Summer in my yard

Today I want to keep it light. This world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket, so let's take a break and talk about wonderful food, gardens and sweet animals instead, yes?

I am going to tell y'all that even my mad love for gardening has been tested the past two weeks. It "feels like" 107 degrees in DC right now, and really, that is just not right. Yesterday I ventured out to trim, went nuts with my lopping shears until the sweat ran rivers into my eyes. Burning eyeballs urged me inside; I left a huge mound of yard waste strewn in my wake.

This morning, I soldiered out to clean everything up and then had to come in and shower in freezing water to restore my sanity. I like to be hot, but this is too much. No deodorant is any match for this. I'm wearing as little as possible, and I haven't a clue about the next time my hair won't be tied back in a ponytail.

That said, I love my yard. Love that loving it yields flowers and food and so much promise. The birds and squirrels have realized that I refill their feeders at the regular, and the wide variety of feathered and furry beings that come visit on a daily basis makes me very happy.

One little squirrel appears to have a cataract. We have come to a truce, that pip squeak and I. I don't shoo him away anymore, and he doesn't run when I walk outside. He's cute, and the squirrels really are incredibly creative, successful problem solvers. They're pigs but they work for the food they get.

A gorgeous pattypan squash!

The birds range from the tiniest finch to the reddest cardinal, from the cocky blue jays to the dopey-looking doves. They are all beautiful, and each has a different personality. The finches share nicely, some of the larger birds flap their wings dramatically to scare others into fleeing. I always marvel at the color of the female cardinal's beak. If she has to be brown, at least she gets that fiery orange bill.

somewhat blurry because i had to be stealth, but you can a squirrel, cardinal and a finch. That bowl is full of water- do you think anything will jump in or drink from it?

Never before have we had enough sun to really grow tomatoes. Tom has long half-joked that my efforts to grow them in pots our deck made the few I got worth roughly $12 each. Not so, now! We're rolling in i pomodori, and I feel gleeful.

Whole bunch o' toms; cold tomato soup (bottom left); caprese salad (bottom right)

Despite the heat, it is prime canning season, so I'm forging ahead a few days each week to turn summer fruit stars into jars of brightly-hued jam. Strawberries, meet cardamom. Shiro plums, meet basil. Rhubarb, meet bing cherries and hibiscus flowers. Peaches, meet lots of things.

Shiro plums, basil and sugar

The finished product.

No matter how sweaty I get, I'm never sorry I put up jars upon jars of summer's best. Before I know it, Jack will have started 5th grade and Oliver 2nd, the weather will become chilly, and fresh plums and tomatoes will be distant memories. Except on my pantry shelves where the ones I snatched fresh are frozen in time.

Death by fruit

"Honey, what the...? How much fruit is this?"

"Uh, about 60 pounds," I replied, sheepishly happy.

****

In no real way have I "taken it easy" this week. That was my personal dictate, and I have failed. That said, I've had a ball. 

Said ball culminated with a spontaneous pilgrimage to Larriland Farm yesterday. It's a fantastic, sprawling, organic/IPM (integrated pest management) farm in Woodbine, MD, which is about an hour from NW DC. 

Each day, Larriland posts what you can pick that day, and yesterday's options just got me too excited to stay home: Shiro plums, peaches, blackberries...

Unlike my maiden voyage last year (which resulted in A Case for Thorns, a post that was so popular I felt like a real blogger!) for which I planned not at all and thus ended up out at Larriland with dirty teeth, a desperate need for the bathroom and gas, and no food, I this year took the time to ready myself: water, snacks, full gas tank, walked and fed pets.

First to the peach fields for a quick-and-easy 22 pounds. The birds chirped, the bugs buzzed, and I had visions of peach jam, peach pie and brandied peaches floating through my head. Cute kids wove through and around the grove, blissed out as I was. Except for that crying baby. Grr, crying baby. I jest. A bit.

People- seriously(!) on the iPhone camera. Impressive. #nofilter

"Girl, you are rocking this trip!" I told myself as I paid for the peaches and headed to the plum orchard.

Peaches! #nofilter

Once amidst the plum trees, I felt a sting of disappointment: where are they? But then I remembered that not looking up and under is a rookie mistake, and so I did. Shiros everywhere! 

That yellow-flesh varietal is one of my favorite for jam-making. So, as you probably suspect, I picked and picked and picked and then threw in some little purple ones too: Methleys (not my favorite) or Rosas? Not sure but lovely.

Plums! #nofilter

Back to the cashier. New box. On to blackberries and to beat my sixteen-pound pick of last year. Why beat 16 pounds? Well, because Jack's very favorite jam is blackberry and what I made from the non-eaten berries from 2014 didn't last us past this January. This year? 21 pounds.

Blackberries or caviar? #nofilter

I fully intended to go home after blackberries, but the cashier said that raspberry picking was actually pretty good and since I was all the way out in Woodbine, I decided to forge ahead because y'all, I am not lying, little is more magnificent than homemade raspberry jam.

Quick handful of almonds, bunch of water, burst of AC and to the raspberry patch. At this point, many hours in, I was really starting to tire. It was hot, not a cloud in the sky. Gorgeous day but now 1:45, I thought, "Girl, almonds aren't lunch but raspberry jam." Easy calculus and so I fetched another box.

