August - Favorite Things

Lately I’ve been reading a lot of blogs and notice that publishing lists of things for one reason or another is a useful and effective way of conveying to your audience things you want them to know about.

I kind of liked the idea and have decided to start making a list on a month by month basis of great stuff.  So here is my first list.  Included are links, when available, for additional information about the items. I hope you find some things in the list that you too enjoyed in August.  Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear from you and know if you have a "favorite" thing about August.

Favorite Things ~ August (it's a short list, I'm just getting started)

~ Queen Anne's Lace ~ Tomato Bread Salad ~ My Antonia ~ Goat Cheese  ~ Cape Kiwanda ~ Blackberry Jam ~ Basil Pesto ~ Perserving Summer's Bounty ~ Rain Valley Soap ~ My Life ~

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Queen Anns Lace ~ Like blackberries, it grows everywhere in Oregon in August - in the city, in the country, on the roadside, and on the hillside.  It's really very beautiful, kind of like a snowflake in the middle of summer.  Makes a nice bouquet too!

Tomato Bread Salad - One of the best of many ways to enjoy summer's homegrown tomatoes.  

My Antonia - A great American novel by Willa Cather first published in 1918 which realistically depicts frontier life and the settling of the American prairie. Great summer re-read. 

Goat Cheese Cookbook  - Authored by Maggie Foard, there are over 60 farm-fresh recipes for appetizers, breakfast, lunch and dinner using various forms of goat cheese.  Each recipe is beautifully photographed and well thought out for perfect results.

Cape Kiwanda - The family favorite.  We never stop climbing the mountain at Cape Kiwanda!

Blackberry Jam - Plan, pick, and process.  My favorite jam always.

Betty the Cat – A loyal companion this month.

Basil Pesto - Perfect August addition to pasta, veggies, pizza.  Yum.

Preserving Summer’s Bounty - A "how to" book authored by the very credible Rondale Food Center. Everything you need to know about preserving food from harvesting, canning, pickling, drying, juicing, to root cellaring.

Rain Valley Soap - Wonderfully luxurious, lubricating soap handcrafted in Portland.

My Life – Ukulele king Jake Shimabukuro released a brief but completely delightful EP of six classic songs by a wide variety of artists (Judy Garland, Cyndi Lauper, two by the Beatles, Sarah McLachlan, even Led Zeppelin).  My favorite "In My Life"  is a wonderful rendition of the Beatles classic.

Life is good - bye for now!  Evelyn

REMEMBER:  Buy Local When You Can!

Blackberries v.1 (and I’m not talking phones)

There were two good reasons I went out picking blackberries the other morning; to make good on a promise to my niece, and because there’s really nothing better in the jam world than blackberry jam (OK, raspberry’s pretty good too). 

A jar of homemade blackberry jam should go into the category of “priceless”. You can’t go out and buy it, not the kind that you make from the berries that grow just about everywhere in Oregon. And they really do grow everywhere -  in the city, on the highway, in the backyard, in the woods, and all over the countryside.  

They have huge threatening thorns and little stickers, and because they are a giant invasive weed they usually have thistles and itchy poison oak growing in and around them.  Did I mention the spiders and other crawling creatures you might encounter?  So although they are delicious, abundant and “free”, there is a price to pay.

Nevertheless, since I was out at my friend’s farm tending to the garden, I thought I'd take a look at the blackberry patch down by the pond.  The berries were there - plentiful, ripe for picking and it didn’t take long to get enough for a batch of jam. 

 

And what a day it was out in the countryside - very quite and serene. It was one of those days to just sit around and watch the world go by.  That being the case, I thought if I was really quite I would slowly make my way down to the pond with my camera and possibly get a good picture of the Red-wing Blackbirds that were so abundant earlier in the summer or a good shot of the Great Blue Heron I saw lift off the pond just the other day. 

So I sat very quietly on the edge of the rock wall that serves as a dam on the edge of the pond.  I sat for 15 minutes - nothing appeared – nothing -  and I thought that being a wildlife photographer was rather boring, but I continued to wait quietly. 

What a delight when I got a visit from Betty the farm cat who needed a little company herself and so we waited together. 

As sometimes happens, it turned into a not so productive but very pleasant moment for both Betty and me. 

And I do have the blackberries.

Stay tuned for Blackberries v.2 - Jam.

Life is good - bye for now.  

Evelyn

Remember:  Buy local when you can!

Garden Time

This spring a friend and I decided to put in a vegetable garden on her place in the country. 

This has worked out well for both of us, being single women of a certain age we have been able to depend on each other to care for the garden during the summer. 

At this time my friend is away on vacation so I''m sending her this garden update.  

Dear Juds, Since you been away the garden has done quite well, although there have been a few discouraging developments with the gopher.    

As soon as you left he took care of the remaining beets and when I last visited the garden our number one gourmet cipollini onions growing next to the green beans have disappeared completely. 

I've actually taken to flooding his tunnels just for fun, although I know I'm making little impact on his life.  He's probably enjoying the water in this hot weather. 

For now we're going to have a bumper chop with the green beans on the purple trellis- the tomatoes - of course the zucchini - unbelievably the eggplant - the purple cabbage is gorgeous, and the sunflowers are the sentinels of the garden - pleasingly garish.  I guess I got carried away with those seeds.  The chard is still with us and the kale that you planted is coming on nicely. And we still have savoy cabbage! I tried to make sauerkraut and I think it worked!

The tomatoes are coming on like gang busters and I expect to get lots of ripe ones by the end of the week. In fact, one of the heirlooms (Brandywine) ripened and yes I eat it - it was the most delicious tomato I've eaten in a long time (childhood comes to mind)

I cleaned up the spinach, arugula, and lettuce that was bolting and was hoping to put in another crop of lettuce. Now that it's so hot I'll wait awhile.  Hopefully I can do it and there would be a nice little crop when you return.

The squash growing back of the greenhouse are struggling (the soil is too thin) but I'm determined that we will have a crop and haven't given up on they - yet!  

Betty is always hanging around the house and follows me out to the garden loyally.  She's a sweetie.  The old yellow cat is always stealing her food, along with the Blue Jay.

Today, she didn't come out to greet me right away.  I was a little concerned until I found her under the house where it's cool.

Given your absence, she's probably wondering what's going on in her world!  

Say good-bye Betty.  

See you soon.

Evelyn

REMEMBER:  Buy Local When You Can!