Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Those Little Bells
A spring time favorite flower for me is the Lily of the Valley. These are special for their fragrance so I make sure to pick them to bring in, and
they are special because of where they came from: friends and family. When we moved out of our house in Columbia in 2003 I told the new owners I would be back to dig up some of my perennials once I had a garden to move them into. Well, it took longer than we expected to build this new house but when we moved in in Fall 2005 I knew that the spring of 2006 would be time to return for the plants I'd left behind.
Lilies of the valley were one of those plants. These had come from the garden of Dan's grandfather Huffman in Franconia, Virginia. There was no way I was leaving them behind when we moved. When I dug them up finally that spring I got black eyed susans too so now this bed of lilies of the valley is also a very large bed of black eyed susans. I planted them on the north side of the house because that's where they were at the old house. They are not as lush as they once were in their old location so I've since taken some transplants to the pond garden and know they will spread there.
My other clump of lilies of the valley came from our former pastor. She offered these after we had moved in. These bloom first and seem to be growing better on the west side of the house outside Dan's study. They bloom first so I pick from them to bring the fragrance into the house.
Finally the trees are almost fully in leaf. The last are the beech which have lost the brown fall leaves and are now opening new ones. This is the view from Dan's study door with the last blooms of the dogwood against the new green of the woods. It's a blue sky day after many days of much needed rain!
they are special because of where they came from: friends and family. When we moved out of our house in Columbia in 2003 I told the new owners I would be back to dig up some of my perennials once I had a garden to move them into. Well, it took longer than we expected to build this new house but when we moved in in Fall 2005 I knew that the spring of 2006 would be time to return for the plants I'd left behind.
Lilies of the valley were one of those plants. These had come from the garden of Dan's grandfather Huffman in Franconia, Virginia. There was no way I was leaving them behind when we moved. When I dug them up finally that spring I got black eyed susans too so now this bed of lilies of the valley is also a very large bed of black eyed susans. I planted them on the north side of the house because that's where they were at the old house. They are not as lush as they once were in their old location so I've since taken some transplants to the pond garden and know they will spread there.
My other clump of lilies of the valley came from our former pastor. She offered these after we had moved in. These bloom first and seem to be growing better on the west side of the house outside Dan's study. They bloom first so I pick from them to bring the fragrance into the house.
Finally the trees are almost fully in leaf. The last are the beech which have lost the brown fall leaves and are now opening new ones. This is the view from Dan's study door with the last blooms of the dogwood against the new green of the woods. It's a blue sky day after many days of much needed rain!
Monday, April 23, 2012
Harvest Monday - First Real Greens!
I know these two photos look almost exactly alike but they were taken on two different evening this past week when I harvested enough new salad greens (mesclun, speckled romaine and spinach) from the garden for salads enough for three. Nothing beats the taste of newly picked lettuce in a salad. Saturday's salad was the main course and featured marinated and sauteed steak over top the greens with lots of other toppings and a dressing of choice. I chose ranch, Dan chose poppy seed and Sarah chose blue cheese.
Lots of other harvests can be viewed if you head over to Daphne's Dandelions.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Asparagus Soup
Joining Robin at Gardener of Eden for Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard.
Here's a favorite spring time recipe for asparagus soup. It's been a very long time since I grew my own asparagus but I have always loved eating it in the spring. I came upon this recipe in the Fulton Elementary Cookbook which was the school I used to teach at. The cookbook was published in 2002 and I was given a copy by one of my students because his illustration was selected for the cover.
Asparagus Soup
1 T. butter
1 small onion chopped
1 T flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 lb. asparagus cut in 1 inch pieces
1 tsp savory
sour cream or plain yogurt
chives
Melt butter. Add onion and saute until tender. Add flour and stir in to cook.
Gradually add chicken broth then bring to a boil. Add asparagus and savory and simmer about 25 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree entire contents of your soup pan. Serve with dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chives. (The chives and savory came from the herb garden and mentioned on Tuesday's post.)
Again I forgot to take a photo of the soup at serving time. Here's a bowl partially finished.
Here's a favorite spring time recipe for asparagus soup. It's been a very long time since I grew my own asparagus but I have always loved eating it in the spring. I came upon this recipe in the Fulton Elementary Cookbook which was the school I used to teach at. The cookbook was published in 2002 and I was given a copy by one of my students because his illustration was selected for the cover.
Asparagus Soup
1 T. butter
1 small onion chopped
1 T flour
4 cups chicken broth
1 lb. asparagus cut in 1 inch pieces
1 tsp savory
sour cream or plain yogurt
chives
Melt butter. Add onion and saute until tender. Add flour and stir in to cook.
Gradually add chicken broth then bring to a boil. Add asparagus and savory and simmer about 25 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree entire contents of your soup pan. Serve with dollop of sour cream and a sprinkle of chives. (The chives and savory came from the herb garden and mentioned on Tuesday's post.)
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