A tasty, seasonal snack

A group that my daughter belongs to had a fundraising bakesale yesterday. In keeping with the season, she made these cookies to take to the sale:


I had some cello bags left over from something or other, so she put a handful of fingers in each bag. They were a hit at the bakesale.

You can find the recipe here (from Martha Stewart). The recipe calls for whole almonds for the fingernails, but I use the sliced almonds. And pay no nevermind to the comments at the end of the recipe. They seem to all be negative, but I've never had any problems with the recipe, my fingers always turn out creepy and good.

Mmmm... there's nothing like a crunchy Witch Finger cookie with your morning coffee to start the day.

Jelly, anyone?

Jelly, anyone?

I made my last batch of jelly for the season last night. It was the apple & rosehip jelly.

Don't think I'll be making that one again. I used wild rosehips, which are little so you need to find lots of them.


Collecting them gets your hands all scratched up, de-stemming them took 3 hours, and in the end, the jelly tastes almost exactly like plain apple jelly. If I ever do it again it will be with very large rosehips, and I'll use a recipe that's entirely rosehip with no apple in it.

But together, all of the jellies look pretty with the morning sun shining through them.

My favorites by rank:

1 Crabapple

2 Blackberry & Elderberry

3 Elderberry

4 Apple

5 Apple & Rosehip

I'm selling one jar each of the Blackberry & Elderberry and the Elderberry jellies on my Etsy site (although, if supplies run low and they haven't sold, I may have to de-list them and greedily keep them for my own use), the crabapple is all mine, and the Apple and Apple & Rosehip are for one and all (be sure the neighbors will each get some).

And some of each of the jellies will end up tucked in with Christmas gifts.

Okay, that's the last jelly post for the year. I promise : )

Harbingers of winter

My daughter and I found this woolly bear caterpillar while collecting crabapples the other day:

I can never keep straight what the stripe means. The width of the stripe is supposed to predict how hard the winter will be, but I can't remember if a thick stripe means a harsh winter or a mild winter. And the thing is, I often see thick and thin striped caterpillars trying to predict the same forthcoming winter. I guess they're confused too.

And I saw this on the lolcats website:


I thought it was funny =^.".^=

Making Crabapple Jelly

I've extolled the virtues of crabapple jelly enough and bored everyone to tears with my efforts to find and harvest crabapples this year, so now I'll take it to the final step. Making my crabapple jelly.

Step 1 - pick crabapples:

Step 2 - sort and wash fruit:

Step 3 - enjoy the glowy, red goodness:

Step 4 - chop fruit:

Step 5 - add to pot with water, simmer, crush, simmer:

Step 6 - hang pulp to strain out juice:

Step 7 - boil juice with sugar and pectin (unless you make yours by bringing only the juice and sugar mixture to the boiling jelly point without adding pectin). Fill jars:

Step 8 - groan over sticky mess:

Step 9 - process jars in boiling water bath:

Step 10 - remove jars from bath:

Step 11 - Let jars cool and rejoice in the happy pinging noise of lids sealing themselves:

Step 12 - Thank everyone who helped you in this effort: doggy, who accompanied fruit gathering expedition; daughter, who helped pick fruit and process into jelly, and took all of the pictures of the process; daughter's boyfriend who chopped, stirred, filled jars and picked hot jars out of water bath.

Crabapple Harvest

My daughter and I went to collect some crabapples the other day. Along the way we saw some interesting things. Like this butterfly:


The photo above is mine, the one below is my daughter's. She always takes the time to get the really good shots:



Is it any wonder that I've had several cases of poison ivy this past summer with the plants around here sporting leaves like this?:

There was a funny fungus growing on an old stump. It reminded me of those candy dots that you get on a strip of paper:

My daughter got a close-up shot:

I've never seen such a pretty fungus as this before, it reminds me of a chrysanthemum:

We came across an outdoor cafeteria. The hulls of hickory nuts were left on top of logs:

And stones where they had been eaten by some hungry critter:

They don't call them shagbark hickory for nothing:

Someone left behind muddy handprints. I don't know if it was a raccoon or a skunk:

Strider was eager to keep moving:

Reminding me of this poem:

The road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Tolkien

Tinker's Creek State Nature Preserve

Yesterday my husband and I went for a quick walk along one of the paths in Tinker's Creek State Nature Preserve. There are hundreds of acres in the preserve, which encompass lots of peaty ponds and marshland.

