Critters and Gardening and Apricot Compote

For folks who live in the middle of the city, we see our fair share of wildlife.  A couple of weeks ago on my way home I saw a coyote sauntering down a yard toward the rail road right of way.  Not a scrawny, hungry looking coyote, but one who'd found his fair share of prey.  Annie was not amused.  Of course, Annie is never amused by anything - animal or human - intruding into her space.  And, that space includes MANY feet around the vehicle in which she's traveling.  We went up to Lafayette to visit our friends Donna and Phil and took Annie along.  She went nuts over the cows and horses along the way.  Wooof, wooooof, wooooof.....  Annie, pipe down!  Like that'd help :-) 

A couple of days ago we saw a line of cars stopped at the same rail road right of way and I was puzzled.  It's normally only used for the state fair train so why was everyone stopped?  Turns out there was a large snapping turtle heading across the road.  Lots of folks were leaning out their car windows taking photos.  

Then, on the way home we saw a line of traffic stopped on one of the really busy thoroughfares we cross.  Mama Duck and about ten ducklings were hustling to the other side of the road.  Now, you'd think with all of that going on that we'd have problems with deer nibbling our hosta.  Hang on while I knock on my head... Ok, now I can say it.  Thus far we've had no issues with deer.  Now, wouldn't that send Annie into a tizzy - lol. 

So, you have to picture this.  I have two boxes of paperwork on my back seat.  They are between Annie and one of the windows.  Out of the window Annie can see another dog.  OMG, it's in her territory!!!  Alert!!  Onto the boxes she goes to get as close as doggly possible to the offending critter.  Woof, woof, woof!!!  Whew, it went away.  Or, maybe we got far enough away that she can no longer see it.  Now, she's stuck in the box.  And, terribly embarassed.  What is a dog to do?

As I'm typing this, there's a whole line of cars on the parkway waiting for a line of Canada geese to wend their way across the street.  What most drivers don't realize is that if you just keep moving forward the geese will move.  I'm convinced the geese consider horns honking to be a great sport.  Ah, that car's trying to sound just like me they say!  They have figured out that Annie WILL eat a goose and that she is not scared of their hissing and spitting.  She's not actually scored a goose (seeing as how they're a protected species, we discourage it) but she has gotten a mouthful of feathers when they've charged her.  And, there is no longer goose poop on the front walk of our office building.  They see either of our cars and they all take off. 

On another note, we've had some gorgeous flowers in the garden recently.  I thought I'd show you a few photos.  The yucca made it to the top of the window.  I think it should be called a tree rather than a plant!  Connie's 5'10".  Look how much taller this plant is than he is!!

A small start of the cactus came with me from my old house and was divided again two years ago.  The new batch is just incredibly happy. 

The lilies were planted in the wrong spot and were transplanted and are pretty daggone happy now.  They're ready to be divided this fall - again...

My favorite lily has buds that are fat and about to burst forth with color.  The hosta are getting ready to bloom - and a couple already have. 

A few daylilies are blooming but we'll have a riot of color soon. 

The astilbe looks wonderful as do the bachelor's buttons. 

Love the bee on the bachelor's button! 

Then, there's the yarrow and the coneflowers...

What does all of that have to do with apricot compote.  Absolutely nothing.  I just wanted to chat about the other stuff.  The apricot compote was one of those recipes I kept meaning to try.  We saw some lovely apricots at Jungle Jims so I bought half a dozen. 

What did we think?  Well, this was ok.  It's probably something I'll never make again though.  There are too many other recipes out there to try.  I mean I could just use my friend Liz's blog for dessert ideas and never run out.  I make dessert about once a month.  Maybe more like once every two or three months.  When I do make a dessert odds are about even that it'll be fruit of some sort.  Cakes are merely ok.  Cookies are nice.  Pies are a notch better - particularly if they're fruit.  What I really loved about this was the rosemary honey.  Now, that I may put on some grilled peaches with a little blue cheese crumbled into their centers.  That's my idea of a perfect dessert!

