Elderflower Syrup
1 cup sugar
juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water
8 cups elderflowers

Make sure the flowers are young and white – avoid any which are turning a creamy colour. Boil the sugar, lemon juice and water for 10 minutes, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Pour the syrup over the flowers. Cover with a clean cloth and leave overnight, then strain. Bring the liquid to the boil, remove from heat immediately and bottle. Store in the fridge for several months, discarding if it begins to bubble, ferment, or if any mould appears. Take 2 tablespoons twice a day for 6-8 weeks before hayfever season, or to treat a sinus problem. Add a little to fruit dishes, especially apples and pears, or fruit salads.

Elderflower Cordial
1.5kg sugar
1 litre water
15 or more elderflower heads
2 oranges
2 lemons
2 limes
30g tartaric acid

Dissolve the sugar in the water. Bring to the boil. Add flowers. Place fruit and tartaric acid in a bowl and pour over the syrup. Stir well and cover loosely. Leave for 24 hours. Strain. Bottle as desired. Store for up to 3 months in the fridge, or freeze.

Elderflower Fritters (2)
200g flour (1 3/4 cups)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
pinch salt
16 elderberry blossoms with stems
sugar for dusting
oil for frying

With a whisk, mix the flour, eggs, salt, and milk into a pancake batter. Rinse elderberry blossoms several times, then pat dry with paper towel. Briefly dip the blossoms into the dough, and then deep fry until golden brown. Dust with sugar and serve.

Elderflower Jelly
2kg apples, chopped whole, cores included
1.75 litres water
1kg sugar
6 large elderflowers
4 tablespoons lemon juice

Put apples in a saucepan with the water. Bring to the boil and simmer until soft and pulpy, about 30 minutes. Line a colander with muslin, pour in the apple mixture and leave overnight to drain without disturbance. Next day, measure the liquid and add 2 cups of sugar to every 600ml of juice. Bring to the boil, adding the elderflowers tied in a piece of muslin. Boil steadily for 20 minutes until a little tested in cold water will set. Remove flowers after 5 minutes, or when the jelly is flavoured to your taste. At the last moment, skim off surface scum and stir in the lemon juice. Bottle and seal when cool.

Elderflower Mousse
200g marscapone cheese
2 tablespoons commercial custard
125ml elderflower cordial
1 cup whipped cream

Whisk all ingredients together to a mousse consistency.

Elderflower and Orange Muffins
1 cup plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup fresh elderflowers
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons melted butter, cooled
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon grated orange rind
orange marmalade

Sift flour with baking powder, salt and sugar, combine with elderflowers. Combine beaten egg, milk and butter. Add all at once to dry ingredients and stir lightly until blended. Quickly stir in orange juice and rind. Fill greased muffin tins to two-thirds full and bake at 190C for about 25 minutes. Serve hot with orange marmalade. If desired, drop a spoonful of orange marmalade on top of each muffin before baking.

Elderberry Question – Herbs Forum – GardenWeb

I got to have the puppy cuppy while we were decorating the tree. 

The hyacinths last spring were pretty sparse. When I think about it it’s no surprise since it had been nearly 10 years since I planted some last. Last time it was a variety of colors, and several dozen of them. They were beautiful and came back for years but smaller each year. I didn’t think about it in time to order any this fall, but these caught my eye at Costco. Pink Pearl and Blue Jacket. I hope they are nice ones. Hyacinths are one of my very favorite things about spring. If the weather is right there should be hyacinth blooms to tuck in paper May baskets on May Day. Add a couple pieces of candy to hang on neighborhood door handles~~ knock on the door and run away!

 

Thanks to KPFT’s Larry Winters and his Spare Change show for turning me on to Buddy Tabor. I looked around and was not able to find where to buy the album ‘Edge of Despair: Children’s Album’ so I will have to be patient and wait for it to come to me.

"Somebody at one of my concerts in March or February said I should have a children’s record," Tabor said. "His 10-year-old said, ‘I don’t think so Daddy. After the first song, all the kids would be crying.’ "

I really enjoyed listening to his Blinding Flash of Light (with apologies to Bob Dylan) song too. I don’t think any apologies to Bob are necessary, indeed I’m glad Bob wasn’t the last one. Some of BT’s other songs available here.

Veterans for Peace has a CD Wounded Doves for sale with one of his songs on it.

Buddy Tabor sang it true:

Ole Limbaugh’s out of rehab

And he got stoned again

Snortin’ oxycontin

It was his closest friend

He’d crush up those little pills

And shove ‘em up his nose

That’s why they call him Rush

And now at last you know

 

They say the law is equal

But you know that that’s a lie

Cause if you’re rich and white

The courts will always let it slide

But if you’re poor and stoned

Then jail will be your home

So unless you’re Betty Ford

You better leave those drugs alone

 

When Rush would hit the airwaves

Cruelty was his game

He said he didn’t care

When Curt Cobain blew out his brains

Cause Cobain was an addict

The dregs of society

Now the tables turned

And Rush it seems

Needs our sympathy

 

They say the law is equal

But you know that that’s a lie

Cause if you’re rich and white

The courts will always let it slide

But if you’re poor and stoned

Then jail will be your home

So unless you’re Betty Ford

You better leave those drugs alone

 

When Rush has finally OD’d

What will the dittos do

They’ll have to try to think for themselves

I know it’s hard to do

We’ve all got pain and sorrow

That is our common bond

So instead of hate

Lend a helpin’ hand

To help the weak ones on

 

They say the law is equal

But you know that that’s a lie

Cause if you’re rich and white

The courts will always let it slide

But if you’re poor and stoned

Then jail will be your home

So unless you’re Betty Ford

You better leave those drugs alone

 

So unless you’re Betty Ford

You better leave those drugs alone

 

The pumpkin she is sitting on is from a friend’s garden. I grew the smaller bright orange one, it’s the variety called Cinderella’s Carriage and it was the sweetest pumpkin I’ve ever tasted. It was so delicious! I made pumpkin chocolate cheesecake bars a la Martha with that one.  The big one was a massive jack-o-lantern for halloween, and was roasted and fed to the chickens the following day. 