The day was mostly sunny, but cool enough for light jackets.

We came across an interesting fungus growing on the side of a tree:


And another tree which has fallen victim to carved graffiti over the considerable number of years it's stood there:



When Mother Nature colors, she doesn't stay within the lines:

Here's one of the many swampy pond areas that can be viewed along the trail:

Duckweed covered some of the smaller ponds:

And there were areas covered with a thick, mossy carpet:

We came across two battling wasps. These weren't your everyday, run of the mill wasps. These were as long as the tip of your index finger to the second knuckle, and almost as big around.

They meant business:

And we came across a lethargic snake. If he was trying to soak up some of the last rays of the sun, he was doing it wrong. Or he just didn't have the energy to move into the sunlight. I feel like that sometimes, too:

We've seen snakes like that around the pond in the little city park next door. The thing is, if the parks people see them too, they tend to disappear. They don't want any run-ins with the little leaguers or soccer players, or maybe other people see the snakes and complain about the wildlife infringing on their playspace. I don't know. All I know is that snakes aren't allowed by our little pond.

It's a shame, because once there was a large one which looked like a sea serpent when it went fishing. Very fun to watch. But he went the way of all snakes in the forbidden zone. There one day, gone the next. Poor snake, but I'm sure the fish didn't mind.

Herbs and Roots

I have a few things hanging around in my garage. Namely, goldenrod, two types of sage, three types of basil, calendula, hyssop, evening primrose (only a few blossoms, the rest I've dried in a barely warm oven because of the quantity), and lemon balm:

I hang herbs to dry in there because it's dark and warm (in the summer, anyway).

About mid-summer I planted a potato which I found in the back of my cupboard. It had sprouted - and I don't mean a few green nubules, I mean, this thing looked like Medusa. So I stuck it in the ground rather than throwing it away. I knew that if it took, it wouldn't have time to form big potatoes, but I thought I might get some fingerlings for my trouble.

Yesterday, on the eve of a possible frost, I dug up what was there:

That's a nickle on the plate for size reference. I think if you were to put all of these little darlings together, they would equal in volume the one potato from which they sprang.

I also dug up three of my evening primrose plants, scrubbed the their roots and sliced them up for drying in a barely warm oven. This picture was taken after one night of drying, don't know how long it will take till they're fully dry:

A strong tea made of the roots is supposed to be helpful in cases of accumulated gunk in the lungs from tough colds and bronchitis.

In sad news, it looks like one of my tomato plants has succumbed to the blight that has been so prevalent this year here in Ohio due to the cool and fairly damp summer. The blight was thought to have originated in plants which were sold through the gardening departments of some hardware store chains.

Oddly enough, the only plant out of seven to get the blight was purchased at one of these stores. The other six plants were raised from seed and seem to doing fine. We're just waiting for their masses of fruit to fully ripen. We've had a smattering ripen already, from which we've had wonderful slices for sandwiches, made an extremely delicious tomato and white bean soup, and included in various other recipes and concoctions as they've ripened.

The harvesting season may be upon us, but the peas which I planted mid-summer have only just begun to flower. Luckily, peas don't mind a bit of cold weather. I also have some chard that I planted very late - later than mid-summer. It's doing well, although still small. Good thing the chard is also not averse to some cooler temperatures.

Warmth

I had to turn the heater on today. It's damp and cold out. There's a frost warning in effect for tonight. I'll have to find some way to cover things up in the garden.

If it's feeling fall-like where you are too, here's a picture to help warm you. It's from dry, sunny Greece in the summer:

This picture was taken up on Acro-Corinth, the fortified hilltop above what was ancient Corinth. It was very hot and very sunny when we were there, and I hope my vacation pictures are enough to help keep me warm as we plunge ahead into the colder months.