Apricot Compote Yogurt Parfaits
2 servings

Ingredients:
1/4 c honey
5-6 ripe apricots, pitted and coarsely chopped
3 T water
pinch coarse salt
1 T honey
2 T Greek yogurt

Directions:

Simmer the honey, apricots, water and salt on medium heat until the fruit is nice and soft.  It'll take about 10 minutes. 

Remove from the heat and pour the compote into a heatproof bowl.  Refrigerate until it's well chilled.  Serve with a big dollop of Greek yogurt and a good drizzle of honey.

adapted from Everyday Living

Menus and Gardening

Because I tend to work 70-80 hours a week, weeknight dinners are from a box if I don't plan carefully.  That means making out a menu every weekend and getting the shopping done so we've got all the ingredients.  And, it means prepping whatever I can while I cook Sunday's meal.  During the winter, I make out the menu on Sundays.  But, during the summer, the menu is completed Friday evening or Saturday morning so we can shop the farmers markets.  I've typically got a stack of recipes to try on the desk.  Or, I've got a new cookbook to peruse and list recipes to try.  Since we eat lunch at the office almost every day, I can either take in leftovers or try something new there too. 

Now, you all know I love to collect cookbooks.  That's my weakness.  I have far more than any sane person should have.  But, they're so much fun to read.  And, I learn a lot about cooking - techniques, combinations of ingredients...  Today, I'm looking forward to spending some time sitting on the floor in front of the barbecue shelf looking for a perfect rub for lamb ribs. 

Every once in a while, I'll buy a cookbook that's a total winner.  I make pretty much the whole week's meals from that cookbook.  That's what happened a couple of weeks ago and this is the cookbook's week.  It's called Heartland and is by Judith Fertig.  She's written a couple of other cookbooks but I've never heard of her.  Based on this cookbook, I may hunt down the others.  Of course, I've got Thomas Keller's cookbooks on my list to buy too.  Just bought Around My French Table.  It's wonderful.  But, Heartland has some recipes that are just fascinating to me.  Smoked goat cheese.  Yes, smoked on the grill.  Rosy rhubarb syrup.  For use in all kinds of dishes.  The fact that I have four rhubarb plants and want to use rhubarb helps.  Other than tonight's lamb ribs and the chicken wrapped in grape leaves, I've planned the rest of the week around Heartland.  Here's what's on our menu in no particular order with meals, drinks and breakfasts:

Smoked lamb ribs, fingerling potato salad, slaw

Baked eggs in a prosciutto basket with asiago

Heartland scramble with smoked trout and cheese

Gimlets made with rosy rhubarb syrup

Chicken stuffed with feta, kalamatas and sundried tomatoes, Greek rub, wrapped with grape leaves and grilled; warm salad with grilled eggplant and mushrooms

Homemade pasta with pancetta, black pepper and pecorino served over greens (screaming for a poached egg on top if you ask me); beet queen salad with beets, peaches, smoked goat cheese and orange tarragon vinaigrette

Caramelized cabbage rolls, new potato and bitter greens salad

Morel dusted ribeyes, sides depend on what comes out of our garden - there may be ripe strawberries for a salad or pea shoots, or chard...

Lamb chops with asparagus and rosemary aioli

Baguette with smoked goat cheese, sliced radishes and sliced cucumber

Smoke roasted pork shoulder wtih Sooey Sauce, 4 cheese mac and cheese, salad

Can't wait to start cooking!  In fact, because the smoke roasted pork shoulder takes 12-15 hours I'll be getting up really early on Memorial Day to start in...

Now, to a tour of the yard.  This is probably my favorite time of year in the yard.  The peonies, siberian iris, iris and roses are in full bloom.  The colors are stunning.  Oh, and I can't forget the wisteria.  It's amazing.