 

It was a disappointing tomato harvest this year with a late start and early finish to the growing season plus other challenges.  I had some blight on a couple plants and some blossom end rot too but luckily had planted several varieties in several locations so ended up with a few boxes full.  All of the tomatoes have been turned into sauce and canned or frozen.  The winter squashes are all cured nicely and will keep nicely for months in boxes on the kitchen floor under the table.  The kitchen floor is quite cool and last year we ate the last spaghetti squash on June 19th! That’s how long it lasted, with no loss of quality that I could perceive.

So I’ve got a good supply of different squashes and pumpkin, and a wonderful resource for recipes to try. I want to try each of the smitten kitchen winter squash / pumpkin recipes on this page, especially the savory dishes, mmmmm……..

Pumpkin and Other Winter Squash Recipes | smitten kitchen

I am looking at the seed catalogs now, thinking about next year’s garden.  After clearing out all the old seed the year before, this year I ended up with quite a bit of seed left over. But will still need to buy some more. More provider beans and zuke/summer squash seed for sure. I don’t know much about this miner’s lettuce or burdock (for some reason it sounds like animal food to me) but I am interested. The season was so short this year I’d like to try some new hardy varieties.

 

Claytonia (Miner’s Lettuce)
(Claytonia perfoliata or Montia perfoliata)

Cold-hardy salad green.
Quantities of heart-shaped leaf pairs, each "wrapped" around a white-flowered stem. Hardiest of the winter salad greens, can tolerate moderate frost and can be grown all winter in mild regions or in cold greenhouses. The taste of the young leaves is wild and fresh. Suitable for multiple cuttings.

 

Burdock

Regarded as both a nutritious vegetable and curative medicinal these long roots store well. Burdock is the hardiest root vegetable and winters in the garden easily for spring digging. Work the soil deeply for best crop. Cook like carrots.

Johnny’s -

This is what we listened to while the sun went down and the first trick-or-treaters made their way up the street. Chilling, weird, and fantastic. Freethought Radio broadcast the program over the internet and we shared the audio as part of the effects for the holiday ritual.

FTV 181 Halloween Fantasy: Vampires

This week on From the Vault we offer Pacifica Radio’s Halloween Fantasy: Vampires, first broadcast on KPFA in Berkeley, California on October 31, 1971. This original program mixes music, literary excerpts, dramatic readings and humor to present an audio history of Bram Stoker’s immortal Count Dracula character – and the man who set the precedence for Dracula on film – Bela Lugosi. The original producer and host, Mitchell Harding, takes us along on his macabre journey.

From the Vault is presented as part of the Pacifica Radio Archives Preservation and Access Project.

LISTEN to this episode.

http://fromthevaultradio.org/home/2009/10/23/ftv-180-halloween-fantasy-vampires/

I love this guy’s blog. I’m thinking about making reusable produce bags for christmas presents.

Make a stand, go naked!

But if you’re constantly frustrated by the amount of packaging you bring home you can still make a stand without having to strip in public. The only compromise is that whenever you shop, you just have to remember to try and go naked.

Why going naked is easier than stripping! – Green Pepper

 

The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard

Shakespeare in the Park, St. Ignatius Montana, August 2009

 

The St. Ignatius Amphitheater is a very nice spot. The traffic noise was a bit much though-it was a little hard to hear.  They said they’ve lost their major corporate sponsor but that an anonymous donor paid for them to come to St. Ignatius still.  I have to thank whoever it was and everyone who contributes — our children out here wouldn’t have the opportunity to be exposed to this type of art were it not for the sponsors. So — THANK YOU!

You can see we had a nice place to sit in the shade at the top and back. I was surprised there were not many people! What a shame! The actors still did a great job.

Montana Shakespeare in the Parks has been touring Montana, northern Wyoming and eastern Idaho since 1973, with performances of free, professional outdoor theatre. An outreach program of Montana State University, it is the only completely professional touring theatre program in the state that produces Shakespeare’s plays, the only Shakespeare company in the country to reach as extensively into rural areas, and the only company in the state that offers its performances free to the public.
In order to maintain free performances that are high quality and available to all, funds are raised throughout the year through a combination of foundation grants, corporate sponsorships, individual donations and the exclusive Shakespeare in the Parks’ fundraiser-The Toast of the Town.

MONTANA SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARKS

The set is beautiful.

 

This is my little monkey in the purple tie dye climbing on the rail. That’s why we sat at the back, and that’s why having this “in the park” is so nice, for children who may find it difficult to be able to sit still for the entire play.

Here she is smiling for the camera.