My thoughts go back to the first warm days of spring when I was a child. We'd retire our shoes and socks (often for the summer) and Mem would soon rally help to plant the garden, which in our case was the size of a field. She used to plant vegetables that some people have never heard of, such as salsify (she called them vegetable oysters) that she would leave in the ground over the winter. We'd dig them up with spring parsnips before Datt would plow and harrow the garden. To this day, salsify and parsnips are like tasting early spring for me — what great flavor the salsify would add to our soups and stews! And Mem prepared the parsnips by cutting them up and boiling them with potatoes in large chunks. Just before they became soft, she would drain them, and then fry them in butter, salt, and pepper. Yum! (I now add minced fresh parsley to them, which adds another flavor.)
Speaking of cleaning, David and I are about to undertake washing the windows and installing the screens for the summer, so I need to get on that.
So, instead of asking how you manage the dreab days, I am going to ask that you describe the ways in which you appreciate spring and the "perfect" days that we are sometimes blessed with at winter's end and before the heat of summer sets in.
There is a fragrant aroma in the air that just beckons me away from my housework! (next week it will be Lilacs!) It helps if the sky is blue, but as long as it isn’t raining, if I smell that fragrance, I am OUTSIDE!
I will wander around my yard and soon find myself digging in my flower beds, without my gloves. I do this every year, saying, “I KNOW I should have gloves on.” and then I have to go to church or work with rough looking fingertips!
The first night we leave the bedroom window open, finds us waking early to hear first the Robins, and then an assortment of other song birds. Sometimes we can hear the pair of Red Tailed Hawks as they soar overhead, looking for breakfast :-) I first heard the Red Winged Blackbirds several weeks ago and look forward to the song of the little House Wrens in the next few weeks.
I really need to get the patio furniture out on the back deck so we can have our breakfast there!
This was indeed a lovely week. I cleaned windows and planted some of my flowers. We also put our first four rows of corn in. The other day I finally sprayed the weeds underneath our apple trees. Due to all the rain, I couldn’t get it done before this.
I’ve been bringing lilacs in to grace our table, and although today was very “dreab” again, I know in time the sun will shine once more!
Since I am an outdoors person & very nature-oriented, I enjoy watching the slow, but sure, awakening of all of our native plants. Red Alder, Beaked Hazelnut, and various willows produce their catkins; Indian Plum, Red Elderberry, Red and Evergreen Huckleberry bloom, one after the other. And now, the beautiful, snow-white Dogwood blooms grace our woods – and the Rhododendrons are not far behind. Perhaps my very favorite thing to do, as the weather moderates, is to take my morning cup of coffee and, still in my robe & slippers, take a stroll around the yard to see all the spring growth and blooms in the flower beds.We sleep with our window open year-round, but in the spring we fall asleep to the wonderful chir-rib-bit of the peeper frogs and awake to the singing of the birds – Robins, Juncos, Chickadees, Song Sparrows, Goldfinches, to name a few. Before long, I will enjoy the morning paper and breakfast outdoors and – if I am very lucky – soak up some long-awaited sunshine…Living up here in rainy w. WA, I feel like we’re definitely due some!
I make sure to be outdoors doing ‘something’. It can be having breakfast outside on the balcony, tinkering with my tomato plants in my balcony greenhouse, going for a bike ride, strolling down the street in town, having some ice cream… Well, anything really where I get to enjoy the sunshine after a long and cold winter.
I never had parsnips but you made me want to try them! We used to dig our salsify in the fall and scrub and peel all of it before cutting them into bite sized pieces and canning it. I never enjoyed doing that, since it used to stain our hands horribly but at the end it was worth it with all the delicious soups we got to enjoy during the winter. My mouth waters just thinking of it.
We used to leave our carrots in the garden and try to remember where they were during the winter, scraping snow away and digging up a weeks supply of fresh carrots was a job we had to do every Saturday. What ever was left by spring got dug up just before daddy plowed the garden.
We like parsnips roasted with carrots – so sweet and good. Throw in some sliced apples and it’s even better. YUM!
The weather here in the Lancaster Pa area has been mostly rainy the last few days.Farmers are still slipping out to do some farming, and ive been trying to get some things done outside in spite of the rain. Richard from Lebanon county’s Amish settlement.
I have never heard of salsify. You make them sound so delicious. I would like to try them. Last few weeks have been a combo of rain and sun but always on the chilly side. I do alot of reading and [lanning with weather like this. Blessings, Joanne
Interesting – I had to google salsify to see what it was. And that it got the name vegetable oyster because it tastes similar to oysters. hmmm…. I wonder how it would taste in clam chowder? I don’t know if I’ve ever tasted an oyster. I don’t recall doing so. I’ve never had parsnips either.