Connie likes to keep the honeysuckle flowers off the wild ginger

these hosta love it here!

first strawberries of the season

peas blooming

check out the gorgeous wisteria - and the cute guy too :-)

we're going to have a bumper crop of golden raspberries

Annie's helping - she loves hiding in these hosta and waiting for unsuspecting squirrels. 

lot's of coral bells - aka heuchera

goofiness in the garden!

see why this is my favorite time of year?

the herb garden is really taking shape.  the sage is very happy

and the red-veined sorrel is awesome

these guys were about 8" tall when I got them back in 1994.  they were transplanted from my old house...

and last but not least, a couple more peonies.

Garden Tour

Spring has officially sprung.  I love the flowers, the scents, the warm temperatures.  Finding time to work in the yard plus put my 70-80 hours of work in a week is a challenge.  But, even if it's for 15 minutes of an evening, I love digging in the soil.  Many days ago we planted peas, snow peas, three kinds of radishes, spinach, swiss chard and lettuce.  We've got lots more seeds to go in.  And, I'll buy eggplant, tomato and pepper plants when the temperatures are appropriate.  Now, we're enjoying the first taste of spring in the yard. 


When I moved, I dug up 500 starts of various and sundry plants.  Many of those are now at the point that they're ready to be divided.  The first thing we did when we moved into this house was outline garden beds.  Then, the grass was killed and the ground tilled.  We had 20 yards of compost tilled in.  That was followed by dividing and planting the 500 starts.  Over the years, I've added a few plants but mostly I've just added a few bushes.  Like the sensation lilacs and the hydrangea. 

When I get home from the office, we grab a glass of wine and go visit the yard.  We follow the same path almost every evening.  Once in a while, we take the camera along so we've got a reminder of how everything changes.  So, please come along with us.

First stop, the hosta bed.  All of these hosta came from starts from my old yard. 

You can barely see them now but the ones on the north side (top of the photo) get HUGE thanks to their basic size and the light they receive.  They came from a friend's house about 18 years ago.  Talk about scent - holy cow, are they incredible when they bloom.  They totally need to be divided. 

There's a spot down on the south side of the yard under a big old tree that'll get some of those.  The smaller ones will get divided and fill in this bed and a bed under a crabapple in the front yard.  Up at the front of the bed, I've got some Virginia blue bells,

lilies of the valley, some woodland iris and some wild ginger.  I always forget the ginger's there and it's a lovely surprise in the spring!  There are a few ferns in here but not much will grow here thanks to the two fat orange boys (aka Mo and TC the cats) using this area as their private latrine.  That's why the bed is fenced off - keeps Annie from enjoying cat hors d'oeuvres! 

The bed by the fence.  This is a pretty new bed so it's still finding it's way.  It gets part sun and part shade.  I've scattered in a lot of anemone bulbs and they're just now starting to peek out.  For anyone who doesn't believe that purple and yellow go together, here's proof:

There are astilbe, hosta, solomon's seal and hellebores in addition to the hollies in the corner.  The color of the solomon's seal is amazing.  We'll divide this soon.

Rhubarb and spillover garden.  The rhubarb came from a neighbor around 1994.  It's now been divided twice since it's been here. 

I think I'll take a couple of starts this spring and put one in the herb garden and one in the cottage garden along the neighborhood street.  Kind of interesting - we've got a relatively busy thoroughfare south of us, the main street for the neighborhood west of us and the cul de sac north of us.  Yet, it feels very private thanks to our fence and the wooded area to the east.


South wall.  Reblooming yellow iris.  These have been divided umpteen times. 

Yucca.  I can't remember when I got this but it's now triplets :-)  

Red hot pokers.  I divided the one I had at the old house and put in three little starts.  Now, I've got three giant plants that are ready to divide.  A beautiful bee balm.  Hostas and daylilies under this crabapple.  See Annie helping?

