Lynn Carson Harris

Blueberry Gingerbread

Yesterday we took another trip to the blueberry farm. It was our fourth trip this season and we didn't stay long.  We got a late start leaving home so there were a lot of screaming children and loud conversations in the field; not the peaceful experience I enjoy most.  We picked six pounds of berries and headed home.

P, of course, wanted to do some baking. We had made a plum pie the night before with fruit from our tree so I didn't want to make another pie. I pulled out my blueberry cookbook and started flipping through it. I found this recipe for Blueberry Gingerbread. It looked interesting enough to try and actually tasted quite good.

Blueberry Gingerbread
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk
3 Tbs molasses
1 cup blueberries (we were a bit generous on that measurement)

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well. Sift together flour, spices, and salt and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Add molasses. Stir in blueberries.
Pour into greased and floured 9 x 9 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about an hour.

Where the Wild Things Are

One of the things we like about where we live is the wildlife we see.  There are sandhill cranes that summer in our field.  We also see lots of deer, wild turkeys, pheasants, and an occasional coyote.  We enjoy watching hawks and have even spotted a great horned owl sitting on our power line pole.

The wildlife is also one of the things we DON'T like about where we live.  I have yet to grow a decent sunflower. Every year I plant them and every year they are eaten by deer. This year I thought we could just plant LOTS of them as we have the room.  We are preparing more land to plant with native prairie plants so we used some of that area for a very large sunflower plot. I thought there would be enough for the deer and still have a few survive. Not so.

We also planted extra pumpkins knowing that the deer and other critters would find them.  There are  some pumpkins in the weedy area of the garden that have not been nibbled but quite a few have large holes.

Last year we planted corn three times and the cranes walked through the garden eating the sprouts as they came up. We did not get a single plant. This year we treated the seed with something that is supposed to deter the cranes. That worked. Now, we hope the raccoons will leave a few ears for us.

When we returned from our trip this weekend, we saw two red tailed hawks sitting on our power line pole.  They were eyeing our chickens.  They found out while we were gone that they could get a good chicken dinner here.  We lost a couple of our new chickens including the feather footed  buff cochin.  I wish they had gotten the new roosters instead of the hens.  When we are home there must be enough activity around the house to keep the hawks away.

I sometimes feel like the wild creatures are invading our little farm place. But, then, I remember it is the other way around.

We have invaded their place.

We are working out a way to coexist on the same land. I do admit that I would rather lose the chickens to a red tailed hawk, coyote, or fox than to a neighborhood dog.  We will just continue to plant and grow more than we think we will use and hope to end up with enough to make us happy for the effort.

Spiral Eyelet Socks

Here they are, the tenth pair of socks in the Two Make a Pair project.

These are knit with Austermann Step -75% superwash wool, 25% nylon it also has Aloe Vera and Jojoba oil. I am not sure what happens with the Aloe and Jojoba when laundered but it was nice to knit with it.  The pattern we used was Spiral Eyelet Socks. There is a right spiral and a left spiral sock. They can be worn on either foot but the spirals are mirror images.
It was a little tricky to get the spiral design to continue down the instep.  The pattern just said to "maintain the spiral pattern as established."  Once I figured out how to start the new spiral on one side and end it on the other I was OK.

I do like the way the spirals and stripes match.

Unplugged

I hope you had a good week.

We enjoyed a week of being completely unplugged. We visited with family

and are now ready to jump back into our routine here.