[spider]worts and all

It's been quite dry here, so it's been nice to have a few days of steady rain.  It's been great for the garden, too.  The irises are coming up, one after the other.

Thin stalks of spiderwort are spiking up through the liriope.

Best of all, the peonies are starting to open!

I'm so glad I let the helleborus run wild.  They've nicely filled in the front beds! The relatively empty spot on the right is where one of our massive ferns used to be.  We rooted them all up and moved them to the back yard.  I've planted yarrow and catmint in their place and it will take a while for them to fill out.

Because of our bumper crop of acorns, we now have a literal forest of tiny tree seedlings - in the yard and all throughout our mulched beds.  If they aren't taken care of now, we'll have a terrible time eradicating them.  I've spent many hours outside, digging up the cracked acorns with their 6" taproots.  As usual, lots of activity going on just beneath our notice!

Some small animal has created a run or den here.  It's the perfect size for a toad, too!

This slug was suspended from a hanging fern by a thread of slime.  Quite the acrobat!

A little snail stays indoors in the mid-day heat.

This beetle is a whiskery-faced little walrus!

Ants are building their tiny towers.

At first I thought this was a beetle grub, but its coloring looks almost millipede-like.

I love seeing the little mushrooms pop up all over.

Bi-color clover, too...

...and wild strawberries.

Someone watched me working from the protection of a fern...

...while Bosewichte watched the whole scene from a living room window.

I haven't had the time - or the energy - to work on my quilt.  I did finally finish knitting a hat!  This is Deep Woods Toque on Ravelry.

It took me forever to knit it with my old and finger-straining method (American throwing).  I modified my cast-on number after reading several comments about the hat being too big.  However, when I tried it on after knitting, it was too small. ARGH!  I blocked it mercilessly and now it fits nicely.  I'm trying to learn a new method (flicking), which will be easier on my hands, but I haven't picked out a practice project yet.  I've been so busy outlining gardening books at night that I haven't had time for anything else!  I'm excited about that project.  I have stacks of gardening books that I never reference.  If I have a question, I Google it.  Now I'm culling information and plant recommendations from each book and putting that information into a master chart.  When we finally have our farm, I'll be able to pull the chart and create a 3-season garden by plant color, bloom time, height, and light requirement.  It's a daunting task but I am really enjoying it.  Hopefully I'll have time to quilt soon!

Have a great week!

Thar She Blows!

I had planned to do a strictly craft-centric post today, because I've done several projects and have fallen far behind on posting pictures.  The same with some recent baking experiments.  But we had such an interesting weather event this weekend that I couldn't resist a few pictures.

The forecast for Friday afternoon was cloudy skies with a 20% chance of precipitation.  Suddenly, the sky got dark, the wind picked up, and hail started pattering down.  We had a torrential downpour and heavy winds for about 15 minutes, and then the storm passed.  We had just experienced a microburst, or a weather system in which a small column of air sinks and pushes out, instead of in a circular rotation like a tornado.  I couldn't believe how much damage was done in just a few minutes.  Another large tree in the back yard fell over, taking a smaller tree with it.

Huge branches down, and lots of little ones.

A gigantic limb on our front poplar tree snapped and is hanging precariously from another branch.  Sadly, the tree, already damaged, is basically in shock and unable to be saved.  The whole thing is going to have to come down next week.

Birds' nests torn out of branches and eggs scattered everywhere.

 

Twenty-four hours without power, so lots of Scrabble by candlelight for us.

Despite the intense heat (almost two weeks of upper 90s), we've had some flowers blooming.  The mimosa trees that hang over the pond are gorgeous.

Spiderwort lines a shady path...

These Rose-of-Sharon-like flowers are blooming on a side yard shrub.  I prefer them after they've wilted for their beautiful blue color.

Our owls are staying busy and making regular appearances.

A heron pair is nesting nearby.

The squirrels frisk in the morning and disappear in the heat of the afternoon.

The cats have stopped begging to go outside in this heat...

...and are focused on indoor entertainment. 

And those trees in the pond?  We aren't worried about them.  Our beaver family is making short work of that job!

I will try to get that craft post up next week.  Have a good weekend!

Hold On Magnolia

It's such a beautiful day today that I decided to push my work to the afternoon and take a little walk around the property.  

Everything is so green!

We have several huge magnolia trees, and the young leaves are a very nice vibrant green.

 Our front beds are 'bushing up' nicely.  I love this filled-in look!

 

I planted several astilbes this fall, and they're starting to spike up.

The Japanese holly ferns are setting up their spores...

...and the clematis, too, is setting up seed for propagation.  I think the clematis seed head is so beautiful!

The cardinals have long left their nest, so I removed it carefully for my collection.

It's quite small and comprised of leaves and twigs.

I heard an Eastern Towhee digging noisily in the leaves nearby.

Mother - or wife - watched anxiously from a low-hanging branch!

Meanwhile, it's the end of the nesting season for the bluebirds, but you can still see the old nesting material sticking out of the birdhouse.

I spotted some spiderwort.

It's a wildflower, but I'm very pleased to have it popping up amid my liriope.

Bosewichte, of course, supervised everything from his perch in the sun room.  Oh dear, we really need to clear off those old spiderwebs!

I've been picking rosemary for cooking...last week I made a rosemary-garlic brine (and later, sauce) for a delicious roasted chicken...

...and today I got to pick a magnolia flower.

They're absolutely huge!  They have an oblong protruding center with funny curled carpels.

Just one is enough for a 'bouquet'!

I played a little Magnolia Electric Co. in honor of my find: Hold On Magnolia

I bought more strawberries this week, and lemons, without any real recipe in mind.  I'm no innovator when it comes to cooking, rarely straying from a recipe, but I couldn't seem to find something that suited my needs.  I only had a few eggs left, too.  In the end, I sliced up the beautiful strawberries...

...and roasted them for 45 minutes at 300 degrees F, tossed with balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with brown sugar.  I used three precious eggs to make lemon curd (recipe here).  But what then?  I didn't have enough eggs (or the desire) to make a heavy pound cake (5 minimum) or an angel food cake (a dozen!).  On a whim, I turned to Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible and found her White Velvet Butter Cake.  It used 4 1/2 egg whites, which I had left over from making ice cream last week. 

Her method is a bit antithetical to my normal way of baking.  Traditionally, of course, you cream the butter and sugar and add in your eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla.  The 'dries' are mixed separately and then mixed into the 'wets', but just barely, because you don't want to toughen your cake by over-mixing!  Rose's way called for aerating your 'dries' and then beating in the butter and milk, mixing for an additional minute and a half.  A minute and a half!  Then you toss in the egg whites and vanilla in 3 batches, beating after each addition.  Surely this cake would be as tough as a brick!  I was already committed, though.  I was cautiously hopefully when I sampled the finished batter - light, frothy, and very tasty.  The cake baked up nicely.  To my delight, the 'crumb' was amazingly tender, and the cake was absolutely delicious.  I sliced it and layered the roasted strawberries and lemon curd.

I had some heavy whipping cream left over from last week's ice cream, and I was pleased to discover that the resulting sweetened whipped cream was enough to fill and 'frost' the entire cake!

 

It was really, really good.  Very light, and perfect for a warm spring day.  I mean...while it lasted. 

I decided to post this entry a little early because I have such a terrible backlog of photos.  And now...back to work!  Have a good weekend!