See how that's filled out in just a couple of weeks?  Annie's helping again :-)

 I'd carefully put the pots with yellow etc daylilies in one area and the pink etc ones in another.  Then, the guys who helped me move all the plants just kind of picked them up from wherever.  I couldn't wait for them all to bloom to get them in the right places so they're a jumble now.  Probably not the best garden planning but I've grown to really like it. 

Vegetable beds.  I'd love to have pretty ones like my friend Donna's hubby Phil built but these are perfectly servicable.  And, Connie's a wonderful gardener so we wind up with great veggies! 
The strawberry plants are looking great

See the asparagus just starting to pop up?

And, this will be peas, radishes, lettuce, spinach and chard.

They're getting really big!

Back fence.  Golden raspberries.  The best raspberries ever.  This year we've added three trellis' to extend the raspberries into the yard a bit. 

In the corner is what was going to be a moon garden.  I wanted all white plants that'd look great under a full moon but it didn't work out that way.  We dug it out a bit and built two steps down then planted wisteria on the trellis.  This is our favorite spot to sit and enjoy a fire on a cool evening.

Cottage garden.  Here we've got a persimmon tree and a sour cherry tree.  I'd love to lose the two big white pines on the south and put in several more fruit trees but that's not in the budget right now!  So, I chose my two favorites and put them in here.  These beds are a total mish mash.  We've got yarrow, peonies, tomatillos, red-veined sorrel, cactus, zinnias, marigolds, bachelor's buttons, daylilies, garlic, tomatoes, hollyhocks, daisies and probably a dozen more perennials and annuals.  The big bed under this crabapple tree was just laid last year.  Lots of layers of newspaper and mulch on top of the grass.  This year it was easy to plant.  We've divided hosta and daylilies thus far.  And, I've put in several packets of annuals like bachelor's buttons and poppies. 

South side of the fence.  Someday this will be a mass of daffodils. 

We'll keep dividing and adding.  I know I'm supposed to wait til fall but I can't ever find the bulbs in the fall so I'll probably divide a dozen clumps of daffodils and add 100 to this area this year.  The flags are all there so we can dig out a channel to the ditch that runs under the street.  This area is swampy so channeling the water away should lessen the mosquito danger.

Front of the house.  This bed gets mostly shade - even though it doesn't look it from the photo.  It's got columbine, meadow rue, bleeding hearts, heuchera and some boxwoods.

Front of the garage.  Wasteland.  It gets really mucky from all the rainwater draining into this bed.  The roses weren't amused so they're moving. I think I'm going to try some more pots here. 

The front yard.  This is the bed that totally stops folks in their tracks. In the spring it's a mass of daffodils and hyacinths. 

Then, the daylilies start.  There are roses, sensation lilacs, butterfly bushes, siberian iris, peonies, iris, sedum, daisies, coneflowers...  When I moved, I took one siberian iris and divided it into 25 plants.  Now, those plants are huge and I divide one a year and give the starts away to friends. We just added more daylilies along the walk - which is in the process of being cleaned up...  Thank goodness for the young man who's helped me with the heavy stuff for the last six or so years.  Weekly weeding like I used to have done hasnt' been in the budget but he still comes a couple of times a year and really cleans up.

See the garage on the far right of the photo?  Our wonderful neighbor tells us that when he's taking a break from working on his yard he pulls a chair up in the garage door and sits there and looks over at the little slice of heaven in our front yard :-)

The herb garden.  The bones are in place for this. 

Now, I've got to collect more rocks and plant creeping thyme on the rock garden.  And, I've got to fill in with more herbs.  I just put in some arugula and some more cilantro.  The sage, chives, mint, sorrel, tarragon, horseradish and cat mint are doing really well. The parsley, marjoram, oregano and thyme are slowly coming back.  There's another stand of oregano by the screened porch that I'll divide and add to the herb garden this year.  I'm also going to add some edible flowers here. 

So, there you have it.  Our goal is to have so little grass that we can cut it with a push mower so as to lower our carbon footprint.  We're not there yet but will be in a few years.