serendipity

cherry jam

"When I sound the fairy call, gather here in silent meeting,

Chin to knee on the orchard wall, cooled with dew and cherries eating

Merry, merry, take a cherry, mine are sounder, mine are rounder,

Mine are sweeter for the eater, when the dews fall, and you'll be fairies all."-- Emily Dickinson

My camera is broken, so I share with you an image of my cherry tree taken 2 years ago.  She has grown since then and is bursting with fruit.  I already have 30 cups of fruit picked and there is more work to be done.  A friend helped me last night.  There he was madly picking fruit in the rain as hail was in the forecast.  Hail can destroy a cherry crop.  Fortunately the weatherman was wrong.   

The tree is a self-pollinating Montmorency.  I bought it from this nursery as a bare root 8 years ago.  It was so small that the pumpkin vine I grew that year made it look like a twig stuck in the ground.  

For the past few years there have been enough cherries for a few pies, but this year with such a bumper crop, I am making jam.  I poured through my cookbooks and finally ended up experimenting.  Oh my goodness, who knew that there could be such cherry yumminess?!

Recipe

5 cups of sour cherries pitted and washed

1/2 tsp citric acid (also known as sour salt)

1 package of pectin (I used Pomona's Universal Pectin)

1 tbs of pure almond extract (none of that imitation stuff!)

2 1/2 cups of sugar

Chop the cherries and add to your pot.  Add the citric acid, almond extract, the pectin (the whole package) and 2 tsps of calcium water (calcium powder comes in the box).  Mix and let sit for 10 minutes.  Bring to a boil for 2 minutes.  Add the sugar.  Bring back to a boil again for 2 minutes.  It should be jelling at this point, but not stiff.  Allow to cool thoroughly so the pectin can do its magic.  Can the jam using the rolling water bath method for 10 minutes.

 

What I really like about this particular brand of pectin is that it doesn't require tons of sweetener to make it work.  You can also vary the taste by using honey, maple syrup or fruit juice concentrate instead if you wish.  

If you can't find citric acid or pure almond extract at the store near you, I recommend this place.

strawberries

"When strawberries go begging, and the sleek
Blue plums lie open to the blackbird’s beak,
We shall live well—we shall live very well."

-- Elinor Wylie

I was in the garden foraging for my breakfast and as usual became easily distracted.  Look at the neighbor's lilies!   And the lavender, oh my!

  

Surely elves and faeries must live under the towering clematis or delicate hydrangeas.  But no, I'm the lucky one to live with such summer beauty where strawberries for breakfast are just a pick away.

And dill for the dinner's soup is just around the corner.

morning

"In the garden my soul is sunshine." -- Anonymous

I know it is May, but I still find it incredible to wake every morning to so much green after a winter of gray, gray, and more gray.  I love to putter in my backyard garden during the early morning hours while still in my pajamas.  Yes, it's slightly weird, but there is something immensely decadent about slowly soaking in the morning sunshine. 

 

dye garden

 
"Little by little, even with other cares, the slowly but surely working poison of the garden-mania begins to stir in my long-sluggish veins."  -- Henry James

Life on an urban farm is eventful.  You must contend with soccer balls skyrocketing over the fence, trains screeching overhead, and a few slithering critters underfoot.

My sad little patch survived the winter under water, so I spent the better part of 3 1/2 hours hauling compost and manure to dig under and aerate the soil.  Northern Illinois has rich, lovely clay which if you don't amend will soon become terra ceramic under the summer sun.  As I hauled each shovelful, I cursed my laziness for not staying in shape.  

One of the many lovely aspects of gardening are the friends you make.  It's a club. "How did you get the peas to germinate so quickly?"  "Have you tried growing asparagus?"  Everyone shares information, veggies, and the occasional worm.  Monsieur Robin is my latest bosom buddy.  He followed me around the allotment as I worked.  The compost was full of red wigglers.  He was much obliged as he didn't need to lift a wing for a tasty noon day snack. 

All this activity was for a certain goal - to have a thriving natural dye garden.   I started my plot last year and hope to double its production this summer.
 
Our resident green goddess, Kirsten, surprised me with several flats of seedlings!  Into the ground went bull's blood beets, bronze fennel, yellow cosmos, and double face marigolds.  The tansy and yarrow are perennials and were looking great.  Still to be added are hopi red dye amaranth, black eyed susans, and zinnias.  I need some woad and madder to round out my palette.  I may have just enough room for the woad, but madder is a climber and may need to stay at home in my backyard. 

ta da!

"You are a king by your own fireside, as much as any monarch in his throne."  -- Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

A throne built for any lord or lady of the garden with a seat of red creeping thyme and a back of trumpet vine.

I completed the installation on Friday.  The throne resides just outside the front entrance to the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.  I am pleased with my first large mosaic piece. 

It has been a learning process, one which I am certain to continue.  The grout is laid thickly, covering much of the glass stones.  Only their tops are now visible.  The grout is close in tone to local soil when dry which works metaphorically with the theme of my piece.  I wanted to illustrate that there are numerous alternatives to lawn which are drought tolerant and require less fertilizer. 

time present

"Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable."
       -- T.S. Eliot

A day lived in the sun.  The garden is sprouting a rainbow.  Josie, the Monster Pup, makes it a challenge to get much done as she prefers to be in my lap while I'm weeding.  Cute, but also annoying.

