Blueberries!

On Tuesday, I took the boys blueberry picking. We drove about 45 minutes to the pick-your-own farm, and after we picked about a handful of blueberries each, it started raining. I hoped it'd be a passing shower, but instead it started raining harder. I ended up parking right next to the bushes and picking under the shelter of my umbrella while the boys stayed dry. When I got home, I checked out the best way to store blueberries and found that wet blueberries spoil quickly - ugh! I had planned on freezing some, but I read that even when freezing blueberries, you're not supposed to wash them first because it makes the skins tough. So.... I spent a good part of yesterday baking. I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast, blueberry muffins, and blueberry crumb pie.


I made the blueberry pancakes from scratch. Normally, I use one of those just-add-water pancake mixes. I know that doesn't jive with our avoiding processed foods, but we don't keep milk on hand, and it makes pancakes a quick and easy breakfast. My sister has been trying to get me to make pancakes from scratch like she does, so when I used the last of my store-bought pancake mix, I didn't replace it. I used the recipe my sister recommended (from The Joy of Cooking). It called for sifting the flour before measuring it, adding more ingredients and then SIFTING AGAIN. I hate sifting. So I skipped the sifting. While the end result was tastier pancakes, they were chewy - not tough-to-eat chewy, but doughy chewy - and they were quite time-consuming to make, even without all that sifting. And, nobody asked for seconds.... Normally, my ten-year-old eats at least six pancakes. He ate three and called it quits.


I used to can blueberry jam, but no one seems interested in eating it anymore. My son used to have it on his sandwiches that he took to school, but then he decided he liked just plain peanut butter sandwiches. So, now I'm left with even more baking to do, but that's okay because I have lots of recipes!

As far as the garden goes, yesterday, in addition to all my baking, I also spread grass clippings from my neighbor throughout my garden. I don't use any chemicals to keep the weeds down, so using grass clippings is one way to help me control the weeds (which are already out of control).

This morning, I pulled more weeds, finished spreading grass clippings, cleaned out the cows' water tank and filled it, and hung laundry out to dry - all before 10:30 a.m.


CURRENTLY GROWING:
Garlic, aparagus, shallots, onions, lettuce, broccoli, peas, tomatoes, basil, parsley, dill, cucumbers, zucchini, spaghetti squash, yellow squash (now up!), pumpkins, orange mint, strawberries, raspberries, beef. Planted but not up yet: carrots, spearmint, more dill, beets.

CURRENTLY HARVESTING:
Eggs, basil, lettuce, garlic scapes, strawberries.

WHAT WE'RE EATING:
Blueberry pancakes made with our own eggs.
BLT's made with nitrate-free bacon and lettuce I grew.
Cheeseburgers made with our own grass-fed beef, lettuce I grew, and pickles I canned from cucumbers I grew the year before last.

Finally!

It's the first day of summer already and I just FINALLY finished planting my garden. I started planting the end of May, but it's taken me this long to finish it up. I can't believe we're halfway through June already. I feel as though someone has hit the fast-forward button and I can't find the pause button.

Here's a list of what's growing as well as statuses:

Garlic - bulbs that I missed when harvesting last year, growing well this year, producing scapes now.
Asparagus - planted last year as 2-year-old plants. I probably could have harvested some this year, but was afraid to as the spears that came up kept withering with the heavy late frosts we kept getting.
Shallots - I've never grown these before, but love to cook with them, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Yellow Onions - I grew these for the first time last year, and they were great! I'm trying a different variety this year that's supposed to store well.
Sweet Onions - My first time growing these, but since they're the kind I usually buy at the market, I thought I'd try growing them myself.
Lettuce - Romaine and mixed greens - harvesting almost daily for fresh salads.
Broccoli - One plant is starting to produce a head already, the rest are just leaves still.
Peas - blossoming.
Tomatoes - blossoming. I have Roma and cherry tomatoes planted as well as some unknowns....
Basil - harvesting for Pizza on the Grill and other dishes already.
Parsley.
Dill - doing well now, will hopefully be good to use when the cucumbers are ready to be made into pickles!
Cucumbers - no blossoms yet.
Zucchini - no blossoms yet.
Spaghetti Squash - no blossoms yet.
Pumpkins - not up yet.
Yellow Squash - not up yet.
Orange Mint - given to me by my mother.
? - 3 yet unidentified plants my mother gave me.
Planted today: carrots, spearmint, more dill, beets.

CURRENTLY GROWING:
In addition to all of the above, strawberries, raspberries, beef.

CURRENTLY HARVESTING:
Eggs, basil, lettuce, garlic scapes, strawberries.