This past weekend was a busy one on the farm. The weather turned out to be far better than what had been predicted, enabling us the opportunity to knock a few things off our very large, "To Do..." list. I also found time to sneak away to search for a few morel mushrooms
. Sadly, I did not come across a single one.
I did find that our fiddleheads are about ready to be plucked. Fiddleheads are the early spring shoots of the Ostrich fern
. Last year Lisa discovered that they are edible. While rather skeptical at first, I tried a couple that she had sautéed in butter. They were incredible! They actually reminded me of the rich, earthy taste of morels. The ones in the above photo are conveniently located just outside our back porch door.
They were named because of their shape, which looks very much like the tuning end of a violin when they are ready to be harvested. While other types of ferns produce similar looking shoots, it's important to pluck only those belonging to the Ostrich variety as they are the only ones that are edible.
I found most of my time consumed with building a couple of raised bed frames for the garden and preparing an antique door that will be installed on our garden shed. Lisa spent much of her time in her flower bed, while closely watched by our two dogs, Stella and Dugal.
Nathan spent much of Saturday putting together our newest wheelbarrow. I have found that you can never have too many of them. The same can be said of shovels and landscape rakes. It seems to me that I have bought a dozen of each since we moved out here nearly nine years ago. I would be fortunate to locate three of each around the place if I had to.
It never ceases to amaze me how things can disappear and yet our four kids are quite certain that they had absolutely nothing to do with the vanishing garden tools. They also profess their innocence relating to the numerous disappearances of my hammers and screwdrivers. It all remains a great mystery.
Despite the ongoing vanishing tool saga, good progress has been made this spring. We haven't completed nearly the number of projects that I was hoping to at this point in the year, but overall things are shaping up. I find myself cautiously optimistic that we might actually put a good-sized dent in our annual food bill this year with the fruits and vegetables that we will be able to grow ourselves.
. Sadly, I did not come across a single one.
I did find that our fiddleheads are about ready to be plucked. Fiddleheads are the early spring shoots of the Ostrich fern
. Last year Lisa discovered that they are edible. While rather skeptical at first, I tried a couple that she had sautéed in butter. They were incredible! They actually reminded me of the rich, earthy taste of morels. The ones in the above photo are conveniently located just outside our back porch door.They were named because of their shape, which looks very much like the tuning end of a violin when they are ready to be harvested. While other types of ferns produce similar looking shoots, it's important to pluck only those belonging to the Ostrich variety as they are the only ones that are edible.
It never ceases to amaze me how things can disappear and yet our four kids are quite certain that they had absolutely nothing to do with the vanishing garden tools. They also profess their innocence relating to the numerous disappearances of my hammers and screwdrivers. It all remains a great mystery.
Despite the ongoing vanishing tool saga, good progress has been made this spring. We haven't completed nearly the number of projects that I was hoping to at this point in the year, but overall things are shaping up. I find myself cautiously optimistic that we might actually put a good-sized dent in our annual food bill this year with the fruits and vegetables that we will be able to grow ourselves.
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