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Monday, June 27, 2016

SUMMER OF ROSES

Hello dear friends!  Sorry this post is late, but things got in the way. Life, you know?  Are you enjoying your summer so far?  I can't believe that we are at the tail end of June.  Where did it go?  This week our village hosted a Porchfest, which is a sort of musical festival.  Amateur  and professional musicians play at different residents' porches throughout the village.  You can walk about and stop to listen for free.  It was lovely and I was proud of our little hamlet. 
I'm  also enjoying the New Dawn roses this year.  Last year I had to cut them back to almost the ground.  I was discouraged because it was the second year in a row, and I had it with roses, but this year they are blooming with abandon.  My favorite, Paul's Himalayan Rambler is  in bloom too.
It climbs almost to the roof.  Here's a close-up of it's blossoms.
Isn't it a sweetie?   Magenta Blue is in bloom too.
Soon the climbing rose  that reaches the roof will begin blossoming and everyone will understand why our cottage is called Sweet Briar Cottage.   We aren't the only ones enjoying the flowers, yesterday we were greeted with this:
Two mourning doves sitting atop our truck.  We couldn't shoo them away for the life of them!  They spent the better part of the morning basking in the sun and sniffing the roses.  We have our own peaceable kingdom here, with stray cats, pet dogs and wild birds all living together in unity.  It isn't unusual to see Blue Jays eating out of the cats' bowl with the cats just looking on.  Fortunately, the cats don't feel the same way about mice!  Which is why I don't mind feeding the strays; I'd much rather feed cats than mice!

ECONOMICAL ENTERTAINING

Before the Porchfest, I hosted a tea.  Teas are an economical way to entertain.  Little sandwiches cut into squares and scones are very thrifty. You can find pretty linens, teacups and serving pieces at thrift stores and garage sales for pennies. ( Hint:  to get stains out of thrifted white linens, soak in Rit dye remover according to the directions on the box.)   Plus it's very relaxing, as everything except the tea can be prepared ahead of time.   Scones can be made from pantry staples.

RECIPE FROM THE PANTRY

Scones

2 C. flour
1/8 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
dash of salt
6 Tbsp. butter
1 egg. separated
1/2 C. buttermilk
1/4 C. heavy cream

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Cut in butter until small crumbs form.
Beat together egg yolk, buttermilk and heavy cream and add to the flour mixture.  Combine just to moisten.  Turn out onto a floured surface and knead a few times.  Pat into a square 3/4 inch thick/ Cut into rounds.  Place rounds onto greased cookie sheets.  Wash with the remaining egg white and sprinkle tops with sugar,  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes or until tops turn light brown.  Makes 1/2 dozen.
Serve with clotted or Devonshire cream and homemade preserves (cherry or strawberry are particularly  nice.) The trick to making a nice moist (aren't most scones as dry as an old bone?)

 scone with a fine crumb is to use a light hand in mixing, don't putz about too much, and of course, the buttermilk.  I use buttermilk almost exclusively in my baking, substituting it for milk in recipes.

Here's how you make Devonshire cream

Devonshire Cream

1/2 C. sour cream
1/2 C. heavy (whipping) cream
2 Tbsp. sugar
Beat together sour cream and heavy cream until soft peaks form.  Fold in the sugar.

THRIFTY EATING

If you've read this blog for a while, then you know that we garden and eat according to the seasons.  That is, we don't eat strawberries in November, but have our fill in June.  In the winter we rely upon my home-canned goods for a good part of our menu and eat a lot of root crops.  Sometimes it does get monotonous (yes, you can have too much fresh asparagus) but our goal is to live as frugally as possible and as healthy as we can by eating our own organic produce.  To assist us in doing so, I keep a food journal of sorts.  Each time I find an interesting recipe for one of our crops, I enter it into a receipt book that is categorized  by seasons and by vegetables and fruits.  At the moment we are eating lettuce and either broccoli or cauliflower on a daily basis.  One of our favorite ways to use broccoli is in this salad:
Broccoli Salad

1 head of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 red onion cut into thin rings
a few rashers of bacon, fired and crumbled
a handful of raisins
a handful of sunflower seeds
1/2 C. mayonnaise
1/4 C. sugar
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

Combine the mayonnaise, sugar and vinegar.  Toss in remaining ingredients.  Stir to coat.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.

I didn't have sunflower seeds, so I used those salad crunchies instead.  Always be flexible when cooking, it's not rocket science after all!

THRIFTY THING WE DID THIS  WEEK

Free entertainment at the Porchfest.

Entertained with an economical tea.

Harvested broccoli, cauliflower, and lettuce from the garden.

Cut roses from the garden for bouquets.

Bought some plants at the end-of-the-season sale.

Made lemon balm wine from our herbs and strawberry/rhubarb wine from our own rhubarb (had to buy strawberries, ours have petered out).

Dried last years remaining garlic and ground it into our own garlic pepper, using an old electric coffee mill.

Just sat outside and visited and listened to the birds for entertainment.


