The past two weeks have been busy here! We’ve celebrated, we’ve worked hard and we’ve cried a little bit too (that last one is all me). There are glorious blooms on many of the flowering trees, the tulips have come up and added a welcome spot of color and enthusiasm and we’ve started to eat some seasonal foods! My tears were shed over the loss of many trees that I’ve planted. We lost a total of about 14 trees; crabapples, dogwoods, magnolia, wedding bells, apple and cherry. I knew after the drought of last fall we would see some damage but I wasn’t prepared for losing so many trees. These are trees that we planted years ago and have grown and thrived and they just didn’t come back. It’s also hard to figure out why, was it the drought, the colder than normal winter, our soil? I don’t know but in all honesty, it’s very discouraging.
On the positive side, the garden and field are looking great! All the peonies, with the exception of two, are up and looking wonderful. I’ve weeded the rows once a week and each week it’s gotten a little quicker and easier. I’m a little concerned that one of the new rows is not going to turn out to be the right variety but we won’t know until we see a bloom!
Celebrating
We hosted an Easter brunch this year for my family and it was extra special because Grace came home for the weekend! We had ham along with two kinds of biscuits, ramp and cheese straw, an asparagus quiche, and baked rhubarb. It was wonderful to use so much from the farm. For dessert, I made chocolate eggs and a Lavender Olive Oil cake!
In the Woodland
While Grace was home, we went foraging for ramps down by the creek. She was a champ and washed them all (that is the most tedious part!). That evening we had our first brick oven pizza of the season with ramps!
In the Garden
The star of the show the past few weeks have been the tulips! Last fall, I planted some perennial tulips in the peony beds in the garden. Tulips have never been at the top of my most loved list, but this year they have been one of my favorite things. Full confession, I find I love them in the garden but not as much in the vase! I”m always a little hesitant to cut them because I enjoy them in the garden so much!
In the Kitchen
It’s been really nice to get back to a little bit of seasonal cooking. We’ve had asparagus from the garden and ramps from the woodland! I’ve made a pesto with the ramps, that can be used in several different recipes, pickled some and also made a stuffed focaccia. I also made a side dish that involved burrata and maple blossoms, delicious but a little tedious.
All in all, the past few weeks have been about balancing the really wonderful things about living here with the hard things- such as losing the trees we’ve put so much time and effort into growing. When we learned of the trees I proclaimed I would not plant any replacements but the trees in my cart at the nursery say otherwise! Hope for the future goes a long way!