Earlier in the day I completed another mosaic panel of the throne.  I am amazed by its development.  The technique is still so new that I'm hesitant, but it progresses.  Impending deadlines help.

When not gardening, cooking, paying bills, or working on my art, I played with my camera. 

I love violets.  They are rich in color, full of vitamin C and lovely on a cake.

Delicate blossoms today, cherry pie in July.  I planted this tree 8 years ago.  It was purchased through a catalog and arrived a week later in the mail.  The little twig of a thing is now a gorgeous 10ft tree.

allergies

"I decided that if I could paint that flower in a huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty." -- Georgia O'Keefe

As an avid gardener and one allergic to pollen, I couldn't resist embroidering an image of a histamine cell made pink and green for the colors of my favorite blossoms, peonies.   These days, as everything pops up and hearkens of lazy summer days to come, even my dogs are sneezing. 

Josie, the empress papillon, perfumes her fur with a role on the lavender bush which she then follows with a not-so-dainty "achoo."  All 4 pounds of her shakes with the force.  It's a sign of another overactive histamine at work.  She hasn't figured out the cause and effect reaction.  Why lavender and not lemon balm or sage, I don't know, but every morning this week it has been the same.  Roll, sneeze, shake, and look perplexed. 

Photo by Sanders Visual Images.

lawn nation

"A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule."  --  Michael Pollan

My first attempt at mosaic is lovely.  I was at my friend's studio and felt like a little kid first learning to ride a bike.  A few rough starts, but exhilarating.  It is a test run for the throne I am constructing for Lawn Nation.  I like the challenge of learning a new technique.  What is particularly exciting is the similarity between mosaic and bead embroidery.  So many possibilities to explore!

Lawn Nation has me thinking about more than new art.  Yesterday I dug out another 5' of sod.  At the rate I am going it won't be long before all lawn is eradicated from my property.   I love to garden, but am loathe to mow, water and fertilize a lawn.  It's just too fussy and a waste of local resources.  I prefer my flower beds of lavenders, roses, hostas, and hydrangeas.  The hostas love the shade and grow so big there is little weeding to be done.  The hidcote lavenders are fuss free requiring nothing more than a weekly watering, some mulch, and a yearly pruning.  A friend once referred to hydrangeas as "granny weeds."  She was referring to both their hardy nature and favor in gardens of years past.  I have several and love them all.  The roses require the most of my attention, but I am not out to grow perfection.  I just want dashes of bright color.   What lawn remains is for the delight of my dogs, well, and a place to picnic. 

snow revision

Snow drifting in wind,
falling, blowing in cold air.
One piece: earth and sky.

-- Sondra Ball

Okay, I revise my earlier statement about snow.  It's pretty despite unpleasant driving conditions.

Today was one of those "bloggable" camera days and I left my camera at home.  I wanted to share with you the winter wonderland of the Chicago Botanic Gardens as I saw it this morning.  One piece: earth and sky.  It was crisp and overcast.  Grey clouds melded at the horizon of white snow and frozen lake.  Ice crunched underfoot.  I lost my way as the typical floral landmarks I seek were frozen.  As a result, I saw bits of the garden I seem to have missed in visits past.

Afterward, I headed back to the visitor's center where I had a fabulous mushroom and spinach painini with a warm cup of Earl Grey tea.  I had my knitting with me, so I looked out over the lagoon as I finished a hat for a friend. 

All this while waiting for the new brakes for my car.  The dealership where I take my car has a shuttle to the Garden.  Lovely.   All very civilized, don't you agree?

The above photos are from the CBG website.

throne

"A throne is only a bench covered with velvet."  -- Napoleon Bonaparte

This quote rattled through my head last fall as I sketched ideas for an exhibition at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.  The exhibition's theme is the great American obsession - perfectly green lawns.  They are places of rest and recreation, a source of pride or shame, and a great usurper of natural resources. 

Truth be known, I am not a huge fan of lawns.  I see nothing wrong with a dandelion or two.  I am certainly not going to waste money and energy on something that was never meant for this region.  A green lawn stays green in summer only with great quantities of water.  I live in the Midwest, not England where the green lawn first really took root.   The little patch I have allowed to remain is left to go dormant during heat waves.   

As I wrote in my proposal:
At home, I am queen of my castle.  My garden is my moat, acting as buffer between me and the rest of the world.  It is a place for me to entertain and relax.  But my utopia is missing one distinct element- a proper throne.

With my "throne" I pay tribute to the American lawn as a favored place to sit and relax, but with one small twist.  I have not only elevated the lawn from the ground, I have replaced it with a ground cover that is drought tolerant while also withstanding foot traffic.  The throne is a bench with a mosaic of pebbles, marbles, and other glass bits in greens and blues (Kentucky bluegrass!). I had considered a more traditional throne, one with arms and a backrest, but as the lawn is really nothing more than a living carpet, a velvety seat, I thought simplicity best highlighted these attributes.