Well. it was another lazy week!  Too early for anything to be canned here and too busy in the garden for any special projects.  Next week''s post will be late too, as we're having the entire crew here for the 4th of July, so I'll wish you a happy holiday now.  May it be filled with fun and family!

Hugs,
Jane

 


27 comments:

  1. Your roses are beautiful and the porchfest sounds like a lot of fun!

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    1. Thanks Patsi! It was fun, I hope they make it an annual event. Have a lovely week!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  2. The porchfest sounds like so much fun! Your roses are beautiful! Love the ramblers.You definitely have a bit of heaven...beautiful.
    The scones look delicious, and I have always wondered what devonshire cream was...thanks for the recipes! We love broccoli salad; I usually add cheese to mine, but I'll have to try your sunflower seeds for crunch.
    Hope you have a wonderful 4th ofJuly with family!!!

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    1. There were really some talented musicians, Kathy. Felt bad for some that didn't have very large audiences, so stayed and listened to them, although I'd rather have been listening to others. Some of the youngsters were really cute.

      Thanks for the hint about adding cheese to the salad!That makes it even more man-friendly. My husband didn't realize that there were raisins in it until he watched me make it today. Ha! Probably would have picked them out if he had known.

      Hope you have a great 4th too!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  3. Oh how lovely! What a wonderful idea to be able to stroll along and stop to listen to people making beautiful music. That broccoli salad is one of my favorites. I wish my hubby liked it but alas, he is not a fan of broccoli or raisins. ;)

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    1. Hi Debbie! It was fun.

      Oh those husbands! Sometimes they can have ideas of their own, can't they? Ha! I'm pretty fortunate that way, Ran will eat anything I put in front of him. I guess he knows that if he complains, he might have to do his own cooking.

      Hope you are having an enjoyable week!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  4. I love the idea of "porch fest"....sounds very fun! the salad looks amazing.....I could eat one of those every night and be happy and satisfied.

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    1. Hello my gypsy friend! I think I have eaten one every day, and I'm still haven't tired of them. Now cauliflower on the other hand ,,,,,

      Hope you have a fun 4th!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  5. Hi Jane! As usual, you have the best recipes, and ideas. I have to jot down that Rit dye idea! I would've never thought of that! I love doves....their cooing is wonderful and they are usually shy...ha..except for yours! Your roses are gorgeous, especially along your red arbor. So true about eating in season. I could "kick myself" everytime I buy something out of season that tastes awful. Good idea to eat one's fill....I know after tomato season I do get tired of tomatoes...which is hard for me to believe as I love them so in tomato sandwiches! Many bridal showers were basically tea parties in the time I was young! Hugs , Andrea

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    1. Hi Andrea! That Rit dye remover works like a charm. I had some old lace that had really bad rust stains on it from being pinned for probably a century and it came out with it.

      I understand about the tomatoes! By the end of the season, I'm quite content to pull up the vines. And I love tomatoes too.

      We had a lot teas in our youth. It's a shame that old custom has fallen by the wayside. Now everything seems so coarse, with everything being so casual and just sloppy, in my opinion. I long for an excuse to get dressed up and use the good china.

      Hope you will have a wonderful 4th of July. Doing anything special?

      Hugs
      Jane

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    2. We are going over to one of my kids for a cookout. Normally we stay home to avoid traffic. In the past my husband and a few of our kids would go down by the U of DE to fireworks (but even more crowds and traffic!). I like to sit on my front porch and watch the sky while neighbors down the street set off illegal fireworks (most are illegal in DE...even sparklers).

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    3. Ha! Our neighbors across the street are from Texas and they bring enough fireworks to rival any city's display. The entire week is one big bang! Poor Georgie has to spend it hiding out under the bed. What's the world coming to when sparklers are illegal? Enjoy the barbecue!

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  6. Jane, your roses are ideed beautiful ! I was wondering if you could share your lemon balm and rhubarb wine recipes. i have a abundance of lemon balm in my garden this year and usually just make tea.

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    1. Hi Janet! I'd be happy to send you the recipe. Here's my e-mail address, you can e-mail me and I'll send it to you:
      jameszempel@comcast.net
      Too early to know how it tastes, but it smells wonderful! And the batch tasted great before it began fermenting.

      Hugs
      Jane

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  7. Hi Jane! Your village's Porchfest sounds like a blast! Love the idea of showcasing local talent that way. And I love, love all your roses. What a joy it must be to be able to see them and smell the aromas. It's so humid here, and we have so many bugs that growing roses is a trial at best. I have narrowed ours down to a few wild ones and just one cultivated one.

    I snagged a couple of your recipes. The salad and dressing sound so good, and I've never made Devonshire cream for scones so I can't wait to try it. I think biscuits and scones are the two things that peeps work to death so that they bake up too hard and dry to be enjoyed.

