these days...

A few highlights of life around here lately...

 Someone just got a brand new daddy-made kitchen. We're all pretty thrilled with it.

 And dad just got a new guitar. Equally thrilled, all around.

 The sink this morning was full of lettuce (and slugs, and lady bugs, and aphids, and soldier beetles, and spiders). We will be eating very large salads all week.

Strawberry jam! We went picking yesterday at a local farm and had a lovely time. I used Pomona's Pectin and a little turbinado sugar, since we didn't have any honey around. The texture is a bit different from higher sugar recipes, but the flavor is divine! As you can see, the pulp separated from the juice, but according the the Pomona's FAQ page, it can just be stirred after opening. To prevent separating in the future, they recommend turning the jars upside down for about 45 minutes after they have cooled and the lids have sealed, to redistribute the pulp.

 Potatoes are thriving, and blossoming. You should take a picture of the flowers, said my husband.

 We're thrilled to see that the Kentucky Wonder green beans we saved from last year germinated. The slugs are, too. I am hoping that these little plants have a large store of resilience to weather the onslaught. We may have to replant. The slug population in our little yard is mighty strong this year. They completely wiped out our first sowing of carrots, stunted our peas, and ate a good portion of the seedlings in our hoop house. Our best defense is hand-picking them, but slug picking often gets relegated to the bottom of the to-do list around here. We also use Sluggo at times, which is an iron-phosphate bait that is non-toxic to animals and people. It does help to control damage around tender new plants.

Oh look at those lovely berries..."Are these ones ready, mama?" No, but...


These are! Thus begins the daily (hourly?) request to venture into the backyard for ripe blueberry hunting.

I never tire of these glorious poppies. So radiant amidst the gray drear of late spring in these parts. It has been cold--hardly 60 degrees, with pouring rain, some hail, even thunder and lightning (which is quite an exciting novelty for us). It's good to have a bit of color and light captured in these flowers.

Wishing you a bright week ahead!