Pie! Pie! Pie!

I made my first berry pies of the season last night:


I generally ball crust scraps together and put them in the freezer, thinking that one day I'll have enough for an entire crust. In reality, what happens is that I find it about a year later, freezer-burned, glazed with frost, and smelling slightly of fish, and throw it out. Last night I said, waste not, want not! And just baked the scraps:

And, dear God, they were delicious!

Pie! Pie! Pi!

I brought two to my neighbors, and they ate them immediately, which made me happy. The guy even literally licked his plate! That totally made my night.

I feel very fortunate and blessed to be a person who can and will make pie, sew, cook, clean, tend a garden, split wood, clear land, and do minor repairs around my house with equal aplomb. So many women I have met take what I consider to be misguided pride in their inability and/or refusal to partake in traditional feminine activities. I have heard women brag that they cannot cook. I feel sad for them because it seems a misguided application of feminism, whose goal, I believe, was to establish equality between the sexes. Reducing the abilities of one's to match the other's is one way of doing it, but wouldn't it be better if we both gained each other's instead?

You know what's the best part about making pie?

You get to eat pie.

Fuzzies at home

Huh

It amuses me the way the Minor News does weather after-casts. It was cold Friday night! it says.

Yes, it was. Saturday morning I dressed warmly to walk the dogs, and realized with some chagrin that I was wearing the exact same clothes on top that I wear to ski in winter. Later, layer by layer came off as the sun came out and warmed the day to a beautiful summer day. I went berry picking with friends, and we very much enjoyed the warm, sunny afternoon!



And now I have four! Four quarts of blueberries! Ah, ah, ah!

Whuh?

First frost could come tonight.

Salad

I love Mississippi, but they need to learn about things like this:



There is nothing fancy in that salad at all; the lettuce is just romaine. But the veggies are all crisp and fresh and plentiful. :)

Veggies and Fuzzies

Let's see... here we have broccoli, romaine, dino kale, an onion, arugula, radishes, a cucumber, a sweet pepper, two zucchinis, and a cabbage. Not a bad haul.


Here are the fuzzies hangin' out at home:


My first three quarts of berries!

Ayah!

So I have a cold, which is quite astonishing to me because I only rarely get colds. Chalk it up to an out-of-practice immune system used to living in a low-germ-density area suddenly being exposed to an "aluminum germ tube" as BT puts it.

I've been drinking lots of hot water with honey and various vitamin C sources, which are abundant around here this time of year.

Fireweed blossoms, rose hips, and a slice of lemon:


Sweetened with honey... mmmm... very soothing on the throat:


Acidic hot water takes the color right out of fireweed, which is why folks make beautiful fireweed jelly.


I love fireweed, but mine is out of control, up to my chest, in impenetrable thickets:


The other afternoon, I got my neighbor to come over and advise me on it. She told me to pull it all out, stem by stem; it would grow back no matter what. "We all love fireweed, but that's too much fireweed." The roots are so straight and shallow, and the ground is so soft and moist, that it was an easy job.

Before:


After:


Oh, here is another 'before' shot, where a certain Mademoiselle Moose had been bedding down for the night:


I found a 'shroom grown around one of them, haha:


Pretty impressive piles, no?




Here is a photo of Miss Millie enjoying some bolted arugula:


I made pesto out of the salvageable leaves and brought some back to my neighbors from whom the arugula had come. The wife wasn't in, and the husband, an Inupiat with little background in Italian food, said, "It's what what?"

Me: "Arugula pesto"

Him: "What pesto?"

Me: "Arugula. Er... Your arugula."

So now I know who manages the garden in that house! :)