May 24, 2011

     It has been a while since I posted anything so now its catch up time. I wanted to keep all of my posts timely but... life intrudes, so this is a little late.

     I would normally have spent the May 24th weekend at home in Toronto, furiously planting my gardens and getting things cleaned up outside. The weather wasn't cooperating this year, gloomy, rainy, so I went back to the farm instead. I am so glad I did. It was supposed to be rainy and gloomy there too but turned out to be a glorious weekend. I spent the entire weekend outside. What did we do?

     I always love to visit when I'm home and I really lucked out this time. What did I haul back to the city this trip?

     Let's see. Morels, 4 pounds of them. They grow in our bush. Ferd and I spent about 9 hours over three days combing the bush looking for these little beauties. French farmers have special pigs to find truffles. I have Ferd, my morel pig. LOL We ate some fresh, dried some and I pickled a pound of them as well.

Ferd the morel pig

     Wild leeks, or ramps, also grow all over the place in our bush. We saw thousands of them. I didn't bring any back but am kicking myself now. We ate them raw as kids when we were roaming the bush. I love the garlicky onion taste. I have seen some great recipes for ramps I would love to try out, next year...

     My aunt Jean and my grandmother both gave me rhubarb, 15 lbs worth. In all fairness I did help clean the beds up too. That went into some great sauces, some frozen and aunt Barb's rhubarb cake, all delicious.

     There were a few new arrivals while I was back. Two ewes had lambs over the weekend. No, I did not bring one of those back. Ferd thought it was great feeding the newborns. They had to be brought in the barn to protect them from wolves.

     I did the rounds of relatives gardens, I always like to see what everyone has growing. My aunt Jean was dividing her mini irises and gave me two huge pieces, a deep purple and a pale lavender. Beautiful. They should look great in my garden next spring.

The transplants, and a few blooms survived

     My Mom was getting rid of some of her flower gardens so I got primrose, lilies and lupin seedlings. I didn't go home for the free stuff, but..... it is always welcome. LOL

     While visiting my aunt Marlyn, uncle Don and their daughter Wendy, yes that makes her my cousin, I saw two things I had never seen before.

A mutant green trillium?? go figure

I think Marlyn called them Gaywings,or Maywings??

Pretty little pink wildflowers I had never seen

     Finally, I got to meet one of my cousins who has done so much research into the Craig and Dowsett families. She brought a small part of her collection and it was amazing to see everything she has done.

     All in all, a spectacular way to spent Victoria Day. Now I just need a vacation from my vacation, after the morels are preserved, the rhubarb done up and all the plants planted................ Hope your May 24 was as much fun as mine.