Ooops

I’m tendering apologies. I completely forgot to write a column last week! I can offer several excuses: I’m old; I was busy doing other things (can’t remember what - see previous excuse); I was lazy; I didn’t feel like it; I honestly thought I had sent in a column. I think all of them could apply. You can pick whichever one you like. Anyway, I’m sorry.

There really have been things going on up here. I finally got around to running the weed whacker in all the nooks and crannies and corners the riding mower doesn’t reach. Then there was enough rain I had to wait a couple days to actually mow. I like to weed whack first so the grass catcher on the mower sucks up that mess. The yard looked pretty spiffy for a couple of days. Now I get to do it all again. Luckily I’m crazy enough to enjoy mowing.

We’ve just had a large amount of rain, so the drip system is getting a break. There hadn’t been weeds coming between the rows, so that might change now. But if weeds do start, they’ll be easy to pull for the next few days. Just today (last Thursday) we had another short but intense rain event. It included some tiny hail, though not enough to do any damage. The hailstones were just barely large enough to see. I’ll need to go empty all the drainage dishes under all the outdoor planters again. Plants are rather picky about how much water they get. They remind me of The Princess and the Pea…or maybe it’s Goldilocks: not too much, not too little, it needs to be “just right.”

For our golf league last week, us ladies had an appetizer potluck. I took a salad instead, so I could use up some of my over-abundance of Swiss chard. I cobbled together two different recipes, so I’m sharing my version. You can be assured it was good as the recipe was requested. Also, not very much was left to come home with me.

Apple/Walnut Rainbow Chard Salad

Dressing: 1/4 C EVOO, 2 Tbl cider vinegar, juice of 1 lemon, cracked black pepper to taste, pinch of sea salt

Salad: 4 C rainbow Swiss chard leaves chiffonaded, 1 tart apple cored & chopped, 1 shallot minced, 1/2 C goat cheese crumbled, 1/2 C chopped walnuts

Toast the nuts in a dry skillet, stirring, until fragrant. Removed from heat. Mix together the chard, apple, and shallot, then toss with the cheese. Spread out in serving bowl, drizzle with the dressing, tossing to coat. Sprinkle the nuts on top.

You could use spinach in place of the chard. Minced garlic or chopped red onion could replace the shallot. If you don’t like walnuts, use sunflower seeds. To make this a meal, you can add chopped hard-boiled eggs, or shrimp, or sliced grilled chicken breast. I added raw peas and plain boiled shrimp to my leftover salad.

Speaking of peas, the netting tent has done its job beautifully. I haven’t lost any peas to birds, and all the vines are still intact and up the fence. Right now they’re in a lull: I picked the last of them today. I expect they will have a resurgence when it gets cooler again. My pea vines have done that in previous years. Since I left the scissors handy for bird rescues, no more idiot (or smart) birds have gotten tangled in the netting.

Lemon-butter Snowpeas

1/2# fresh snow peas

1 Tbl water

1 tsp minced garlic

1 Tbl butter, melted

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Combine peas, water, and garlic. Cover and microwave on hi 3-4 minutes or until crisp/tender. Drain. Combine the rest & drizzle over the peas.

(I used the mixed herbs my daughter bought on her trip to Egypt instead of the Italian seasoning.)

Now I’m into raspberry season. I picked a handful (and consumed them immediately) five days ago. There was a pint of them three days ago. Today I harvested two one-pound strawberry containers full. (I’ve saved a lot of those plastic containers over the years for this purpose.) The green beans are busy forming. I’ve snitched out some new potatoes, and enjoyed baby carrots. I picked my first cherry tomato today. There were two cucumbers also picked and enjoyed. The fun never stops.