It’s springtime at the farm and the rains are beginning to green up the earth. Sadly, two diseased elm trees, nearly a century old, need to come down.
Spring means everything needs attention—and all at once. There are flower to be planted, windows washed, paint touched up, grass mowed, closets cleaned, and weeds pulled. Being weekend farmers makes the demands even greater. Nowadays, I merely point out what needs to be done and ask sweetly rather than do the chore myself as I once would have. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that sooner.
Warm Weather Cooking
It’s time again for old-fashioned fruit cobblers served with ice cream. It doesn’t get any better than this Blackberry Cobbler recipe.
Certain foods seem to go with warm weather. I used to make cobblers in August, when the wild blackberries were growing along our fence rows. Of course, we’d get a tick for every berry picked, but we did it anyhow. I always remember blackberry season with fondness, because I had picked and frozen a number of pints on the day Robin was born.
When I saw trays of huge blackberries in the store recently, I thought how splendid a cobbler would be for the weekend. They’re easy to make, especially if you use a roll out pie crust from the dairy case. With my microplane, I scraped a teaspoon of lemon zest onto the blackberry cobbler before adding the lattice crust. We served the fruit dessert with Central Dairy ice cream. Ahh, perfection!
A guest pitches in to shape the lattice topping.
Flower beds get some much needed refurbishing. Here Robin uses a tractor and chain to remove a lifeless old bush that didn’t want to come out of the ground.
Robin and JC threw some netting over the old cherry tree in hopes of saving the ripening berries from the birds, who like them as much as we do.
I loved this Kalamata olive loaf made by Ken Alford of Worthy Bread. There’s a taste of Tuscany in every slice.
The peonies were a welcome sight as we pulled into the farm driveway.
When I got back to St. Louis, Lisa had dozens of gift jars filled with peonies from her yard.
Preparing Summer Salad means starting with the freshest foods you can find.
Summer Salad is full of good stuff: garbanzo beans, edamame, fresh corn, tomatoes, onions. When I made the vinaigrette, I used pumpkin oil, that Robin brought me from Serbia.
I kept the Saturday evening meal simple with catfish I had marinated in oil, white wine, lemon juice, soy and garlic. The fish is not as pretty as when I fry it with a cornmeal/flour crust, but it’s doggone good and far healthier. Recipe for marinade.
I enjoy potatoes in just about any form, but this German potato salad is a special treat. The skins-on recipe uses a warm vinaigrette rather than mayo and is adapted slightly from a Bobby Flay version. (I cut the vinegar to 1/2 cup and added a couple teaspoons of sugar.) Best of all, the dish can be made ahead and warmed up again before serving.