    Love that your place is a peaceable kingdom. Another new subdivision is going up near us, and all I can think is - where on earth are the animals supposed to go? We are considering letting our land grow into bush. That would also save a bunch of mowing & $$.
    Have a great week!
    Toni

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    1. Hi Toni! We have some rugosa roses that have been growing here uncared for for decades. They've developed a special hardiness, I've even just taken the canes and just stuck them in the ground and they grew. My New Dawns on the arbor are finicky, they don't like the cold winter winds, so now they are growing against the hedge for the most part, so hopefully that will protect them.

      That salad is wonderful, if I do say so myself. The Devonshire cream was a big hit at the tea. It's much lighter and dare I say, tastier, than clotted cream. Scones and cream are all you really need for tea. It used to be our family tradition to have tea on Sunday afternoons, I think I need to get back to that.

      The lady across the street cut out about a 1/2 acre of trees in her back yard and now deer are always in our yard. They must have been displaced. Yesterday a mother and two fawns, and I thought "oh know! I'm not feeding you too!" The village mowed the vacant field by our house and the strays have been catching mice like mad. Must have all come to my house. That is why I'm grateful those strays have decided to take up residence at my house! Mice creep me out! We have a large brush pile in our back corner and the amazing animals we spot there! At the present a fox has taken up residence. He suns himself under the apple trees in the orchard. It's fun to have a resident fox!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  8. hello jane,
    your roses are beautiful. your garden must be smell wonderful. my roses are in bloom, but with the many rain looks my roses not good. a porchfest......great idea.scones,clotted cream and jam....perfect for a rainy day. thanks for the recipes.
    wish you a wonderful week,
    hugs regina

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    1. Hi Regina! It does smell wonderful! I was disappointed that those Magenta Blues have no scent, though. I grew them for the color. Everything in that garden is purple. I wish you could send us some of your rain, been a very dry summer so far. There's nothing like a good rain to make the garden grow. Now watch it rain on the 4th when I have all that company! Be careful what you wish for!

      Hope all is well your way. Lots of excitement in Europe at the moment!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  9. What a great week you had :) I sure wish my digestive system would let me enjoy lots of raw vegetables but alas, it won't so most of my vegetables are cooked. But I used to be able to eat that broccoli salad and I loved it. But my husband doesn't like raisens so I didn't make it at home but would enjoy it when someone else made it. I have been able to can a few things already. One is asparagus, which I pickled and I also did pickled beets last week. Don't need a lot of either but a few jars a year is nice. My birthday is on the 4th so I am getting ready for a party at our house. Look forward to it every year. And on the 3rd, our neighbors will have a big fireworks display so we don't even have to go far from home to see that. Our grandkids do some smaller stuff during the day but the "big" works are always elsewhere. We don't have the money to spend on those things :) Happy Independence Day to your neck of the woods. Nannie

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    1. So I'm guessing the raw food diet is out for you, Nannie? Ha! I haven't canned anything yet, as we still have asparagus from last year and our strawberries were few and far between this year. Not that we needed any more jam, anyhow. I'm hoping the birds won't eat all the cherries this year. :) I've tried to like beets, but that is the one vegetable that I don't like, no matter how they are prepared. How's your garden doing?

      Happy birthday, early! Hope you enjoy your day. The village puts on a nice fireworks display, that we can watch right from our front yard. It's so much fun! More and more I'm realizing that I live in the perfect place for me.

      Here's an extra special birthday hug for you!

      Jane

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  10. Feeling that hug :) The garden is doing well and we had 5 green beans, fresh from the garden for supper :) Pretty soon I'll be canning those. Doing most of my food prep today for the party and this afternoon I need to mow. Thankful that today is a cooler day, only in the 80's :) Enjoy your fireworks. I had my 7 year old granddaughter over for the day on Wednesday and I mentioned I was getting old. She said, "Grandma you're not old until you're 90!" I take comfort in her. Nannie

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    1. Hi Nannie! Out of the mouth of babes! Our green beans are really slow this year. Peas are getting ripe, though, that will be the first thing. Had a wonderful crop of cherries, but the birds are eating them before they ripen. Looks like a good year for peaches. Hopefully we'll have the last of the cauliflower and broccoli this week. Broccoli, I could eat every day, but cauliflower not so much. Still and all, we should be grateful for what we receive! Happy birthday, again!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  11. I wish I lived in such a place. I wonder how I can make a Porchfest in my little sub-division neighborhood. How absolutely deflightful!

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    1. All it takes is a few willing musicians and some porches! Advertising is easy these days with Facebook. It's a great way to meet the neighbors. I particularly loved the amateur musicians. It's a wonderful way for them to get some experience. Hope you had a great holiday!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  12. So glad you started posting again! I was just checking in to read some old posts and discovered these new ones. Glad to see you are enjoying your summer!
    Blessings,
    Leslie

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    1. Thanks Leslie! Yep, after some coaxing, I'm back. Will soon have another post, as soon as I recuperate from the 4th. Hope you are having fun this summer!

      Hugs
      Jane

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  13. So glad you stopped by again and thank you for the compliment. Yes, it sure was fun to run into Gumby. I had not thought of that show for YEARS. Fun to remember that old nostalgic stuff.

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