Squash Blossom Love

It's squash blossom season again. It has been for a few weeks in our garden. And this year they just keep coming. I don't know if it's the kind I planted, yellow crooknecks, or the awesome compost from Cedar Grove or the EcoFeed fertilizer. 

Maybe it's all the garden love.

We've had so many blossoms, I can't keep up. I wish I had a local cafe or restaurant to deliver them to. Every year in my garden I've planted some kind of zucchini, yellow squash or winter squash. They always produce; usually they produce more than enough. Many of us have had those summers where we have so much zucchini we're desperate to pawn it off on others. But this year I've had way more blossoms than squash. 

The amount of blossoms may in fact outnumber the amount of hoodlums in my hood, which isn't really a very comforting thought, because I'm pretty sure if I had to stand up to one of the hoodlums, or defend my home, squash blossoms absolutely would not come in handy.  Halt! Or I'll throw my small, tissue-thin, fragile yellow blossoms in your face!

Good thing we have a ferocious guard dog!!

I do love the vegetable, grilled, roasted, sautéed in some pasta with lots of garlic, fresh herbs and lemon, always the lemon! Grated and added to brownies, cookies and loaves. But it truly is the blossoms that have my heart. Why? You may ask. Two words for you, deep fried! 

Lily and Jasper could care less about eating them. 

(What do they know anyway!) But they do love climbing under the three-foot tall plants and finding them. Actually I think they like discovering the pollen inside and the beautiful furry black bumblebees searching for that pollen.

But these gorgeous babies, stuffed with a little bit of soft cheese like a whole-milk ricotta mixed with some fresh herbs, garlic and lemon. Dipped in a light batter, fried in hot oil and topped with some sea salt and just a sprinkle of lemon. Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm!

I like to pick them in the morning when they are wide open so I can pick the stamen and pistils out. Some people pick them when they are closed; it's all up to you.  If I'm not using them right away, I carefully cover them with some damp paper towels and put them in the fridge. 

The filling I make differs every time, based on what I have. But generally I mix about a 1/4 cup of ricotta or goat cheese with some fresh herbs from the garden, chives, parsley and basil, a bit of lemon zest, some minced garlic, salt and pepper, all to taste.  Each blossom only needs a teaspoon or so of cheese filling. I fill them carefully and then gently twist the tops closed so they look like this.  

For the batter I mix: 1 cup rice flour or Pamela's Gluten-Free Artisan Flour Mix, 1/2 cup corn starch, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then I whisk in 1 cup chilled beer, milk or soda water.  (Some recipes call for more corn starch.)  Cover and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Then heat up some canola, peanut or coconut oil and fry away for a few minutes each, people.  Sprinkle some salt and squeeze just a touch of lemon over the finished fried goodies. YUM! We've been doing this once a week for several weeks now, and I never remember to get a picture of the finished product. Stuffed, deep fried squash blossoms beg to be eaten almost immediately, or as soon as they've cooled off enough not to burn your tongue!  

Enjoy your squash blossoms!

Lily's Carrot

Last year Lily and I planted lots of carrots, about six rows. So many seeds fell into the rows I was certain I would have to thin them.  Unfortunately something else thinned them for us; some creepy crawly came along while we slept one night and feasted on all the green carrot sprouts popping up, leaving us with two or three chomped down remains.

Earlier this summer I noticed two carrots growing in the same spot, a few seeds must have overwintered and Lily was delighted. They just happened to be in a section of the garden where the kids dig and play and create mountains, lakes and volcanoes for pachycephalosaurus, you know, things common to most gardens. So even though we watered the two carrots, that was about all we did to take care of them and honestly I didn't hold out much hope for them. 

However, one of them thrived despite the plastic dinosaurs, raging floods and hot lava. Two weeks ago, Lily and I decided to pick it.  It was huge and gnarly looking with a mini carrot growing out the side. And it tasted delicious.  

Here she is last year about this time planting her carrot seeds.

And here she is this year with her carrot. Amazing the difference a year can make.

I'm sure glad we picked it when we did, because just two days after Lily ate it, she crashed teeth first into the coffee table knocking four of her front teeth loose. One of them was broken and fell out all by itself this week, another one's on it's way out any day, and the other two are loosey goosey! I think it'll be a while before she can eat huge carrots again.

While We Were Gone

The kids and I just returned from two weeks in the Midwest. Lily and Jasper got to spend time with Greg's mom in Michigan while I did a Tour de Ohio.  I missed my kids, Greg and our goofball, Dizzy like crazy, but I also missed my garden. The garden is so many things for me; it's calming, therapeutic, sensory, ritual, and promise.

And while we were gone it went crazy!  I always think it needs my daily minute attention in order to flourish, but really it just needs sun and a bit of water.

My Touch of Class roses bloomed!  I've been waiting and waiting for them after a rough spring when Dizzy destroyed several of the main stems, but it recovered nicely and is lovely. It has a hint of spice to it and I got to see it by moonlight the first night we got home .

The sunflowers bloomed while we were away and they also grew a few feet. Seriously, some of them are over eight feet tall and still growing.

I actually have one nice looking tomato, which, for all you Ohioans is nothing, but I'm quite proud.

No surprise about the zucchini and yellow squash going crazy, but it still surprises me how quickly the leaves get huge.

Even the broccoli, beans and marigolds we planted from seeds look great.  And then there's my favorite, garlic. Greg picked most of it before we got home, but he left a few to bloom. I just love the way they look when they bloom.

Greg and Lily took some pictures of the garden too; Lily even used my Nikon and did a pretty good job.

You can tell how absolutely thrilled Jasper is to be back in the garden! It's a good thing he's cute!

Seed Experiments in the Garden!

 I found this great book from the library called Backyard Biology: Investigate Habitats Outside Your Door with 25 Projects by Donna Latham, Illustrated by Beth Hetland. 

It's part of the Build It Yourself series by Nomad Press. And I LOVE IT!  This book is full of facts, trivia and fun projects to encourage kids to explore living things in their own backyards, neighborhoods and parks.  

What I immediately liked about it, just from a quick skimming through at the library, was its ease of use for me as a parent to help my kids learn about biology with highlighted vocabulary, simple drawings, fun experiments and projects which foster learning through engagement and creativity. And there are tips throughout to help kids become nature detectives and planet protectors...YEAH!  Not to mention it has silly biology jokes, and my kids love jokes. It's geared towards kids 9 and older, but many of the projects can be done by younger kids as well. 

Page 74 immediately caught my eye for a few reasons: I always have extra seeds hanging around, I had all the additional supplies at home, which made it super convenient, and I knew my three-year-old could do it too, even if he could barely say the word, geotropism. To be honest, I'm pretty sure I never said the word, geotropism until I read this book. Lily, on the other hand, will not only remember it, she will probably quiz me later!

Honestly I just wanted my kids to be able to see what happens to the seed in the wet paper towel through the clear plastic cup.  Lily and Jasper had the most fun playing with the water and the paper towels, getting them wet, squishing them out, getting them wet, and squishing the water out all over again. 

The experiment in the book is about how gravity affects the roots' growth (geotropism), but we amended it a bit. We did get the paper towels wet and squish them into the plastic cups and push some bean seeds into the cup in different directions, but in addition to hypothesizing about which way we thought the roots would grow, we also guessed which way the plants would grow.

I love Jasper's attempt at writing his name on the cup!

Then we placed them in our warm sunny windowsill and  checked them every day to see if they needed more water.

It took less than a week for the beans to sprout and grow. 

And now we are ready to plant them in the garden with the rest of our Legos...I mean beans!!