Odd, But Good!

  
Who Needs Lemonade?
   I'm amazed that we still have lots of vigorous rhubarb in spite of June being the hottest and driest on record. It's an early and reliable fresh fruit (though, technically, it's a vegetable) in the spring, but it usually peters out when the weather warms up.

Knee high on the 4th of July!

     Don found a recipe recently on the internet for Rhubarbade.  We had plenty of strawberries (God bless bird-netting), so added some of those too. It's quite yummy. If you have rhubarb, or access to some, I recommend giving the recipe a try. We found less sweetener was needed, but that all depends on your taste. I'd recommend starting with about 1/2 cup sugar and working your way up, if needed. Maybe it was the strawberries that gave it the sweetness.

About to be pureed, then strained. It produces lots of juice.

     I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I love the colors that result from the garden. Here, the green rhubarb and bright red strawberries light up the bowl. I also love the sight of blueberries and pea pods or blueberries and strawberries. Or iridescent green gooseberries and blueberries. Carrots and red chard or spinach....you get the idea.

Lettuce be Grateful

Don saves seeds each year, especially from things that overwinter, like lettuces. Most originated with local seed people, so it's great (and delicious!) to keep them going. In trying to winnow the seed from the chaff on the carport this spring, some of the seed got away. Well, sort of, but not very far. It ended up planting itself very decoratively, in between the bricks where we've tried to get herbs that can handle foot traffic to take hold. Not sure if we'll get much lettuce to harvest, but it's impressive how well it took hold in the tiny space with not-very-good soil! Talk about micro-greens~

We've been eating from these, even though the dumb bunnies haven't.

     Other lettuces appeared "magically" near the compost container where he'd put the leftover stems. Obviously, it's hard to get every last seed off of them. That fortuitous abundance left us with some really nice heads which took hold in the good soil, near the warmth of the compost container. It's truly amazing that the rabbits haven't discovered it. Meanwhile, they're risking life and limb to get into the garden fence to nosh on lettuce starts there. I guess "dumb bunnies" isn't just a saying.


     Two of our favorite sources for lettuce are Wild Garden Seed and Adaptive Seeds. Frank Morton, co-owner of Wild Garden Seed, with his wife Karen, has a piece in the Spring 2015 issue of In Good Tilth magazine on open-source seeds. You have to subscribe online to read it, but copies are free at both First Alternative Co-op Stores in Corvallis, and surely many other places.