Raspberry plants are thorny, dense and underwhelming from an aesthetic perspective. But the "up and under" mantra will repay you in spades, so I jumped right in. Bees and other beneficial bugs were everywhere but I just said, "Thanks, bugs" and we respected each other's personal space. 

That's the great thing about being in nature when no one has tried to kill anything. You see what a beautiful balance is struck when Earth is left to her own devices. You realize that we needn't fear buzzing, flying, leggy things. Spending time outside is one of the greatest educations, in my opinion; one of the greatest ways to inspire a deep wonder and appreciation for our world. Get out there, get dirty, pay close attention, sweat, give thanks.

Lucky me, both red and black raspberries were there for the taking, and take I did. Just about four pounds but enough for 6 pints of jam or so. (I know because I made some at 9pm last night out of wild-eyed fear that my beautiful, delicate bounty would go bad). 

****

Once home, I quickly moved everything inside, ran to pick the boys up from camp, told them they could be as lazy as they wanted to until bedtime, let them eat as many blackberries as they wanted and got to work making jam and a pie and dinner for everyone.

grilled peaches with mint, olive oil, grilled bread and either homemade ricotta (left) or mozzarella (right)

After dinner and the raspberry jam, I said, "T, put a fork in me. I'm done!" and went to bed.

L'insalata, la marmellata e i prodotti che mi piacciono

Or, the salad, the jam, and products I like... I just could not make it to Italian tonight so am attempting to infuse my evening with l'italiano in other ways. Do you know what I knew but didn't really know? By which I mean I totally knew and know but don't want to acknowledge? That T is out of town, and tomorrow I must pack for the boys and me because on Friday morning at 4:15AM, a cab is coming to pick us up and take us to the airport. When I agreed to a 5:45am flight, I clearly did not do the back-pedal math on what time that meant I'd have to leave the house. With the boys. At that time Tom was going to be in town so it was all slightly more palatable. The upside is that we land in Lake Charles (after two flights) at the youthful time of 9:20am. Can you even believe we will have boarded in DC, deplaned in TX, boarded in TX and deplaned in LA by 9:20am?? I am glad my eager parents are on the other end because I might have to nap. Soon after arrival.

But back to il soggetto. The subject. For my solo dinner tonight, I opted for a simple, casually composed salad. And a fair amount of wine. But that's not the main event, so... I love a good, hearty, satisfying salad and served alongside this beauty some multigrain bread and olive hummus. Earlier today I had big plans to make a dessert but those fell by the wayside and instead, I made jam, la marmellata. Really, as I've just acknowledged in just how few hours I'm leaving town, it would be criminal not to manage the cornucopia of gorgeous summer produce I currently have in my kitchen. So, more jam. And tomorrow? More jam.

While it cools and before I wind up this Wednesday, I wish to share with you three new-to-me products that I highly recommend: the reusable, BPA-free snack bag; the non-plastic bulk-bin bag; and the CupCase.

I'm lucky that the school the boys attend provides an amazing lunch for them each day, but summertime and field trips are another story; for both, lunch-packing Mom am I. I've found BPA-free tupperware, washable sandwich wraps, the ubiquitous Sigg thermos and so forth, but there are some times when you feel you really need a Ziploc. I'm big on washing, drying and reusing Ziplocs but that plan is predicated on my kids bringing empty ones home. That's not gonna happen. So I was thrilled to discover these Stephen Joseph bags which: can be placed in the freezer; are top-rack dishwasher safe; are BPA-free; and support the No Kid Hungry campaign. This is a winner, in my opinion. At $5.99 for two bags, I will definitely underscore to the boys the importance of bringing these home, but they're really good about doing that with other lunch supplies so I'm not too worried. And in the meantime, I'll have such peace-of-mind in thinking about the plastic bags that aren't heading to a landfill.

I also recently pulled the trigger and bought a 3-pack of these MotheringMother cotton sacks with strong velcro closures (the set was $7.99 or so). I'm a big utilizer of the bulk bins at places like Whole Foods: oatmeal; nuts; dried fruits; the sesame sticks Ol loves. And, as with Ziplocs used for snacks, I always hate to grab yet another plastic bag (even though I recycle them diligently) for a one-off oatmeal purchase. So far, I have been really pleased with these replacements which are sturdy, washable and sizeable enough for everything I've purchased so far. They do come in different sizes though, if you find you are a mass consumer of dried items. I bought them, as well as the S. Joseph snack bags, at my local Whole Foods.

Lastly, and this one is for the girls -literally!- I simply must tell you about the CupCase. Do you ever find yourself packing a suitcase and end up vexed about just how to safely pack your (probably expensive) bra? You do not want those cups dented or smashed as your shape will never again look as smooth and you'll forever be peevish about money down the drain. I know I am not the only one to think about this issue on a somewhat regular basis. As such, while in the Container Store last week looking for a bin that would actually contain the seeming millions of markers spewing from the boys' "organizer", when I came across this goodie in the travel aisle (I like to just troll the aisles at the C. Store; know you do too!), I jumped on it despite the what-felt-outrageous $21 price tag. It amused me to no end that it, like bras, is sized: A/B, C/D; and, the rhinestoned zipper cracked me up. Despite the fact that this puppy is sizeable, it really does work and I was not remotely (for the first time ever) worried about my lady slings in transit. Consider it gals (and pardon the mug shot-like photo)!