That's my daughter in the picture, and it's one of my favorites from the whole trip.

Ugh!

Haven't blogged much lately. Life's been boring. Not exactly for me, just from the standpoint of other people.

Here are some highlights - you be the judge:

University where hubby works just opened new stadium. We have season tickets. At game on Saturday, mascot rode into stadium on a segway, lost control, fell off and lost her head. Hilarious! To me.

Drove into downtown Cleveland at 6:30 AM the other day. Don't usually do that.

Finally made Yarrow and Goldenrod salve. It's been a long time in the planning. Had to find yarrow when in bloom (mid summer) and infuse oil with the fresh herb (only fresh will work for infused oil, although dry is fine for tea). Then had to wait for September to roll around for the goldenrod to bloom and infuse oil with fresh goldenrod (I suspect that fresh is also best for goldenrod, but I hung some up to dry too). Then had to wait for goldenrod oil to settle out and clear. And finally, yesterday made Yarrow and Goldenrod salve. Now I'm excited to try it on stiff necks and sore muscles to see if my wait was worth it.

Steam-cleaned carpet. Hey, it's a big deal in my house.

Got some spooky books from library in prep for Halloween, including spell books. Thought about doing one spell/day during October and reporting results, but realized there were only maybe three that looked like I might want to try. Since they call for essential oils that I will have to put $ out for, decided against whole idea. But maybe now I have some ideas for Halloween decorations.

Picked chilies from garden and made Chilies Rellenos. Also picked first ripe beefsteak tomato (was getting worried nothing would ripen before frosts come), and harvested first greenbeans from plants sown mid-summer.

Put a few new things on my Etsy site for sale, including two types of tea - one to drink if you have flu or cold, one to drink if you feel like you're coming down with something. Then daughter got a cold and I felt like I was coming down with it. While preparing the teas for us to drink I kept thinking about the already prepared teabags. Was tempted to de-list the teas from etsy site and use them instead. Avoided temptation and continued to prepare teas as needed. Everyone is feeling fine and dandy now.

Found out that a type of tea I bought while in Greece (mountain tea made with the ironwort plant) may help fight against osteoporosis according to some preliminary studies by a University in Greece. More studies have been planned. Will keep an eye on that.

If you're still reading, wow! I'm flattered.

Hopefully something more blogworthy will occur soon : )

Footage of the elusive crabapple caught in the jungles of northeast Ohio

My son and I took the dog out in the woods today. We came upon a large patch of tall, thick reeds, on the other side of which we thought we spotted a crabapple tree. We were right - it was tough going, but we forged our way through the reeds and found the tree:

It was like trying to get through a jungle. And we'll have to do it all over again in another week or so when the crabapples are ripe.

What I won't do for crabapple jelly.

A peek at some of the things in my late-summer garden

It's late summer and my calendula are thriving. I clip several blossoms everyday and hang them to dry in my warm, dry garage. Sometimes I clip 3 or 4 or 5 blooms in the late morning, and then in the afternoon 3 or 4 or 5 more are ready for me to gather again! I'm running out of places to hang things:

We have 7 tomato plants comprising 4 different varieties. Six of the plants we started from seed, and one we bought. They've all done really well, and some, no matter how many times we stake them, insist on bowing earthward, heavy with fruit. Here are some tiny super sweets saying hello to an everlasting summer. Both were started from seed:

I planted some peas and some bush beans a few weeks ago, hoping that they'd produce before the frost set in. The peas are content to climb for now, but the beans are flowering:

And beginning to produce:

Here's a shiny zucchini:

What - you're sick of zucchini? Well then, here's a shiny green chili pepper:

One of my blueberries has decided to ready itself for fall and has taken on some color:

And the hidcote lavender still has a few blooming spikes:

Here is one of the most helpful weeds in my yard - plantain. It has been my dear friend this summer because I've had a few cases of poison ivy rash. I've let the plantain grow lush and thick so that I can crush the fresh leaves and find relief with it's cool, astringent juices slathered over the itchiness:

What's growing in your yard/garden?