I'm still spending all the hours of every morning picking raspberries. They just keep on ripening and requiring picking. I'll go around the outer edges of the long rows one day, and then through the center between the two thick rows the next. Then repeat. Sundays are skipped.
I believe I have enough berries frozen to last through the long winter months, so others are now benefiting from my largesse. The local cafe should soon have jam. Several of my church families had containers of berries to take home Sunday morning. My golf league enjoys fresh berries after league play. A couple of people who work for the Courier have been gifted some.
In between the raspberry pickings and feeding my mate (he's finished working the fallow ground for now and has moved on to hauling grain, thereby making room in the bins for this year's crop), I managed to blanch and freeze two large heads of broccoli. There was another picking of Chinese pea pods that were likewise blanched and frozen. Amazingly, the birds had laid off the regular peas so I was able to shell out two cups worth to enjoy.
I see the beans are in full bloom, with some tiny beans forming, so soon I'll be picking and canning those. I just don't care for frozen beans, finding them entirely too crunchy. I don't like them raw, either, although I know people who do. I'm glad the berries and beans are not coming on at the same time. I'm sure I could be canning more beets (pickling them is planned for next time), if I had the energy after the berry picking.
The corn is tasselling. Tomatoes are forming. Red cabbages and brussel sprouts are getting larger. They'll be much sweeter after a frost, so it's safe to ignore those for now, other than dusting periodically to thwart the cabbage moths. There are a few squash on the vines. The cukes are getting more foliage, and a few blossoms, but are still pitifully puny. I have enjoyed a few stalks of celery with nut butter. I need to make salads with the Swiss chard. I've nuked a few turnips, and enjoyed them with butter and Cajun seasoning.
I'm going to experiment with a simple recipe given to me by Jitka, the exchange student from the Czech Republic we hosted 19 years ago. It's called buchta, which I think simply means cake. Measuring is simple: just use the same size coffee cup for the main ingredients. At least, that's how she measured. I'm again participating in the Whole Life Challenge (no wheat flour, no sugar), so the experiment is to see if using almond flour and erythritol (fake sugar or sugar alternative) will work. I'll let you know next week how it turns out. The "real" recipe is as follows:
Buchta
2 1/2 C flour
1 C powdered sugar
1/2 C oil
1/2 C milk
2 eggs
1 Tbl baking powder
Beat all together. Dough will be sticky. Spread in a greased and floured 9x13" pan. You can layer on fruit if desired.
Topping: 1 stick butter, cool, mixed with enough powdered sugar to make crumbly. Work the butter and sugar together using your fingers, working far. Sprinkle over the cake. Bake at 350° for 20-30 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on a rack. If adding fruit, store in the fridge.
Now that I've read the recipe again, perhaps fake sugar is a bad idea for this. I've only ever baked with real butter, so I've no idea how this would work using margarine. I'm thinking it wouldn't be as rich. It's a great dessert as is, but I'm planning to use raspberries in mine. I had used canned apricots in the past, or no fruit at all.
The Gumbo Gals from Nashua graced me with a visit last week. They seemed to enjoy seeing my yard and meager efforts at beautifying my small patch of earth. I enjoyed visiting with them. They gifted me with a gardening book that I'll eventually have time to read. I'm looking forward to it entertaining me during the long, harsh winter months, when there are no berries to pick, just berries to thaw and eat.
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