of my favorite flowers growing in my garden.





Looking like blushing Brides





We like apricot preserves.  

Easy recipe follows.


Recipe

5 cups of cut up apricots
3 cups of sugar
Zest from 2 oranges
orange segments from 2 oranges 
Combine all ingredients
cook for 30 minutes 
bottle into half pint jars

No water or thickener necessary

There are more apricots in my tree.  Come and get some.  

Gina 

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/