Garden Gone Wild

This is the section of the garden where we sit for afternoon tea. We used to have a table and chairs in the center of that open area but I haven't been able to do that since the wheelchair so we sit over on the driveway beside it. 

As you can see there's always enough shade and breeze to keep it comfortable.
There aren't any flowering plants here except for a wild rose we dug up in the woods on the family farm where we were married, some lilies that were at the back of this house when we moved here and a lot of hosta gifted to me by a neighbor who didn't like it in their yard.

Over the last 15 years we've been dividing and moving them around until I managed to get a bit of a border around the area. It's a messy but starting to look a bit more like the garden I had planned.

Speaking of plants that have been divided and moved. This is the view out the kitchen window and Yes, those ARE some of the tallest black raspberry bushes I've ever seen and the DO cover most of the backyard.

Some 0f these bushes are actually taller than our 1 story house! We've been picking black raspberries for a week and freezing some while making jam with some as well. I've tried to give away or sell extra berries in years past but for some reason have had no luck in my neighborhood. it surprises me that some people have never even heard of black raspberries let alone have tasted them so I even offered small containers to sample.

Oh well, at least we like them and are grateful for the savings on groceries while we find more and more ways to use them.

Raspberries: Garden to kitchen

It's so nice to have black raspberries again. Today I made a jar of raspberry jam just to see if I remembered how to do it. We tried it on toasted english muffins and smiled that something this easy works. All it takes is equal parts of sugar and berries over medium heat until it sheets from a spoon.

The next thing we'll be doing is just tossing about a cup of berries into a Pannekouken (dutch oven pancake) which is a sort of an egg rich batter in a round bottomed pan that you bake in the oven. We used to love them years ago in a local restaurant where the waitresses dressed like little dutch girls and ran them out to your table before they fell (the pancake, not the girl...OK, you can stop laughing now). It was very dramatic, not only because of the way it was served to you but also because they raise up light and fluffy over the edge of the pan and just drop flat as soon as they hit the cool air. making them at home promises to be much duller but just as yummy.

I've only heard back from one of the people that I offered berries to and as you can see there are an awful lot of berries out there so I'll be trying many more things before I give up and just start freezing them.

Dessert from the garden, Black Raspberries

Well, it's the first day out in the raspberry patch. As you can see those bushes are totally out of control. Step one for me was to text, e-mail and phone family and friends that might like some berries.

OK, step one was actually just eating a few handfuls of fresh berries warmed gently in the sun. 

The remains of that birdhouse are atop a six foot tall post so that should give you some idea of the size of some of those bushes.

After I've given folks what they want of them I'll start making some pancake syrup and jam. Maybe even bake some up in a few recipes...maybe a crisp or some muffins...

We've also got birds nesting in all of this. I'm sure they like living next to the buffet line and the pool (bird baths)

 Hard to believe this is a residential lot in the middle of a city, isn't it? Future plans call for digging up a section of the yard and planting at least one row of berry bushes that are wheelchair accessible so I can go back to picking them myself.

Amazing rhrubarb

I found this photo in one of my old garden journals and was always amazed at the size of my plants that year. I've never grown anything that size since so I thought you might like to see it too.

I wish I'd pulled the picnic table closer to show off just how tall those plants got.