I have at least a half dozen unwritten blog posts in my head. I've been so busy that I fall into bed every night thinking about what I wish I would have shared on here. Every day is filled with caring for the animals, gardening, and cheesemaking, as well as cooking meals from scratch and making desserts. Yesterday, I stewed an old rooster that Mike butchered. He made mozarella. I made butterscotch pudding. Katherine made pasta primavera for lunch using our homegrown peas and goat milk. In the afternoon, Katherine and I canned seven half-pints of raspberry jam. Then Katherine made a raspberry crisp for dinner's dessert. I pointed out to the kids that very few people would be able to enjoy a raspberry crisp because the cost of raspberries is prohibitively expensive. Who could afford six cups of fresh raspberries? Yesterday, Mike and the kids picked six quarts of fresh black raspberries.
No, the raspberry bounty is not due to any great gardening expertise on our part. That's what makes this funny. We planted raspberries twice since we moved here. They all died. We've also planted raspberries in the yards of two other houses when we lived in the Chicago burbs. They died. A couple years ago, Mike was walking in our woods and found a small raspberry patch. Today, our woods are home to several patches of black raspberries. Maybe we were planting a type of raspberry that doesn't like our soil or climate. Maybe they didn't like the full sun where we planted them. Maybe they don't like to be fussed over. Or maybe Mother Nature has a sense of humor. Seeing raspberries thrive so close to where we tried to grow them makes me feel like I am missing the punch line of a joke, something so obvious that I shouldn't even have to think about it. But I'm not complaining. I'm too busy enjoying all the raspberries!
3 comments:
How typical! How come your raspberries are black?! Ours are red. Sounds yummy whatever the colour :o)
I love your attitude!
It sounds like your family is fairly "self-sustaining"...is that something that you strive for? I'm interested in learning to be more self reliant since my drive to work is 35 miles (one way) and I seriously thinking I may have to find a different job and there's nothing that pays decent locally. These gas prices and the effect they are having on everything else are really starting to worry me!
There are red raspberries and black raspberries. Maybe our mistake in the past was that we tried to plant red raspberries. Obviously black raspberries grow quite well here!
Yes, we definitely strive to be as self sufficient as possible. My husband has a 50-mile drive, one way. He has tenure so won't give up the job, but we have been looking into alternative energy sources for cars, such as making biodiesel out of used fryer oil.
Post a Comment